About the Norman Lear Center
The Norman Lear Center is a nonpartisan research and public policy center that studies the social, political, economic and cultural impact of entertainment. On campus, from its base in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Lear Center builds bridges between schools and disciplines whose faculty study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it helps bridge the gap between the entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. Through its scholarship, research and partnerships; its events, publications and outreach to the creative community; and its role in formulating the field of entertainment studies, the Norman Lear Center works to be at the forefront of discussion and practice -- and to illuminate and repair the world.
About Norman Lear
The center was named in 2000 in appreciation for a major gift from television and movie writer, producer, and director Norman Lear, a pioneer of a more candid, socially realistic genre of television programming and a champion of democratic values. The founding of the Center celebrates the artistic innovation of such Lear shows as All in the Family, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and The Jeffersons; his willingness to take extraordinary creative and commercial risks in the name of quality; his passion for wrestling with issues of conscience while building a remarkable entertainment career.
Homo sapiens? No, as the late USC Annenberg professor, Walt Fisher, argued, it’s not sapience that sets us apart. Other animals know; only humankind narrates. Call us Homo narrans, he said, the species that tells stories. The essence of communication is narration.
That connects a lot of cultural dots. We’re the sole creature whose wiring makes “Once upon a time” irresistible to our attention. Everyone knows that movies and TV shows tell stories, but so do indictments, drug ads and Sunday school. Songs are stories; so are history, memory and the news. Science tells stories; so do candidates, brands and the World Cup.
Homo narrans is more than bravura framing – it’s a political insight. Stories have power. We die for them: They send armies to war. We live for them: They kept Scheherazade alive. Stories can illuminate, or they can gaslight. They mirror and model; they show us who we are and tell us who to be. How they portray fictional people affects how we feel and what we know (or think we know) about real people. They can make every culture universal, or any culture despicable.
The root of “entertain” is the Latin “teneo”: to hold, grasp, possess, occupy, control. The hold that stories have over us is embedded in the verbs we use to name their effect on us: We’re captivated, enthralled, enchanted, entranced, spellbound. Those intimations of magic and surrender aren’t just metaphors. As Plato warned in the Republic about the power of epic poetry, stories can end-run our reason, hijack our judgment, supersede our schooling, and do it whether we want them to or not.
Why the Norman Lear Center? Because stories matter.
About Marty Kaplan
Lear Center Director Martin Kaplan holds the Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment, Media and Society at the USC Annenberg School, where he was Associate Dean for 10 years. A Harvard summa cum laude in molecular biology and president of The Harvard Lampoon; Vice President Mondale's speech writer in the Carter Administration as well as deputy campaign manager of Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign; vice president of production and screenwriter at Walt Disney Studios; and an award-winning columnist for the Jewish Journal. Read More