This paper will explore documentaries and storytelling as an important part of culture, what a documentary is compared to a story, and how storytelling is abandoned for this modern media. In this world there exists something that we all have in common and upon which the success of our entire civilization rests. It is the almost magical way in which we communicate and understand each other. Simply said, it is storytelling. Storytelling is a very cool, in media terms, interactive experience between a teller and a listener. In a sense, many mediums such as novels and television, while they contain stories, are not seen in the same light as "storytelling" which permits live storytellers the opportunity to morph and change their stories based on the reactions of story listeners. Most of us recognize story in every facet of life. The American writer and psychiatrist Robert Coles expresses that stories, “whether written or heard are an encounter with metaphors that bear on everyday life.” Those of us who are careful listeners come to see people’s everyday lives as stories. When speaking to one another we tell our stories, and that the stories we reach out and identify with can help us make choices, find direction, identify morals, and understand our personal lives. (The Call of Story) Anthropologists, psychologists, and historians believe that storytelling has been with us since the beginning of our existence. For thousands of years, as people struggled to survive, they passed on stories of the wisdom and knowledge they accumulated. In early times, storytelling was used to explain significant and often confusing events such as storms, tidal waves, lightening, and fire. Special types of stories about heroes and gods were used to bind individuals to a common belief system, and moral tales conveyed the first laws that ensured the harmony, cooperation, and ultimately the success of early human populations.(Ebscohost) The stories we are willing to share with one another give our culture its values, beliefs, goals, and traditions. They bring us together into a society, allowing us to work together with a common purpose. Storytelling lives at the heart of human experience. Storytelling is a compelling form of personal communication as ancient as language itself. Since the beginnings of humankind, we have shared through stories the events, beliefs, and values held dear by our families, communities, and cultures. The most important stories we share may be those with family and friends, but all help preserve memory, explain our present, and imagine our future.
Storytelling’s impact on people who use it has been life saving in certain cases. By asserting the existence of different perspectives, writers get to suppress their own opinions in order to sympathize with others. (insert thing about meta-fiction) With this idea in mind, author Kate Taylor wrote the novel Serial Monogamy, a meta-fiction of a writer recalling the story of her husband’s affair and her deal with terminal breast cancer, all through her telling of Dickens’ secret life and tales of the Arabian Nights. In Serial Monogamy, storytelling makes people more understanding as they explore new perspectives.
This report aims to make light of certain elements of documentary making that are perhaps more susceptible to influence on the director’s part, and once again explore the effect of these decisions on the audience’s reaction to the information presented.
Overall this genre of conversational narrative is useful to those who need to “reconstruct and make sense of actual and possible life experiences” (7). There are pieces to a story that may not come as clear to a person who has been through traumatic situations, and storytelling is used to help not only with getting the story straight, but for healing as well.
Individuals develop their personal values and beliefs from a variety of sources. Major areas one gets ideas and values from is their parent, their society, and their culture. One way all three of these sources combine to instil certain values and beliefs in people is through oral storytelling. Listening to stories- oral or not- is a way people develop different thoughts, attitudes and beliefs; therefore, what theme or moral lessons a story has in very impactful on one's life. In “The Sun Still Rises in the Same Sky: Native American LIterature” by Joseph Bruchac this concept is explained in Native American literature. “We can make some important generalization about American Indian oral traditions. First of all, Native American cultures use stories to teach moral lessons and convey
1. Growing up we all heard stories. Different types of stories, some so realistic, we cling onto them farther into our lives. Stories let us see and even feel the world in different prespectives, and this is becuase of the writter or story teller. We learn, survive and entertain our selves using past experiences, which are in present shared as stories. This is why Roger Rosenblatt said, "We are a narrative species."
Stories are a means of passing on information, acting as a medium to transport cultural heritage and customs forward into the future. In his essay titled "You'll Never Believe What Happened," King says that, "The truth about stories is that that's all we are” (King Essay 2). Contained within this statement is a powerful truth: without stories, a society transcending the limitations of time could not exist. Cultures might appear, but they would inevitably die away without a means of preservation. Subsequent generations would be tasked with creating language, customs, and moral laws, all from scratch. In a way, stories form the core of society's existence.
The importance of a story is to have a purpose and meaning, through this, people are able to engage and learn with what is being told to them, it has to have a connection to the past, bringing it to the present and to involve both the body and mind senses. Through storytelling the audience should gain an understanding and have a sense of emotion touched and come alive, they should also be able to explore the possibilities within their culture and feel a deep connection to country.
Stories are an essential part of understanding the world and forming identities - whether they are individual, cultural, national or of any other kind.
Like the argument nature versus nurture, people have been telling stories for years, all the way back to the stone ages. Stories are the way people communicated the news and passed lessons from family
Storytelling has been used throughout history to explain the unexplained mysteries in the time of the storyteller. Today the current generation makes it appear that the “stories that sell the most cause” (Kristina) widely spread misconceptions and aggression towards these stereotypes. These misconceptions are seen throughout history, whether it is about the destructive forces of the weather or the animals roaming the planet we call home. Aggression can be seen evident throughout history as well, be it wars of religions live in the crusades, or the war against Afghanistan. Storytelling throughout time has created “a safe space in” (Horn) an environment. They have been used to calm the fears children from ancient times to the present, as well a comfort them when parents as they are told a story to help them sleep. Stories are told through the toughest times from economic failure to bombings raining destruction from above. Historically storytellers have traditionally been the elders of the communities who start to tell younger generations when “the person [is] at a young age” (Horn) and more often then not influences the overall outlook of that child. History has been filled with the tradition of the elders of t...
Why do we tell stories? What can stories change? A story is an account of past events in someone's life or in the evolution of something. Stories we tell can often take a toll on someone’s life, because it is a way of keeping memoires alive that might have faded once before. After telling stories it may be worth remembering, although sometimes stories we tell are exaggerated, or only what we remember, we tell stories because it is apart of life. If it was not for storytelling, what would even exist in history? The bible is the oldest story told to man. The Bible is also the oldest story to ever be told. Stories we tell do largely overlap however, creating a common core. Similar to when we hear stories that are passed
Eitzen, D. (1995). "When Is a Documentary? Documentary as a Mode of Reception." Cinema Journal. v.35, n.1, p.92-94.
History itself has gotten much influence from storytelling, being drastically affect and with the usage of new technologies; such as the video camera, computers, and video games, storytelling itself has drastically changed. People today can create most anything, as everyone today has some access to a camera, and storytellers find a way to show their voice through other mediums such as the internet through the creation of film. Virtual mediums of entertainment and communication have made the tran...
Many people tell stories to inform others about themselves. Throughout my life people in my family have told me many stories, and behind each story there is a purpose. The stories I was told growing up were about experiences that people in my family have had or things that I have done. These stories mean a lot to me because through these stories different family members reveal many things about themselves. They want me to understand their ideas, beliefs, or feelings about a certain subject. They want people to praise or admire what they have done or accomplished. Funny stories are told to humor or embarrass someone, usually me. Other stories express that we are not alone in the world, and there are other people, like my aunt, that have had similar experiences.
establish and maintain friendship; to construct and communicate a sense of self; to recast events in ways that are satisfying; and to participate in their culture. Kumar (1992) talked about real gains of storytelling as it promotes good listening; gives children training in prediction that further reinforces the child’s confidence in his/her ability to predict; to experience the world around them and gives meaning to their words. He further appreciated storytelling for its ‘pluralistic inheritance’ and that it should be celebrated as an oral heritage.