When I asked my friend and highly respected Seattle consultant Joe Brewer for advice, he simply says:
“Tell an Epic Story”
Rango is a hapless Chameleon in a classic “fish out of water” tale and unlikely hero who finds himself in a “Dust Bowl” meets “Spaghetti Western” hardship scenario. His only preparation is an active imagination and a lot of luck.
All of the characters are similarly encrusted desert animals doomed to a life of subservience to a central banker in an economy where water is the currency of trade.
The Mayor of the town first appears as an almost spiritual leader who provides his flock with hope that their suffering will soon be relieved on the day when water flows again from the shrine of the Holy Spigot. The analogy to modern religion is hard to miss.
When Rango arrives and accidentally stumbles upon an act of valor, he is anointed sheriff of the town. Meanwhile, the mayor is, in fact, the person causing the hardship by secretly constraining the supply of the water so that he can buy up all of the failed farms for commercial real estate development.
Upon providing guidance to the new sheriff, the mayor inadvertently slips that proverbial libertarian battle cry “whoever controls the water (currency) controls the people.” This sparks suspicion in Rango, who then ventures off on an adventure with some of the town folk to find out what is happening to the water.
After plenty of twists, turns, predators, mistakes, and a whole lot of ironic/comical symbolism, Rango and his gang finally learn that the mayor simply shut off the valve tapping the Las Vegan water main. Once Rango’s gang opens the tap, water becomes abundant again and the protagonists meet their appropriate demise (suitable for young viewers).
The metaphor for the real world is a no brainer, for most reading this blog anyway. Bankers artificially control the currency tumbling communities into bankruptcy, unemployment, and despair. Meanwhile politicians, corporate interests, and legislators conspire to offer fasle hope to the wallowing masses as each person, one by one, hands over their fortunes and freedoms to the powerful elite.
Of course the plan is foiled when a group of brave citizens form alliances with their previous adversaries acting in unison toward a common goal. It then becomes readily apparent that an “abundance” of productive currency, such as water, is precisely the solution to ridding desert society of crime and corruption thereby enabling peace for all – not the other way around.
This is the story that I want to tell.
There is a very simple task at hand – find the main line and open the valve. Human knowledge, like water is constrained behind artificial barriers called “intangible” asset accounting. To build an accounting system that makes knowledge assets “tangible” will open the floodgates of the most valuable currency civilization has ever known. Not surprisingly, the protagonists will meet their appropriate demise – suitable for young viewers, of course.
