(no subject)

[fantasticmuse]

Prof brought up an interesting point in my African-American Lit class, something that's been discussed a lot before. He was talking mostly about Storytellers, and their function and how necessary they are for society.

Which gets me thinking: Who are our storytellers? I know there are mediums to tell the story- movies, tv, novels, whatever. And supposedly the writers are the storytellers.

But is that a different sort? Not Storytellers, capital s, but storytellers. Just a job, just entertainment. Is what we have now, with a few exceptions, just flash and entertainment, no substance? Does The O.C. have some deeper meaning, or does it just exist as a distraction.(Not that there's anything wrong with that, distractions are necessary too.)

What I'm really asking is: Who's keeping our collective social consciousness? Are they in our communities, in our homes?

I'm just curious. Who do you see as our Storytellers, the keeper of what makes us human?

Comments

[captaincooze.livejournal.com]

I think the media we use to tell stories have become the storytellers, and I think we've lost and gained from that. I mean, look how the movie adaptations of "The Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter" have added to the experience of reading the books, but in the addition to that experience, we've lost the ability and opportunity to imagine the universe of the book for ourselves. When you think of what Aragorn or Gollum looks or sounds like, doesn't it bear a striking resemblence to Viggo and the CG character? Still, the traveling minstrel of medieval days doesn't exist anymore, we have the traditional theatre, music, and written tradition, but they've morphed and changed.