Is conflict central to storytelling

After dinner I turn on the TV and scroll through the streaming things looking for a movie, looking for a show. I put on a Korean series that reminds me of stranger things. A teen and parental figure show up, and of course they start to argue because the teen is YOLO and the old person is not about that life. I wonder if they have anything to offer me other than manufactured problems. They don’t. All the frames of the story are made of conflict, as is the case with everything these days.

After these long days of adulthood, I often end up on YouTube watching a vlog about a flea market in Japan: there are people excited about art and cookies shaped like dinosaurs, and no one is out to get me.
This has been happening a lot lately. And each time I ask: whatever happened to Saturday night movies.

Movies in the past

There were days when channels were limited (29 on my old box), and TV time was limited. After weeks’ schoolwork and homework, I gathered with my family around the TV set, and together we waited for Jackie Chan and his silly stunts; Robin Williams, his chaotic energy and heartfelt dramas; Indiana Jones and his swashbuckling crusades; Bond and his suave ways. We waited for action and transformation; comedies and the type of laughter that only happens when you are in good company; we waited for stories of adventure and treasure hunting; and of departures and reconciliations.

When a fight scene came on, violence was never the point; when someone cracked a joke, meanness was not on their minds. If there was tension, then harmony was likely to occur.
It was almost as if the movie makers understood that a family might, at some point, sit in front of a TV after a long week, waiting for laughter and awe.

They showed a type of care and consideration that is much missed and often needed.

Popular media today

It has become a given: if a teen and an adult show up on screen, then an argument is liable to occur; if the setting is that of a school, then bullies take it upon themselves to slam some poor sap against the locker or tie him to a bin; Grumpy middle-aged men can’t walk down a street without running into delinquents.

You only need to explore a few minutes of media today to feel that the whole world is out to get you.

It is as if all the postmodern storytellers went to the same school where the teacher keeps going on about the importance of conflict in a story. And if you combine this idea with diminishing attention spans and an overabundance of content, then no wonder we have the type of gore we call entertainment today.

Problem with modern media

Somewhere along the way the producers got an idea that they need to compete with video games. That people are on their phones all the time, so there is no need for a plot.
Somewhere along the way we became lab rats whose attention needs to be grabbed or who are sold a product. Not a human who needs to be comforted.

And I wonder again what ever happened to Saturday night dreams.

Beyond Conflict: Rethinking the Heart of Storytelling

In this quest of entertainment, too much importance has been paid to the spearman and not to the hand extended for support, or the shoulder that carries the babe, and the home that stores your people and memories.

For tensions can arise in everyday family situations or among friends. And if we are bent on resolving each conflict with violence as the movies nowadays glamorise, then we would find ourselves alone without any meaningful relations and going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of content where misery is the point and the whole world is out to get you.

Stories are more than a hero confronting a villain; they are about the passage of time, memory, discovery and learning and about storytelling itself. We need to be reminded that conflict is just one type of behaviour, that there are others.

Non-conflict storytelling examples

Kate DiCamillo – DiCamillo often writes tender, character-driven stories where the focus is on relationships, empathy, and emotional growth. Her narratives explore human connection, healing, and the small joys of life rather than external conflict.
Ursula K. Le Guin – Le Guin’s stories often prioritize exploration and self discovery over traditional conflict. She challenged the traditional “hero vs. villain” structure in her concept of carrier bag theory, in which she presented a view of stories as containers for life experiences, daily acts, and survival.
Studio Ghibli – Ghibli films embrace wonder, exploration, and family bonds. Conflict is minimal or symbolic, with narratives celebrating curiosity, nature, and childhood imagination.