The exercise is not easy. This week, the images of the city of New York engulfed by a thick cloud of orange smoke, because of the fires in Quebec, turn on a loop on our screens. Something to remember the apocalyptic science fiction film blade runner. And at the same time, a dozen people are gathered to work on a scenario for the future that is “neither catastrophic nor dystopian”, this Friday afternoon, on the occasion of a writing workshop in the 11th district of Paris.
Setpoint ? Demonstrate what could be a story that “gives us power” in the face of the crises we are going through, explains Valérie Zoydo. It’s this storytelling specialist, a member of the Citizens’ Assembly of Imaginaries, which is at the origin of this multi-handed writing project, with the Atmospheres festival and the firm specializing in collective intelligence, Bluenove. A twenty writing workshops of this type will take place in June in several cities in France. From Paris to Aix-en-Provence, via Biarritz or Villeurbanne.
Imagine a desirable future
We are in 2050 and “nature has regained the upper hand over human constructions”, or else “the collapse has taken place and humans have had to adapt…” From these proposals, the participants must imagine how a collective of characters overcomes, together, a series of obstacles. With the aim of projecting oneself into a so-called “desirable” future. This afternoon, one of the participants is called Valérie, like the initiator of the project. As a psychotherapist, she was curious to discover the exercise, since she often works with fiction to help her patients change their perspective and get through difficulties. “Freeing your imagination, writing, is already being in the action”, enthuses Stéphanie, the facilitator.
“The stories that evoke the crises we are going through are most often dystopianguilt-inducing or constraining, analyzes Valérie Zoydo, author of a report on the storytelling of current issues in the film and television industry, commissioned by theNational Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe). To change things, we need to develop new imaginations. And this not only through the broadcast of specialized documentaries on the subject, which will be watched by an audience already mostly committed to the cause. The objective of the Citizen Assembly of Imaginaries is to engage in “clandestine pedagogy”, by irrigating “popular culture. »
Pop culture, our best ally to change the matrix?
The stakes are high. In May 2022, Ademe and the NGO Place to B have published a study on the importance of this culture as a lever to take action in the face of the climate crisis: the “memes”, these humorous images that we share on social networks, video games, series, blockbusters…
“This allows people who are already aware of the climate crisis to come out of the community”, analyzes the author of the study, Marie Pailhés-Dauphin. Among the most famous examples, Don’t Look Up became the third most viewed film on the Netflix platform as of January 2022, with over 263 million hours of recorded views. “The screenplay made it easy to identify with the story, and the presence of stars in the cast and the lively pace of the film” are undoubtedly ingredients of its success, continues Marie Pailhés-Dauphin. But other productions, which do not directly evoke climate change, are also likely to make us want to take action. ” Robin Hood-style stories that empower the people, like the series Arsène Lupin, or Money Heist »quotes in particular Valérie Zoydo.
From writing workshops to a series?
Before the launch of the writing workshops, more than 1,500 people had already given their opinion on their daily concerns and the world that would make them dream on the platform of theCitizen Assembly of Imaginaries. All this raw material will be examined by professional screenwriters, who will draw a “pitch” from it to present to producers by the end of the year. Target ? “General public television channels, as well as publishers specializing in publications for young people. »
It’s off to a good start: in addition to Ademe, the Citizens’ Assembly of Imaginaries has the TF1 and Bayard groups among its partners. It remains to be seen whether the citizens who have participated in the workshops will see their names in the credits.