THE DESERT WORLD

The desert is a world of stark beauty and contradiction. It is a place of death
and dying and a place of revelation and inspiration. It offers cool oasis and
cruel mirage. Characters find personal growth here through isolation. The
desert world is a place of personal testing and inner contemplation. It is
where visions appear. But can they be trusted? The desert is also a place of
shifting sands—where men can easily lose their way and wander in circles.
The desert is a place of temptation. Souls can be won or lost here.

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is the granddaddy of sweeping desert epics. DUNE is
a more recent example.

Cooperation is the key to survival in the frigid world of THE DAY AFTER
TOMORROW. The same is the case in George Clooney’s MIDNIGHT SKY.

The surface of the ocean is an uncharted wasteland, like desert and the frozen
world of ice. The object on the ocean surface is to get across. Hidden
danger lurks just below. One could be swallowed up at any time or attacked
without warning.

This is a place surrounded by water where the greatest danger is often the
lack of what is so abundant. Water that is usable is the ocean’s scarcest
commodity. It is a place where one tests oneself against nature-where one
feels very small and yet flings oneself against the might of God.

THE LIFE OF PI is a great example. As is THE PERFECT STORM.

An island is an isolated plot of land with a clear boundary. It is surround by
an often uncharted sea. There are unlimited possibilities here. An island can
be heaven or hell, paradise or death sentence, a place of magical beauty or
terrible nightmare. Both wonderful creatures and terrible monsters can
inhabit an island.

The island world is a place of mystery. One can enter a different reality
here. An island is a natural place and an abstraction. A person can find
him/herself alone on an island, even in the middle of a crowd—an island can
be a state of mind.

In CAST AWAY, Tom Hanks survives loneliness and isolation. JURASSIC
PARK is a zoo of monsters.

The mountain world is a place of awesome height and majesty. It often is a
place of revelation and inspiration. One goes to the mountain to seek
answers. The mountain world requires great courage and physical strength.

TOUCHING THE VOID is about hard choices and moral questions in the
mountain world.

A mountain is a vertical world—a place of hierarchy and privileged position.
On the mountaintop one can look down on those below. It is a citadel of
strength. The mountain world can be a stronghold to keep others out.
Tyranny and oppression is possible from on high. Kings live on
mountaintops so do gods and monsters.

In THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, Sauron lives on the mountaintop in his
quest to subjugate all of Middle Earth.

THE WORLD OF THE PLAINS

The world of the prairie and plains is a very American world. It is a place of
open vistas and clear views. You can see someone coming from miles away.
This is a place of freedom and unlimited opportunity.

Everyone can be equal here. Anyone can make a claim here and put down
roots. This is a place where people work hard to subdue nature. Towns can
be built and civilization established. The land can be tamed by the plow.

This is also a place of conflict. How will the land be divided? Who wants
fences, and who wants free open spaces? The plains are a fertile area for the
clash between the price of progress and the price of freedom.

DANCES WITH WOLVES and the more recent KILLERS OF THE FLOWER
MOON are both about battles with indigenous people over land and resources.

To be continued in PART 3