3/10/22, 12:18 AM Reporter

A RT I C L E S ▼ PODCAST VIDEO PRINT

THE EVOLUTION OF STORYTELLING

by Melissa Mendoza | published May. 1st, 2015

I
t is in our nature to tell stories and inform others of our life events. Storytelling,
whether factual or fictional, is an intrinsic human characteristic. However, the way
we communicate with others has changed drastically over time. Storytelling
originated with visual stories, such as cave drawings, and then shifted to oral traditions, in
which stories were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. There
was then a shift to words formed into narratives, including written, printed and typed
stories. 

Due to the use of advancing technologies such as the printing press, the camera and the
internet and its social media platforms, the way we tell others stories and keep
ourselves informed about current topics has shifted to a more all-encompassing experience.
Technology has allowed humans to utilize all forms of storytelling through the years: visual
stories in photographs, spoken stories in videos and recordings and written words on blogs
and statuses.

Drawings: Cavemen and Hieroglyphics 

It is estimated that the Chauvet cave in France has drawings that date back 30,000 years.
These drawings detail animals, such as deer and bison, as well as themes of survival,
according to Nature Index. It has been shown that humans in all societies, even dating back
to cavemen, have an inclination toward visual representations. Chauvet cave drawings
were not just casual doodles, but rather art that displayed the talents of skilled craftsmen at
the time. They reflected a universal language by which all could understand and appreciate
the stories told with a stick, in mud or in clay. 

Another common form of drawing used to communicate stories is the use of hieroglyphs in
ancient Egypt. This form of writing utilized pictographic characters as symbols and sounds.
The hieroglyphic language dates back about 5,000 years and is recognized as one of the
world's earliest writing systems. It was not only used for religious documents, but also to
line tombs and temples with messages to future inhabitants. Since we are visual
individuals, drawings have always been an effective way to tell others stories about survival
and life.

ORAL TRADITION

Storytelling through oral tradition dates back to different points in history, depending on
the culture. These traditions use song, chant and epic poetry to tell stories that had been
handed down from generation to generation and eventually written and published. Myths
were also first passed on through word of mouth. For example, oral myths in the United
States are most common among Native American cultures. The Cherokee tribe continues to
recount their creation story, although it is sometimes skewed, depending on the
person telling it. Traditional storytelling by word of mouth still takes place whenever a
group of people get together to socialize, and it has helped to shape current studies in the
field of communications.

WRITTEN WORDS 

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There is evidence of written symbols that date back to about 9,000 years ago. The first
written stories were manually transcribed, whether on paper, stone or clay. As described
above, writing began as drawings, but over time changed into script. The current alphabets
were derived from older forms of writing, such as the Phoenician alphabet. 

The transition from oral to written culture overlapped, but is predominantly accounted
for in ancient Greece, where the earliest inscriptions date from 770 to 750 B.C. Scholars
suggest that "The Iliad" by Homer is the oldest surviving work in the Greek language that
originated from oral tradition, according to History of Information. Unfortunately, not all
populations were literate, so only the educated class was able to read and write stories. This
era also brought about the use of plays to tell stories.

The next great milestone in communications history is the introduction of mass printing
that would make news and other information more readily available to all.  Printing helped
increase literacy among lay people. Johannes Gutenberg is considered the inventor of the
printing press in the 15th century; however, 600 years before Gutenberg, Chinese monks
created a block printing mechanism that set ink to paper using wooden blocks.

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.

Media platforms such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have grown in popularity
in the 21st century. All of these platforms allow users to express their thoughts in a public
manner with everyone on the Internet or to choose with whom to share their
information. Twitter and Facebook allow users to post statuses, photos and videos of
memories and personal stories. Instagram, a photographic-based platform, enables users to
share only photos or videos.

This is intriguing because technology has given us the ability to practice our intrinsic nature
as visual individuals.

Technology has given us the

ability to practice our intrinsic
nature as visual individuals.
"The use of tools like Instagram is a way to tell a story quickly," fourth year Photographic
Technology student Yasmeena Azer said. "Some people still love reading more than
anything else, but pictures have their own way of grabbing an audience's attention."

Photography has the power to tell an entire story through the capture of just a moment in
time. Newspaper photography, for example, attempts to capture the entire essence of a
news article in one shot. A photograph has the ability to communicate stories
through emotion, mood, narrative, ideas and messages, according to the Digital
Photography School. 

Mev McMahon, a third year Photojournalism student, commented on how photography has

changed the way we tell stories.

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"Photographs evoke emotion and empathy," McMahon said. "They are a different form that
allow us to tell stories that words might not be able to justify." 

Unfortunately, there are shortcomings to the use of 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.

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