Evolution of Storytelling: Research

Mediums/Sub-Topics
- Verbal
- Books
- Poems
- Mythology
- Cave Paintings
- Visual Stories
- Radio
- Movies
- TV
- Advertisements
- PSA
- DVD
- CD
- Internet
- Camera
- Youtube
- Social Media
- Texting
- Video Games
- Biography
- Museums
- Newspaper
- Plays
- Music
Main/Key Sub-Topics
- Verbal
- Books
- Newspaper
- Internet/Social Media
- TV/Movies
- Plays
- Mythology/Folktales
- Video Games

History (HIstory of Storytelling, Storytelling day.net)

Today, storytelling is an extremely important part of our lives and cultures, it even influences
every aspect of lives in a sense. Movies, books, music, news media, religions, architecture and
painting, you name it.
The oldest surviving tale in the storytelling history is the epic, Gilgamesh, relating to the deeds
of a famous Sumerian king. The earliest known record in the origin of storytelling can be found
in the Egypt, when the sons of Cheops entertained their father with stories.

The history of storytelling reveals that the stories came in all variety. Myths, legends of all kinds,
fairy tales, trickster stories, fables, ghost tales, hero stories, and epic adventures, these stories
were told, retold. It was common for people to believe in the stories of gods, which bound them
to a common heritage and belief
One of the universal themes is repetition, of which there is plenty of evidence in Western
folklore -the 'rule of three'. Some common well known examples are three attempts are made or
three brothers set out etc;
http://www.storytellingday.net/history-of-storytelling-how-did-storytelling.html

Evolution from Technology (Mendoza, The Evolution of Storytelling- Technology and Media)
The use of technology has shaped the way that we interact with others and how we tell stories.
Starting from around the year 1800, technology has contributed to the creation of photography,
motion pictures, telephones, radio, TV, digital media, mobile media and social media; the
current most influential form of communication is social media.
This is intriguing because technology has given us the ability to practice our intrinsic nature as
visual individuals.
"Photographs evoke emotion and empathy. They are a different form that allow us to tell
stories that words might not be able to justify." -McMahon
Due to the social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to tell stories; now
we are always unsure of what is true. Social media has given its users the power to write freely
and express personal opinions. The nature of this interface has allowed for storytellers to remain
anonymous, which can be best represented through the use of blogging. Technology has allowed
us to return to a form of visual representations that tell our stories.

http://reporter.rit.edu/tech/evolution-storytelling

How it Changes With Different Cultures (Storytelling, Britannica Kids Student Encyclopedia)
Stories may be told with musical accompaniment, or they may be chanted, sung, or spoken, or
danced or pantomimed, or they may be told in several of these or other ways in combination. To
Western ears and eyes, it seems that several distinct art forms are being blended together. In the
traditions in which these stories are told, however, the variations are all simply modes of one
activity: storytelling.

In societies with the strongest, most active oral traditions, storytellers have been held in high
esteem and often have occupied positions of honor, as priests, shamans, revered teachers, or
wise elders. In traditional Australian Aboriginal cultures, for example, storytelling plays such a
major role in education and social relations that the most gifted elder storyteller may be
designated as official guardian of the community's stories and, thus, its traditions.

When a traditional culture has long been oppressed, recovering its oral tradition is often an early
step in restoring the group's sense of community and identity. Today, governments and teachers
in many areas that were long dominated by stronger neighbors or overseas colonial powers are
making concerted efforts to rescue the storytelling practices of the original peoples. In
Canada's Nunavut territory official initiatives have sought to preserve the age-old practice of
storytelling among the indigenous Inuit.
Children wearing opera costumes perform on stilts as part of a traditional storytelling art at a a festival in
Hunan province, China. The stories typically feature themes from folk tales or operas or tell of real-life
heroes.
Xinhua/Landov

Modern Storytelling Structure/Analysis (Storytelling, Britannica Kids Student Encyclopedia)

Good storytelling has always been distinguished by its power to hold listeners spellbound and to
establish a bond between storyteller and listener. Many people today are rediscovering
communal storytelling as a uniquely pleasurable and rewarding human experience.
The modern storytelling movement values storytelling as a skilled performance craft and as a
shared experience between teller and audience. In common with social scientists who study
storytelling, storytelling revivalists consider spoken stories to be different in important ways from
written stories.
A written story is a finished, unchanging object, marked by carefully chosen and finely honed
language and having an existence entirely separate from its creator. Any number of isolated
individuals can admire, respond to, and interpret the very same story at any time.
By contrast, a storyteller's story is inseparable from the teller and listener(s). It exists only once,
in a single place at a single moment in time. Storytelling is a live, in-person experience, not the
creation of or response to an object.
A storyteller's language, story structure, and delivery style are influenced heavily by the telleraudience interaction. Skilled storytellers are flexible in their choice of words, images, and details,
shaping their narratives according to their listeners' expectations, cues, and responses. No two
storytellers will use the same words to tell the same tale; nor will the same teller do so on two
separate occasions.

A girl tells a tale at a national storytelling contest in Shenyang, China.

Xinhua/Landov

Those Who Try to Renew Interest (Storytelling, Britannica Kids Student Encyclopedia)
In response to renewed enthusiasm for storytelling in many modern societies, a number of
organizations and festivals have sprung up to connect those interested in experiencing and
pursuing the art. Among such organizations are the National Storytelling Network and the
International Storytelling Center, both in the United States; the Norwegian Storytellers' Guild
(Norsk Fortellerforum); the Australian Storytelling Guild; and the Society for Storytelling, in the
United Kingdom. A few of the many popular festivals include the Yukon International Storytelling
Festival, in Canada; Signifyin' and Testifyin' (sponsored by the Black Storytellers Alliance), the
National Storytelling Festival, and the National Youth Storytelling Showcase, all in the United
States; the Glistening Waters International Festival of Storytelling, in New Zealand; Beyond the
Border: the Wales International Storytelling Festival; and the Asian Congress of Storytellers, an
English-language festival held in Singapore.
Tlingit storyteller Gene Tagaban performs at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn.
Tom Raymond, Fresh Air Photographics

Work Cited
"History Of Storytelling How Did Storytelling Begin?" History Of Storytelling How Did Storytelling
Begin? N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016. <http://www.storytellingday.net/history-of-storytelling-how-didstorytelling.html>
Mendoza, Melissa. "The Evolution of Storytelling." Reporter Magazine. N.p., 1 May 2015. Web. 17 Nov.
2016. <http://reporter.rit.edu/tech/evolution-storytelling>
"storytelling." Compton's by Britannica. Britannica Online for Kids.
Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
<http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-284879/storytelling>.