Man's pursuit of greatness is the pursuit of a great film.

The Great Movie Theory of creation.

“New York Movie” (Edward Hopper, 1939)

Great Men, Great Movies

The Great Man Theory says history is shaped by extraordinary individuals—heroes whose exceptional qualities like brilliance, courage, leadership, even divine inspiration change the world. In tech, politics, and sports above all this theory thrives. Silicon Valley especially loves its "great men" and runs on the perpetual quest to find the next Jobs and Zuckerberg and Musk.

Yet, so many great men were not solely the product of their ideas or will. They were inspired by something greater: great stories told through art and, importantly, film, that preceded them.¹

Elon Musk was captivated by Star Wars at age 6. Musk, Trump, and Jobs inspired the movie persona of Tony Stark, the genius billionaire in Iron Man. Stark Industries in turn inspired Palmer Luckey’s defense startup Anduril (named after a sword from The Lord of the Rings.) Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook but The Social Network immortalized his rise and inspired a generation of entrepreneurs. And of course, Sam Altman and many others want to bring the movie Her to life.

Man’s pursuit of greatness is the pursuit of a great film.

Philosopher Thomas Carlyle’s Great Man Theory says history is shaped by extraordinary individuals. I see you, Mr. Carlyle, and I raise you my own theory:

The Great Movie Theory says history is shaped by extraordinary films—masterpieces of storytelling that embed into culture—inspiring great men and society alike to leave a lasting mark on the world.²

The three central tenets of this theory:

1. Cinema mirrors, shapes, and inspires greatness.
   Films both reflect culture and define it. Great movies offer blueprints for success, love, revolution, and self-discovery, and reshape how we see the world and ourselves. Stories shape the ambitions of those who shape history.³

2. Greatness is immortalized through great movies.
   True greatness is made timeless through film. A legacy is cemented when it enters the cinematic canon and becomes part of our shared history.

3. All creation aspires to a cinematic legacy.

   Everything we create—from skyscrapers to songs, books, and businesses—seeks a legacy worthy of the big screen. Even 'great men' are driven by the desire to see their stories told and immortalized on film.

Humans are driven by stories and movies tell stories in a way that uniquely elevates our consciousness out of the mundane and into the metaphysical. In one way, The Great Movie Theory is a theory of all creation.

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A great movie is the ultimate form of a story.

Many would agree that stories shape history, but some might be skeptical of movies as the highest form of storytelling. So—why movies?

1. A movie is the complete expression of a story.

   Finished movies are whole. This feeling of finality is rare in other forms of creation. Software is perpetually evolving and games offer infinite paths.⁴

2. Movies are the pinnacle of storytelling.

   Essayists want to write books. Authors want their books adapted for film. YouTubers dream of breaking into TV and film. Actors, directors, and producers strive to create global hits and win Oscars. The narrative and the aesthetic, the image of great film is the ultimate, enduring power.⁵

3. All stories are written with the screen in mind.

   The Social Network is based on The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich (who writes books explicitly intended for film adaptation). “Mezrich’s books aren’t books. They’re intellectual property designed for Hollywood.” I don’t think his aspiration is unique but his self-awareness, honesty, and playbook are.⁶⁷

4. Movies are instruments of massive cultural power.

   The world’s discourse runs on stories. Amazon Studios and Apple TV+ are the result of tech moguls seeing that rich media is more than entertainment but also a tool to shape culture, commerce, politics, sentiment, and legacy.

5. Movies are the highest order of shared context after news.

   Amidst the fragmented media landscape, great movies deliver universal experience. With increasingly global cinema and easy language dubbing via AI, for instance, movies will remain bearers of shared stories as context.

Great movies are the most powerful storytelling tool we have. While technolog will introduce infinite new tools, the essence of film as a medium will endure. In fact (as I keep saying), the sheer abundance of everything will only amplify the sanctity of truly great work, making great movies more indispensable than ever.

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The pursuit of greatness runs through film.

It’s fitting that it’s Oscars season. People love to argue about how little these awards matter in the age of endless online content where TikTok and YouTube are kingmakers, and about how Hollywood is “dead.”

Counterpoint: Timothée Chalamet accepted the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor last week and his speech went viral. We’ve been starved for talk of greatness and he stepped up as our hero, making the pursuit of greatness cool again and reaffirming that movies are a powerful vehicle to achieve it.⁸

Man's pursuit of greatness is the pursuit of a great film. After all, is a book’s highest prize a National Book Award or inspiring the next Harry Potter movie series? A musician’s legacy defined by their Grammys or does it grows with an acclaimed biopic like A Complete Unknown? A startup’s crowning achievement an IPO or an inspiring a film as iconic as The Social Network? I’m seriously asking.

“Everyone just wants to make a movie,” I’ve said. I don’t mean everyone wants to literally make films (though I do).⁹ And I’m not suggesting everyone should pivot to filmmaking. What I mean is everyone wants to create something worthy of being woven into the fabric of a great film—admired, retold, and immortalized.

For years, there’s been a call for more “independent” (i.e. low-budget) films to be represented on stages like the Oscars. Every year, film lovers hope this year will be the turning point. So with Anora sweeping the major awards this year on a $6M budget and Flow winning Best Animated Feature on a $4M budget, it feels like we’re finally on the precipice of something.

And with rich media creation tools rapidly becoming accessible, and AI accelerating this trend, we’ll see more of everything made—and even more people aspiring to make it (both the young and poor and the old, rich, and powerful). Because immortality isn’t found in fame or wealth; it’s in telling a great story or having one told about you—and shared with the world through a great movie.¹⁰ So whatever you do, in whichever medium you choose, aspire to enter it into the cultural canon.

Movies make history. History makes movies. Great men are immortalized in both.

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1. I intend ‘great men’ here and throughout to represent both great men and women.

2. In 1840, Carlyle gave a set of lectures on the nature of heroism. The Great Man Theory is usually contrasted with "history from below" which emphasizes the life of the masses creating overwhelming waves of smaller events which carry leaders along with them. Another contrasting school is historical materialism.’ — the great Wikipedia

3. The Thin Blue Line (1988) reasserted the role of documentary filmmaking by highlighting flaws in the justice system. The Matrix (1999) introduced complex philosophical concepts to a mass audience and influenced how people perceive freedom and reality. Super Size Me (2004) started a global discourse about food health and corporate responsibility. The Social Network (2010) inspired a generation of young tech entrepreneurs. Parasite (2019) portrayed class inequality through language-transcending storytelling. Great lines from great movies become our language!

4. Video games give us interactive storytelling, and tech will give us more composable worlds and personalized narratives. That said I say movies will remain the peak of narrative expression—a cohesive, emotional experience that brings people together with true shared context.

5. A lot of people will disagree. Many will say books or other more freely interpretable versions of a story are the peak. I’d accept those may be the more dense presentations of a story, e.g. 2D text is remarkably rich, but not the “end” of the pipeline.

6. The Social Network is one of my all-time favorite films, not exactly one of my rarer tastes: nominated for 8 Oscars, won 3. It ranks in Letterboxd’s official top 250 movies. Quentin Tarantino called it hands down the best movie of the 2010s (many agree).

7. Excerpt from this feature story in Vulture. And even if a storyteller isn’t aiming for adaptation, they still create through the lens of what’s closest to human experience: cinema. Movies engage our senses and shape narrative in ways no other medium can.

8. This was most likely a timely speech to sway public sentiment but Timmy’s willingness to embrace the pursuit of greatness in a bold way also makes us respect it. Funnily enough the ending line of The Brutalist (Adrien Brody is nominated against Chalamet and is the youngest Best Actor Oscar winner) is: “It’s not the journey, it’s the destination.”

9. I have a past with film (and I hope a future too).

10. Every creator has the same goal. Anyone who shares their ideas or creations publicly is somehow in this game. A note on my wish: The Great Movie Theory is one of my submissions to the canon of cultural theory. I want it to stick and, yes, I want credit (Timothée says it’s ok to own it).