Chapter 24: Ten Films That Include NLP Processes 361
Field of Dreams
This classic film is about the fulfilment that comes from manifesting one’s
dreams and the yearning that’s left when dreams aren’t fulfilled. When you
focus on what you love, rather than what you think you ‘have’ to focus on,
your ambitions are more easily realised.
Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, a farmer who decides to build a baseball
field in the middle of nowhere because he hears a voice say, ‘If you build it
they will come.’ The film employs a host of sensory references to heighten
the atmosphere – sounds, smells, and feelings, the importance of which we
discuss in Chapter 6 – as well as using metaphors to the nth degree.
Kinsella and his family are a metaphor for you and the people you may
experience in your life: the doctor, the relatives you have to tolerate, the
conflicts you encounter in life, and how you deal with them. Notice how Ray
talks about his father. He seems angry that his father grew old because he
allowed himself to get worn down by life. His response to the voice is almost
a reaction to the mediocrity of his father’s life and the fear that this chance
may be his last to achieve something. Interestingly, Kinsella is running an
away-from meta program in order to move towards his own dream (Chapter 8
has more on these meta programs).
Starring: Kevin Costner and Ray Liotta. Director: Phil Alden Robinson. Studio:
Universal Studios (1989).
Gattaca
This inspiring sci-fi film concerns the situation in which determination
overcomes genetic ‘flaws’ and proves that having everything handed to you
on a silver platter doesn’t ensure success. This film illustrates how your
focus on your goal can help you overcome even the most insurmountable
odds. Vincent Freeman, played by Ethan Hawke is an ‘invalid’, a God child,
meaning he was a love child, not genetically engineered. He’s left handed,
considered a shortcoming, and has a risk of heart failure, and so has to live
with everyone else’s belief in his vulnerability. According to the hand that
Vincent is dealt, the only way he can get close to the space programme is as
a cleaner. Therefore, Vincent ‘borrows’ Jerome Eugene Morrow’s (Jude Law)
identity in order to gain access.
