The Art of Storytelling (Part 1): How Movies Have Revolutionized Performance Art
Roots
Since the advent of language, people have been creating their own venues in order to tell their stories, whether the stories have a specific purpose or are strictly for entertainment value. Every ancient civilization has their legends, myths, and stories, just as every culture has their renowned storytellers. Primarily, storytelling was conducted in the oral tradition in combination with expressions and gestures. Another primitive form of storytelling was through art, as seen in cave drawings. In the oral tradition, the storyteller provides the audience with mental images through words, songs, and movements to get his message across. Audience would then, in turn, interpret the story through their own personal experiences. No two stories were ever told in the same manner, nor were the audiences’ interpretations of the story. The experiences of both the storyteller and the audience, and how they interact are what make storytelling special. Storytelling is, indeed, the first true art form.
Grassroots
After witnessing a storyteller perform from his stage, an audience member would then retell the story to others, most likely his family members. The more the audience member would tell the story, the more it would became his story. The plot would never deviate, and the original message would remain intact, but the details change. Overtime, as these stories are passed along orally from generation to generation, they became embellished and exaggerated, eventually growing into legends and myths. With this development, storytellers became innovators, looking for new and creative ways to get their voices heard. Following the oral tradition came artistic expression and performance art, followed by music and written literature. From this point forward, the sky became the limit. Storytellers began combining the different aspects of the aforementioned styles, producing theatrical performances.
Immortality
Storytelling began making major breakthroughs in the 19th century with advancements in technology. First came the photograph, followed by the motion picture. Using these inventions allowed the creator to permanently attach his name to the story, giving himself an everlasting association with the story, and in a lot of cases, ownership. With arrival of recorded sound in the 20th century, the modern motion picture was created, and changed storytelling forever. Since then, major motion pictures became the American standard in storytelling. If the story is worth telling, no matter what its original format may be, you can be damn sure that it will be made into a movie.
Tune in next week for The Art of Storytelling (Part 2): Why You Hate Movie Remakes, and Why You Shouldn't.
Touché, young Mr. Carrol. This will not, however, defend those who destroy fine literature, but defend those who remake old films for new generations.
Your hangup is a good one, but for a discussion all its own. I agree with you, though, that often times a fine piece of literature can be destroyed by a filmmaker.
I hope to hear about how filmmakers butcher fine literature by turning it into a advertisement driven piece of crap film in part two