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Production still from Warner Bros “Giant”

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Hiding in Plain Sight

Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean re-enact the crucifixion on the set of “Giant”

2 min readMar 29, 2022

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Isn’t it time to re-examine the human experiment for ourselves as individuals, outside the system-constructs of religion, government, and technology? Absent the restraints of “civilization”, who are we as humans? What do we hold dear?

For years, I looked at this famous production-still of Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean on the set of the movie, “Giant.” I did not recognize, hiding in plain sight, was the re-enactment of the crucifixion with Taylor playing Mary and Dean playing her son, Jesus.

It strikes me that the meaning and power of two bookend stories, whether they are “fact”, have gotten lost in the withering decay of Christian religious doctrine. We’re talking about a god being born into a stable with animals. We’re talking about a holy man being executed by the government and rising from the dead. This is a good time to take a deep dive within, to find the truth of oneself, and let that truth illuminate the stories that have preceded us all in the human experiment.

It seems to me that almost all world religions point to the same truth — love is the element that unites all being; that there are five elements in life: four we can know through our senses — air, clay, fire, and water, one that we…

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David Paul Kirkpatrick
David Paul Kirkpatrick

Written by David Paul Kirkpatrick

Founder of Story Summit & MIT Center for Future Storytelling, Pres of Paramount Film Group, Production Chief of Disney Studios, optimist, author and teacher.

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