Escapism. One of my favorite words. An activity or form of entertainment that allows people to forget about the real problems of life. There are many activities where you can practise escapism. Yesterday a friend and I started talking about one of these activities: live story telling.
Is it becoming a lost art form?
Honestly, ask yourself: When did you tell someone else a really captivating story? Or how long ago did you entertain your friends recounting an event in a lively fashion? I'm not talking about a joke or a brief anecdote. I'm talking about narrating a real or fictional event for at least a couple of minutes, using different voices and vivid descriptions of the surroundings.
Our attention is constantly being interrupted by technology nowadays, and before I continue I just want to say that I am in no way against technology used wisely. Technology allows me to stay connected to friends far away and facilitates my writing. Nevertheless I've noticed that I sometimes let myself be unnecessarily distracted by my cell phone, computer or other technical devices. This is the case for most of us I guess, especially kids who take technology for granted and have never experienced a life without it.
The curriculum of the Swedish language course requires the students in the gymnasium (kind of like high school / college) to write an essay and deliver an argumentative speech on a certain topic. Last year the topic was Stories and Legends, and in their argumentative speech, the majority of the students pleaded for the thesis Parents should read stories aloud to their children more often. Interesting. Even they saw the difference between themselves as little kids and youngsters of today.
I definitely see a difference. When I was a child, my dad used to make up stories that he told me before I went to bed at night. I cherished those moments! I didn't watch TV, and I certainly didn't have an iPad to watch movies or play games on, and it wasn't something I missed (even though iPads probably weren't invented at the time, haha). Moreover, my grandmother was an expert at telling thrilling, nerve-wrecking and sometimes gory anecdotes from her own life. How I marveled at these accounts. Nothing could draw the attention away from grandma's exceptional story telling!
Story telling has survived in the form of movies and TV-shows, but it's not the same as live story telling where you have to use your imagination to picture the sights and sounds being described. Sure, we have novels and short stories, but reading is something we do in our solitude. Telling stories is a way of socializing and bonding.
To conclude, I hope to revive live story telling. It takes skills to tell a story and to captivate your audience. Reversely, it takes listening skills and patience to enjoy and savour a story being told. Who's with me?
Is it becoming a lost art form?
Honestly, ask yourself: When did you tell someone else a really captivating story? Or how long ago did you entertain your friends recounting an event in a lively fashion? I'm not talking about a joke or a brief anecdote. I'm talking about narrating a real or fictional event for at least a couple of minutes, using different voices and vivid descriptions of the surroundings.
Our attention is constantly being interrupted by technology nowadays, and before I continue I just want to say that I am in no way against technology used wisely. Technology allows me to stay connected to friends far away and facilitates my writing. Nevertheless I've noticed that I sometimes let myself be unnecessarily distracted by my cell phone, computer or other technical devices. This is the case for most of us I guess, especially kids who take technology for granted and have never experienced a life without it.
The curriculum of the Swedish language course requires the students in the gymnasium (kind of like high school / college) to write an essay and deliver an argumentative speech on a certain topic. Last year the topic was Stories and Legends, and in their argumentative speech, the majority of the students pleaded for the thesis Parents should read stories aloud to their children more often. Interesting. Even they saw the difference between themselves as little kids and youngsters of today.
I definitely see a difference. When I was a child, my dad used to make up stories that he told me before I went to bed at night. I cherished those moments! I didn't watch TV, and I certainly didn't have an iPad to watch movies or play games on, and it wasn't something I missed (even though iPads probably weren't invented at the time, haha). Moreover, my grandmother was an expert at telling thrilling, nerve-wrecking and sometimes gory anecdotes from her own life. How I marveled at these accounts. Nothing could draw the attention away from grandma's exceptional story telling!
Story telling has survived in the form of movies and TV-shows, but it's not the same as live story telling where you have to use your imagination to picture the sights and sounds being described. Sure, we have novels and short stories, but reading is something we do in our solitude. Telling stories is a way of socializing and bonding.
To conclude, I hope to revive live story telling. It takes skills to tell a story and to captivate your audience. Reversely, it takes listening skills and patience to enjoy and savour a story being told. Who's with me?
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