When you think of stories, what comes to mind?
Children’s fairytales? Hollywood blockbusters? Both are examples of it. But do you know how important stories really are to us as a species?
The art of storytelling has been around literally as long as we have. Humans are a storytelling animal – it’s hardwired into our DNA. In fact, every culture that exists or has been known to exist has had a strong central storytelling component. The first known incidence of recorded storytelling is circa 15000 BC, found on the cave walls of Lascaux in the Pyrenees.
Children are especially drawn to stories, and love to hear them repeated over and over (if you doubt this, ask the parent of any preschooler). Don’t have one to tell them? Well, then they’ll just make up their own. That’s how much we as a species need them.
So what’s so important about stories?
Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.
–Robert McKee
Storytelling is core to our cultural experience; it’s used for entertainment, education, cultural preservation, and the instilling of cultural values. It’s how we hand down our cultural identity from one generation to the next. Shared stories create solidarity among members of our social group; those stories become a part of our self-identity.
And this is precisely why children are drawn to them – as they begin to learn about the world around them, stories teach them what is culturally acceptable to believe, and who they are within the culture. They teach values, how to behave in specific situations, and what to aspire to.
Stories give us a framework that helps convey information in a meaningful and memorable way, much more so than facts and figures alone. It gives us a framework through which we can make sense of the world. Good stories are compelling. They are made for sharing. They endure.
Because storytelling is such an integral part of human existence, storytellers have the capacity to shape the way we think. They create realities. They can sway our opinions. They can make us believe.
