Studying and making movies in an area where intuitives (or highly sensitive people/HSPs) totally dominate. A lot of the appeal comes from being able to turn our imagination into an audiovisual reality that can be perceived by all people or creating worlds that take on a reality outside our heads. While most people love action, drama, and romantic movies, intuitives are often more into fringe stuff like fantasy and sci-fi (we only make up about 20% of the population, after all). So, let’s jump right into what captivates our attention and well, intuition.
Special powers
Intuitives are weird differently and are highly sensitive. So, we may have super senses, like being highly sensitive to sounds, scents or tactile stimuli. Superman is a great example for that. What’s more, is his dual identity as a shy and nerdy (just like many intuitives) human and a superhuman alien (many intuitives often feel like aliens too). Spiderman’s “spidey sense” is another great example, it’s a kind of sixth sense that warns him of imminent danger. Intuitives have higher stress reactivity and we often have the feeling, especially in social situations that there is something off or conflict is about to start. I have argued that intuitives have hunter-gatherer minds living in a farmer-herder world. From an evolutionary point of view it makes sense that hunter-gatherers living in nature process stimuli more intensely than farmers and herders who live more cut off from nature. Moreover, egalitarian foragers would be more attuned to each other's needs and potential conflicts. Superpowers are always used to help people, especially the underdog and restore justice, never to gain personal profit and material wealth. Unless, of course, you end up on the “dark side of the force”. Yes, of course, George Lucas’ control of the force is another metaphor for intuition.
Alternative and parallel worlds
Parallel universes and alternative worlds have always fascinated intuitives. If you accept the hunter-gatherer vs farmer-herder dichotomy it makes total sense. Many intuitives (HSPs, neurodiverse, etc.) feel like they were born on the wrong planet (wrong-planet syndrome). Imagining alternative worlds is something a lot of us do. These worlds can be better (utopias) or worse (dystopias) than our actual world.
Questioning reality
How real is reality? Is not only the title of an interesting book but also a motif in many geeky movies. The Matrix comes immediately to mind. Couldn’t it be possible that we are just living in a simulation after all? Some of the best movies have this “Is this real?” motif: The Sixth Sense, Memento (in which amnesia makes it hard to tell what reality is), and Inception are great movies here. Inception leaves open the possibility that reality may only be another inception (dream) level, just as Cobb’s wife believed.
The Hero’s Journey - leaving your comfort zone behind
The Hero’s Journey is a fascinating book by Joseph Campbell which has been re-interpreted as a growth concept and leaving our comfort zones behind. The hobbit, an introverted peace-loving halfling (or intuitive) is called upon on a mission to restore balance to the world. The hobbit is reluctant to leave his comfy world because he is anything but a powerful hero. Egalitarian hunter-gatherer types do not like to exert power over other people and often feel quite powerless. What’s more, while most of us are highly curious, we often prefer to hide in our comfort zones, especially when it comes to new social situations, like going to a party where you don’t know many other people or starting a new job. Many neurodiverse people have created a world for themselves that is somewhat comfortable and often struggle with anxiety when they have to leave it. When I explained the idea of the Hero’s Journey to my students in school, one girl told me: “It’s just like going to school”. And yet, it is intuitives who are most likely to study abroad or be sent abroad by their companies, as we are fascinated by different cultures and have a very low level of xenophobia. So, in a way, it makes a lot of sense that this short, powerless hobbit was chosen for the mission.
Fight against an anti-egalitarian dominance hierarchy
Finally, heroes have to fight an enemy. The enemy is the opposite of the egalitarian forager-hero, a dominant, power-hungry, and inegalitarian foe. This foe either has an inner circle of helpers who feel superior to everyone else (social dominance orientation/SDO) or a regime with a dominance hierarchy (authoritarianism). The former can be found in Harry Potter, for example. Voldemort and his Death Eaters are basically racial pure-blood supremacists, something that totally contradicts hunter-gatherer egalitarianism. Versions of authoritarian regimes are found in many sci-fi/fantasy movies: the Empire, in Star Wars or the organisation IOI in Ready Player One. The heroes are always a bunch of egalitarian people with no fixed leadership and temporary leadership is based on competence like in hunter-gatherers. The Jedi, for example, may seem like a hierarchical organisation with its different ranks (Padawan, Knight, Master). However, these are not social hierarchy ranks but ranks based on competence, which is pretty much the only kind of authority a forager (or Jedi) acknowledges.
For more on the hunter-gatherer vs farmer hypothesis check out my books
and Foragers, Farmers and Pastoralists : How three tribes have been shaping civilization since the Neolithic
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