The Chairy Tale

Produced by Normal McLaren (1957) National Film Board of Canada

NFB VIDEO SALES 1-800-267-7710 OR http://www.ntb.ca

 

Long recognized as highly original and stimulating, A Chairy Tale is a parody on a fairy tale simply told in black and white and without words. It is accompanied by the enchanting music of Ravi Shankar, Chatur Lal, and Modu Mullick.

The only characters are a man and a common wooden chair. Conflict begins immediately as the man enters with his book and attempts to sit down on the chair to read, only to have the chair pull away from him. The ensuing struggle between man and chair leads them through a broad range of emotions, from frustration to violence to a near ending of the relationships, until a breakthrough results in a fairy-tale happy ending.

The film raises a variety of questions about empathy, exploitation, and communication. It is clear that the man and the chair have gone through relationships. When they sit down together at the end, it is a different man and a different chair. Just what has transpired and how they communicated with each other make for stimulating discussion. The absence of words and attention to detail convey a subtlety of nonverbal communication that is remarkable.

In addition the film directly addresses the topic of power. How does power influence, distort, and damage communication across cultures. Can honest communication take place between people or groups if there is an inequity of power? Can a dependent or subservient person ever really feel free to communicate openly with the more powerful? Can those in power ever really listen to or respect the point of view of those perceived as having less power? These questions are central to intercultural communication but often neglected.

Questions that can facilitate a debrief of this film:

1.     How does the man–chair struggle remind participants of events in their own lives?

2.     How would you describe the plot of the film from the man’s perspective?

3.     How would you describe the plot from the chair’s perspective?

4.     If we imagine ourselves in any given interaction as the man, the one with more power, how does that affect the way we communicate?

5.     If we imagine ourselves as the chair, the one with less power, how does that affect the way we communicate?

6.     What if you have greater power than your think you do? How would you know and what would you do?

7.     What does this tell us about the process of mutual adjustment?

 Adapted by Margaret D. Pusch from Summerfield, Ellen. Crossing Cultures Through Film.

Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, Inc.

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