I’ve had discussions with many people about what constitutes Storytelling to them. Many have preferences over others, but they can accept other forms as legitimate. Some, sadly, in a field where we should embrace ART and have open minds, can be as close minded as anyone else.
We CAN appreciate an art form (such as music) but have differing tastes…and it should all be OK. In a creative field I feel ALL the forms within that discipline should be accepted for what it is, not relegated to a lower standing, if any at all, in the discipline.
I’m not asking if what type of teller (if teller ye be) you are…just anyone: what type of storytelling do you enjoy most?
Mar 09, 2011 @ 18:28:38
I wish the poll had let me rank them, instead of picking just one! I love performances that interact with the audience, so I chose interactive.
Mar 09, 2011 @ 18:39:06
I’m also very partial to orally created stories, in otherwords tales that are first told and retold before they are ever set to paper or computer screen. I believe the feel and power of these stories are very different from tellings taken from written work or written first before it is told.
Mar 11, 2011 @ 01:38:07
It’s difficult to pick just one. I chose traditional folk tales/myths/fairy tales because to me that is the historic base of storytelling. But these tales can be interactive, performance, even personal if interwoven with our own stories. I’m not a big fan of the “personal” stories that are so popular nowadays because, well, most of them are fiction or fictionalized accounts. I feel duped when a teller tells an audience a story that might be based on something that happened but has widely diverged from the real events of the teller’s life. I’m not talking about tall tales and lies–those are obvious and a lot of fun. But if a teller says that his/her grandfather was killed in the mines, we assume he worked underground, right? What if the truth is that he was electrocuted in the shop? Does that make you feel duped, or is that only me?
Mar 12, 2011 @ 03:59:36
Granny Sue..no, it’s not only you. I’m not the biggest fan of personal storytelling, even though I do some when asked. I feel that this whole rush for personal tales as opposed to traditional or created tales (I’m with Rivka on that as well) is part of the Twitter/Facebook “it’s all about me..let me tell you about me” age we’re in. I DO use Facebook as a networking/fooling around (not sexual)/reconnecting thing. I don’t need to know what people ate, where they are off to, etc. Share ideas, ideologies, support causes, etc..yes. The minute of life? Not really.
I was asked to do a three min true story of growing up in The Bronx at an upcoming event. I practiced it today for a few friends. One of them thought, as you stated, “that’s not really true” (it was). So.. fact & fiction intermix..maybe these are our new eddas? I doubt it, but..