Erin Brockovich
I always stop and watch the Academy Award winning film, Erin Brockovich, if I’m ever clicking around the channels and see that it’s on. Doesn’t matter if it’s the beginning, middle or end, I watch.
If you don’t know the story, smack yourself, and then go here.
Today I saw most of the movie and after reading Erica’s blog post, I thought…her story was not her idea, her story was her life, and her life has now become her story. She followed her heart — and the mouths of her children — and worked her butt off for something she believed in. She made news. The news made history. And someone made a movie about it, so that when we think of Erin Brockovich, we think Julia Roberts — it’s a story that captures my attention over and over again. The triumph of good over evil, the fantastic one-liners, the dichotomy of enormous looming utility company to Erin/Julia’s enormous looming cleavage.
So it got me thinking about stories. And whether or not all our lives are stories. Many of us write fiction, which means, frankly – we make shit up. We all know people who tell us they’re going to write a book about their own life (send me a copy, good luck to ya). And some of us have lives that others have said are stories unto themselves.
But I wonder what was left out of Erin Brockovich’s story — the creative license, the shifts in truth. I’m sure they were all legitimate. I started writing my story as a memoir several years ago and realized there was no way in hell I wanted to write it — I lived it. And, since much of it is not my story to tell, I came over to the side of writing life where making things up is status quo. Where you don’t need to be in your own story and if you scoop a piece of your world for your tale you can turn it upside when you do so.
If any of this makes sense, I’ll be amazed — I just got back from Walmart (on a Saturday, a story in and of itself) and I’m a little dizzy.
So, what is your story? Tell me the whole thing or just a piece. Is it a story you’d want to write? Or better yet, is a story someone else would want to read?
Maybe we could all submit a non-fiction short essay about an experience at Walmart or Target or K-Mart and put them together as a stranger-than-fiction collaboration! That would be fun to read. EB’s story is amazing, even if we do picture Julia Roberts playing the part. As far as my story, you know it better than anyone. Rock goddess turned domestic turned rock goddess. I can only hope it will be a story someone else will want to read…
I just this week saw a brief news headline (did not read it) that said Erin Brockovich is helping her daughter battle a drug addiction. So some of those evil forces (family and social pressures?) that weren’t described in the memoir were at work.
I don’t think my story is one anyone would want to read, honestly. I guess it’s one of the reasons I’ve struggled with posting on my blog lately. I wonder if anyone actually cares.
I consider my story stranger than fiction, but the only way it would sell is if I were a celebrity. No one cares to read the ramblings of a middle-class liberal. No drug addictions; no jail time; no suicide attempts. Just a story of surviving what life threw at me.
My fiction, though, reveals parts of my character. I’m just not ever telling which one.
I wrote my memoir shortly after I moved to Mexico and I still think it might have a future, but not now. It’s about our journey here and the fish-out-of-water experiences I had, but I stopped writing it after one year. I’ve since decided it should encompass our entire time here (duh) but I’m not ready to finish writing it yet. Someday…
Hmmm . . . .
I have pieces of my life I think are movie worthy. LOL! I certainly think my life with Demon Baby reads like fiction at times, like Erma Bombeck on acid.
I have toyed once or twice with writing pieces of my life when I was struggling with Crohn’s disease and near death . . . but once I came through the other side, I felt like I was uninterested in reliving it in the telling.
E
The only way I could tell my story would be under another pen name.
LOL! Crazy military wife and mom of 6 kids. Nuff said.
I met Erin Brockovich at a conference once…she was a motivational speaker at a conference. I was VERY impressed, bought her book, stood in line to hear her speak.
She seems very real and down to earth. I liked that.
I haven’t written much beyond my blog. Some bad poetry and short stories. None of them had the ring of reality to them, except one based on my grandma and grandpa meeting. I guess for me, reality has to be in the background for any reality to seep in to my writing.
The trick of good fiction is for it to SEEM like reality.
My life has been an interesting an insane one, but no different than anyone else. Thanks for the follow on twitter. I look forward to your tweets.
Some day will write the tale that turned me into a simple tech guru…there was intrigue in the movie biz, dating the sexiest actor, getting married and dealing with my husband’s brain tumor, learning technology like Ginger Rogers dances, and becoming the simple tech guru with a 15 year old son who will soon return from wilderness camp.
Life is rich. Thanks for the opportunity to remember that thru my comment. Everyone’s life story is rich when they look inside. Love the story about overcoming challenges in life.