![]() ![]() We have access to adventure without real danger or hardship. It’s life made extraordinary, heightened and organized around a purpose-and with all the boring bits removed. Here’s this valuable experience via story. Storytelling has always and forever been about simulating experience. TM: What fascinates me is the question of why humans pursue more and more immersive forms of story. One where the audience is the final arbiter of the story. This opening of the doors of creation to the audience is a result of us now having the tools to create a new class of immersive narrative experiences. What we’re seeing now is the elevation of the audience from a passive observer to an active participant and/or co-creator in the narrative. These examples are a reflection of creator-centric mediums, which are valid and valuable. TM: As someone who considers himself to be a writer first, I hasten to say: there’s nothing inherently wrong with static stories or passive audiences. Their role was to watch and listen and be entertained, enlightened, or informed. The nature of the content being prepared in advance and available on a schedule meant the audience then became passive observers. The creation of and mass distribution of linear content became the norm. They are not present for the creation or sharing a space with the creators. Here, the audience had no direct role in creating the story. Then, with the arrival of radio, film, and television, there was an explosion of mass-market popular entertainment. ![]() However, the direction of storytelling has been primarily from the stage to a passive audience. This, to a degree, paralleled the relationship theatre had to its audience. Audience participation in theatre, from the Greeks to today, has been a part of the dynamic to varying degrees. At that point, the author could exert control (within socially accepted parameters) over the creation of content.Ī replica of Gutenberg’s workshop at the Gutenberg-Museum (© Gutenberg-Museum, Mainz) No longer was it held within the confines of the church or scribes, but was now available to the masses. LA: The printing press is a major development in the sharing, democratization, and distribution of knowledge. TM: And even then, it really wasn’t until the 15th century and the invention of the printing press that literature found its way into the marketplace for a wide audience. It wasn’t until the advent of written literature that we saw creators delivering “fixed” (as in unable to be adjusted in real-time) stories to passive audiences. LA: The shift to a different dynamic was comparatively recent. Therefore, to some extent, storytelling is interactive by nature. So, in that sense, tellers and audiences have been co-creating stories in real-time for tens of thousands of years. Storytelling itself comes from the imaginative space between the teller and the audience. There’s even the option of soliciting input from the audience and then adjusting aspects of the story as it occurs. They can sense when something is not resonating and adjust in real-time accordingly. Like stage actors and musicians, the storyteller is also reacting to the emotions of the audience. The storyteller reads the audience, elicits reactions, and is in many ways a mentor or guide on taking people on a journey of imagination. We can see this in contemporary oral storytelling. The oral storyteller formed a relationship and shared experience with the audience. The audience was not at all removed from the teller. LA: The feedback loop between the traditional oral storyteller and the audience is intimate and instant. Cave paintings, like this one in Altamira, Spain, are some of our earliest evidence of the human drive to capture experience through story ![]()
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