Storytelling has always been around, and new technological
advancements change it directly. Advancements such as writing and language change
literature and storytelling drastically. With the new technologies of
television, radio, and cinema, there are many new ways and outlets for
storytelling to change and evolve. New media has had the greatest influence of
all to the change and development of storytelling.
My digital
storytelling project was my first firsthand experience with storytelling using websites
and blogs. I have written on websites before, and have read many blogs, but
have never actually written a blog before. It opens a new perspective on storytelling.
What already had multiple alcoves in cinema, television, radio, written paper,
and mouth to mouth, storytelling now has brand new ones in blogging and
websites; and with these new outlets has new abilities to convey stories.
New
media has completely changed the ways stories are told. With websites and blogs
you now have the ability to have videos, images, sounds, and written text all
in one, to bring a whole new storytelling experience. What once took imagination,
now you can hear what the author meant for you to hear, and see what the author
meant for you to see. Now stories can be told solely through sounds, still images,
and videos. This completely throws traditional storytelling methods and ideologies
on their heads.
Now
the audiences for storytelling have expanded tenfold. Before, when stories were
told mostly through written text or film, you had to pay for the ticket to see
the movie, or you had to pay for a copy of the book to read. Now, you have the
ability to mix the good qualities of both, into one, and it’s now on the
internet, where billions of people can see it for free. Youth and old alike now
have easy, instant, and free access to this new and amazing form of storytelling.
Think
about how different old stories would be if they had had the ability to use new
media in their storytelling process. Stories like Lord of The Rings would feel
so much more impressive and grand. To be able to hear the different languages
of the different races, and be able to see the look and grand scale of the
large battles in the novel, would give a whole new life to it. All movies and
games made after it would follow the original intentions that J.R.R Tolkien had
intended. Other great and classic stories could have been so different, hearing
the voices and seeing the different scenes.
Stories such as the Iliad
and other classic stories would be so different. After such long periods of time,
the stories change with every new translation, but with new media you’d be able
to keep a consistent story. The images, sounds, and texts the author originally
intended wouldn’t be changed and tainted with different interpretations from
different readers over time. You’d have the original version of the story
online, with original links, sounds, texts, and videos.
With all the new technological advancements
authors have, storytelling has changed drastically. Now authors have the
ability to truly get across their feelings and meanings behind their works of
art, to a wide audience, without the fear of their feelings and meanings
getting corrupted. So many things have changed in the new modern era of the
world, and so has storytelling.
I somewhat disagree with you that “new media has completely changed the ways stories are told.” There is no doubt in my mind that digital media has in many ways enhanced storytelling, but it is still very much the same as it has been for years. Some may argue that the pictures and videos added are merely filling the deficit of the person telling the story and the lacking verbal and facial cues. I think story telling will always be evolving in its methods and despite changes, it will always just be a modified version of its original self. I do however, agree that blogging/digital media creates a larger audience for a person’s work. That is very useful, since disseminating a person’s work is often the hardest part of writing and digital media makes it simple and easy to share your work with the world.
ReplyDeleteI think that digital story telling has had a very large effect on how stories are told. It would be amazing to see what some authors wanted you to see. Stories are so heavily effected by how we interpret them that we could have a completly different image then the author intended. Though i feel story telling has changed I think the basic stories are kept intact, its the imagery that changes. Before visual media, unless the author drew a picture, a person had to rely on the verbal explination of a scene. Someone reading the Illiad now would probably have a completly different image in there head because there views are limited to there culture. The less detail a writer is, the more room there is for the readers cultural surroundings to seep into the story. Digital story telling does give a very clear image of how thing are supposed be. I belive that digital story telling will not be the last thing that effect how stories are told. Story telling has changed before so it is bound to change again.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the new medias we have available today have deeply effected the ways in which stories are told. So many different mediums and platforms in which story tellers can get their work across. The more media and detail an author puts into his work, the more the reader understands. However, adding too much detail could potentially limit the reader's imagination. A lot of time when someone hears a story, they create their own images for people. But when you add detail like adding media, you get the character the identity the author wants you to have. For example, the actor who plays Harry Potter in the movies, is the image everyone has for the Harry Potter in the books.
ReplyDeleteNice blog post Mark. I like your point that the new technologies of today have made storytelling more accessible. However, I also somewhat agree with Eli that stories will always have a constant component no matter the manner in which they are told. I also couldn't agree more with Troy about too much media can limit the readers' imaginations. Right on point there with the Harry Potter movies/books.
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