Storytelling lost to the documentary :: essays research papers fc

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, â€Å"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 storie s 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.