By Andrew Nickerson
When it comes to endurance, only a handful of classics can boast of having truly stood the test of time. One of those is Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which has stood as the tactics/strategy manual by which others are measured by for 2,000 years, namely because of its commonsense approach to a premise many other tomes avoid or overcomplicate—winning. With such novelty, it’s no surprise that its principles have been utilized by everyone from sports teams to businessmen to politicians, making it a truly universally applicable source of guidance. However, there’s one medium it hasn’t truly tapped into yet: pop culture plotlines. If it works elsewhere, why not here too? To better illustrate this, we’re going to look at one such plot: the flood from Evan Almighty1. More specifically, we’re going to look at it through the principles that apply most often: morality, terrain, leadership, preparation, improv, direct-indirect acts, foreknowledge, recklessness, cowardice, delicacy of honor, and underestimation.
Here’s the background: Long, a powerful member of the House of Representatives, is on a mission to get rich, so he enacts a plan with several big-name real estate gurus to develop federal land. He starts by using one of Sun Tzu’s Essential Factors for Victory, preparation2, by building up connections in Congress. From there, he aims at a nearby piece of land, where he uses another Essential Victory Factor, leadership3, by leveraging those connections for permission to build a dam, and then parceling out the surrounding space to his partners, who quickly clear/build a massive community called (ironically, as it turns out) Prestige Crest. It’s an admittedly brilliant use of one of Sun Tzu’s most famous tactics, “The direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory,”4 but Long’s far from done. Emboldened, he introduces a bill that’ll allow him to do the same with the National Parks, and he’s convinced he can’t lose, a mind-frame that violates two of Sun Tzu’s Fatal Failings of Leadership, recklessness5, and delicacy of honor6. Still, he’s not stupid, and he immediately uses prep again to build favor for his bill. One of those he targets is protagonist Evan Baxter (Evan from now on), a recently elected New York representative who’s just moved to Prestige Crest with his wife, Joan, and their three sons. Long does so via direct-indirect acts on Evan’s first day, offering him a bigger office and a place on the former’s committee, all hoping to sway the naïve newcomer.
However, Long has fatally violated another principle: never underestimate an opponent.7 In this case, it’s God, who’s got a plan of his own to thwart Long via Evan, a good man whom He chose because of a prayer the newcomer offered, asking for help changing the world, a nice showing of another Essential Victory Factor, morality.8 Thus, God first wields prep by sending Evan tools as a housewarming gift, followed by a massive load of wood that’d been ironically cut from Prestige Crest. He then appears before Evan, where he uses another powerful principle, “What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men is foreknowledge,”9 by revealing multiple facts about the latter’s background…all building up to His request: “I want you to build an ark.” Understandably, Even is hardly receptive, but in so doing violates underestimation himself, as God has adopted another principle, “Be flexible; according as circumstances are favorable one should modify one’s plans”10 AKA improv, by appearing before him in the streets and sending pairs of animals to follow him around. Birds even flood into Evan’s office, straining his relationship with Long upon the latter witnessing the sight. The former tries to flee, only to be cornered by more animals, whereupon God intervenes and sends the creatures away, only to use more foreknowledge by showing Evan what Prestige Crest used to look like. This finally breaks the latter’s resistance, as well as prompting him to point out an ark implies a flood. God points out everything He does is out of love, a brilliant use of morality, following it up by telling Evan the way to change the world is “One act of random kindness at a time”; He even gives Evan a manual on how to build the ark.
God’s plan goes into effect the next day via an ingenious use of prep, foreknowledge, and another Essential Victory Factor, terrain11, by placing all the nearby housing lots in Evan’s name, followed by bringing in more wood. Naturally, Joan asks about the matter, which Evan meekly explains he’s building a boat as a family activity. So, work begins, along with several changes in the latter’s appearance that God enacts, starting with making him grow increasingly longer regular and facial hair, plus providing him with ancient-style robes to wear. It begins building strain in Congress, as well as with Joan, especially when God appears on TV, warning Evan (the only one who can see him) he must be finished by midday, September 22, or else, another good use of both foreknowledge and leadership. What’s more, it adds in the edge of terrain, more specifically an infamous form called Death Ground12, where there’s no surrender or retreat—it’s either fight or die. When she again confronts Evan, he tells her he’s building an ark, which causes her to regress even further. Worse news awaits Evan in Congress the next day, where he’s meant to support Long’s bill, only to have God make him appear in his ancient robes. Long demands answers, Evan reveals a flood’s coming, to which fellow committee members immediately violate delicacy of honor by scoffing at the idea due to the long-standing hot and dry weather. Even more incredibly, Evan refuses to endorse the former’s bill, a bold use of both morality and a caveat of leadership, “Some commands must not be obeyed.”13 Incensed, Long promptly wields improv by using his leverage to have Evan suspended from Congress, but doesn’t even realize he’s fallen into a subtle trap God’s been laying via direct-indirect acts this whole time: by altering Evan’s appearance and telling him about the flood, God pushed him away from Long, plus has now freed him from his obligations so he can finish the ark. Sadly, it also has an unintended consequence: Joan, convinced Evan needs help, takes their kids and head to her mom’s, an abysmal failure of both recklessness and another Fatal Failing, cowardice.14
Undaunted, Evan continues building the ark, despite being relentlessly mocked by the media, who’ve dubbed him “New York Noah.” Meanwhile, Joan proves to have violated underestimation because, despite her attempt to flee the issue, all she sees are stories about her husband; worse, her cowardice has only worked to Long’s benefit, enabling further mockery, not to mention her sons, who’d been happily helping their dad, are slowly turning against her. But things change when, while eating at a restaurant, God appears and wields incredible foreknowledge and morality by telling her the meaning of the ark story: love and faith, not just in Him but between the animals and Noah’s family. When Joan continues violating cowardice by balking, God wields one of the best, subtle uses of direct-indirect acts I’ve ever seen by telling her the situation is an opportunity. He defines it thus: if a person prays for patience, does God give them patience or opportunities to be patient? If a person prays for courage, does God give them courage or opportunities to be courageous? Finally (referencing an earlier prayer of hers), if a person prays for the family to be closer, does He zap them with warm and fuzzy feelings or give them opportunities to love each other? Humbled, Joan finally follows morality and heads back.
Unfortunately, upon arriving (and finding Evan sporting white hair), Joan goes right back to violating cowardice by recommending he take down the ark. She then cites the paper, the lead story of which is Long’s having gone to the city and gotten an ultimatum issued, citing code violations: Evan has until September 22 to take down the ark, or it’ll be demolished, and he’ll be arrested. It’s just more violations of morality, cowardice, and delicacy of honor stacking up for him, but it completely backfires because it only emphasizes the Death Ground element that much more. Furthermore, Long’s badly violated underestimation again, for Evan and his family follow morality by ignoring the ultimatum, and then get some surprise guests: paired animals appearing from all around. Evan immediately uses leadership and improv by enlisting said creatures in helping with labor and security, increasing the construction rate exponentially. Later, Evan’s top aides appear, having been booted from Washington by Long for defending their boss (adding to his lengthening list of morality, cowardice, and delicacy of honor violations in the process). They’ve been using prep by doing research, and turned up some shocking results: when Long and his partners were building Prestige Crest, the locals fought them for years, accusing them of cutting corners, including skipping important building code checkpoints. It’s a horrifying violation of prep, morality, and recklessness…plus an interesting bit of foreknowledge.
September 22nd arrives, along with the press, all the neighbors, and Long and his promised demolition crew. Long goes to Evan, again trying to talk him down, but the latter sticks to morality and leadership and rejects him. It prompts Long to cruelly demean Evan before ordering the demolition crew to destroy the ark, another shameless violation of morality, cowardice, and delicacy of honor, all while he heads back to Washington for the hearing on his bill. Sadly, Joan violates cowardice again by suggesting they leave before Evan’s arrested, something he and their kids are about to do…until she and Long prove to have violated underestimation, starting when the animals all sit. It’s a natural foreknowledge instinct, prompted by incoming rain, and it proves fruitful when a squall breaks out. Evan, remembering God’s warning, promptly uses morality and leadership by yelling for everyone to get on the ark, only to be preempted by the rain suddenly stopping. People immediately dismiss him and start to walk away, and Joan’s back to violating cowardice by claiming they should do so too…but then all prior prep and foreknowledge hits home for Evan: if Long cut corners and violated building codes on the community, he also did it on the first structure he built—the dam.
Sure enough, Long’s violations all catch up to him as the dam starts cracking, the squall having proven the last straw. Evan immediately goes back to using morality and leadership by yelling for all to board the ark again, although the results are the same…until the dam ruptures, releasing a torrent downstream. Immediately, the police wield leadership themselves by ordering all aboard the ark, with the last people only just barely making it inside before the water slams into the ship, knocking it free of its mounts while also annihilating Prestige Crest. The force of the current pulls the ark over a ledge and into the Potomac River, where a crisis occurs: they’re heading for a bridge, one which they can’t miss due to the ship’s size. Evan immediately uses improv by climbing onto the bowsprit and frantically calling for the ark to halt, ultimately resorting to yelling at God, “How about a little help here?” Sure enough, God answers via an incredible use of direct-indirect acts by lifting the floodwaters and using them to redirect the ark down a nearby road, heading straight for the Capitol Building. The sight of the ark barreling toward Congress freezes the vote of Long’s bill, not to mention the man himself, and everyone frantically evacuates before the ship comes to a gentle rest before the outer wall.
Long promptly comes out, completely stymied, only to lose his voice when Evan reveals the reservoir ruptured, destroying Prestige Crest. The former, still stunned, promptly violates cowardice, morality, and delicacy of honor again by trying to blame Evan, but is stopped by an angry llama’s spit, a natural use of improv to silence his belligerence. As the film ends, Evan is reinstated, and Long’s bill is suspended pending an investigation into his profiteering.
This was a fascinating experience, one which shows how flexible Sun Tzu’s wisdom truly is. It also shows just how effective it can be, as well as why, to this day, so many have said “Follow Sun Tzu, and you’ll win; ignore him, and you’ll lose.”
Footnotes:
1: Evan Almighty, dir. Tom Shadyac (2007)
2: Lionel Giles, The Art of War (New York, NY; Fall River Press, 2011), 3.
3: Giles, The Art of War, 3.
4: Giles, The Art of War, 15.
5: Giles, The Art of War, 28.
6: Giles, The Art of War, 28.
7: Giles, The Art of War, 33.
8: Giles, The Art of War, 3.
9: Giles, The Art of War, 50.
10: Giles, The Art of War, 4.
11: Giles, The Art of War, 3.
12: Giles, The Art of War, 41.
13: Giles, The Art of War, 27.
14: Giles, The Art of War, 28.
Bibliography
Shadyac, Tom, director. Evan Almighty. 2007; Universal Pictures, 2007. 96 min. DVD.
Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles. New York: Fall River Press, 2011.
Andrew Nickerson is originally from Massachusetts, and has studied military history/tactics/strategy for almost 30 years. He has a BA in History (English minor) from UMASS Lowell and JD from Mass. School of Law. He’s self-published a novella on Amazon, and printed 1 article apiece on Polygon, Anime Herald, and Pipeline Artists, 3 more on Ariel Chart, 2 articles and 1 short story on Academy of Heart and Mind, a short story in Evening Street Review’s 2022 Winter Edition, an article in the August 2023 edition of “Alice Says Go F*** Yourself” online magazine, another article in NewMyths’ September issue, a short story in Bindweed’s Winter 2023 issue, and recently printed an article in the Spring 2024 edition of Encephalon Literary Journal.
Academy of the Heart And Mind 