3/8/12
Dramatic App.
Storytelling has been around as long as there have been humans roaming the Earth, granted if we went back and read or listened to old stories we would have no idea what is going on but with all the great things that have happened in history it would be interesting to hear the opinions of people who actually lived during these events. Story telling is as old a tradition as it gets, you can just imagine the mayans sitting around campfires telling stories, the pilgrims telling stories of their voyage, Christopher Columbus telling people the earth is not flat, and so on. Storytelling has been a rich part of all traditions, to be honest I can't think of a culture that does have storytelling.
There have been different variations of story telling over the years, religious stories, movies, books, myths, etc. There is no significant finding of the first story ever told, most believe it to be a caveman telling his fellow cavemen about a hunt or voyage that he recently went out on, but there is no proof. Ancient story tellers were always very well respected, their stories were mostly used as tools of education and to teach lessons to the younger ones. They were also used to pass down information about your family (or your village/tribe) from generation to generation, this was a way for people to know who they were and where they came from. Today we have records for everything so story telling is not as vital, but in order to know where your great grandfather came from back in those days, someone would have to explain it to you through story.
There have been different variations of story telling over the years, religious stories, movies, books, myths, etc. There is no significant finding of the first story ever told, most believe it to be a caveman telling his fellow cavemen about a hunt or voyage that he recently went out on, but there is no proof. Ancient story tellers were always very well respected, their stories were mostly used as tools of education and to teach lessons to the younger ones. They were also used to pass down information about your family (or your village/tribe) from generation to generation, this was a way for people to know who they were and where they came from. Today we have records for everything so story telling is not as vital, but in order to know where your great grandfather came from back in those days, someone would have to explain it to you through story.
Today storytelling has drastically changed, it is now more of just about entertainment rather then information and the setting for which stories take place has changed. Stories in the old days were mostly told around campfires, or just everyone huddled around each other listening to someone tell their stories. Now days people go to the movie theater, theatre, stand up comedy shows or read books on their own to be entertained, they can even sit at home and watch television, soap operas are stories that never end. Story telling has changed in its form as well, today we have stand up comedians who just tell stories about everyday situations to an audience and hopes for good reaction. These stories can even be meaningless, talking about what they did yesterday, but one way or another this is storytelling. People want to be entertained they want to see stories that captivate them, that make them feel like they're there, a great storyteller uses a lot of detail and does not leave anything out. Sometimes i'll watch a stand up act and it was funny but could have been better and then the next time you see the same person they changed their joke and now it is a lot more funny, so a great storyteller is always adjusting their story to make it the best story they can tell.
Works cited:
www.storytellingday.net;
youtube.com; The World of Theatre by Mira Felner;
