DC roadtrip

So, I’m on my way to DC with two friends, it is currently 930 at night, and we just got on the road. It’ll be a long night, but whatever, as a young college graduate I have the energy for that, where others would not. In addition, we are arguing about music, which is not unusual for this crowd. I will report on people watching as I do it in DC. I brought my camera, so it should be an interesting weekend.

 

On a side note, I want to talk for a second about stories. I think that stories can be the most compelling things people experience. Obviously others agree with me as well, given the success of the movie industry and publishing.

At the same time, I think it’s important to realize that stories lose their meaning when they are told too many times. I used to think that this was because they simply lost detail, or lost something in the telling, but I don’t know that that is really true. It might be that they simply lose some of their meaning in a true form. When everyone thinks they know the meaning, they are less inclined to examine the story for true relevance. Take for instance the bible. It’s full of depth and meaning, but everyone already thinks they know what it means, when in reality they totally have it wrong. I think it is hard for a story to keep its meaning through so many retellings, and reinterpretations. It also doesn’t help that people are constantly told what the bible means, and not left to interpret it for themselves, but that’s another story.

It’s a shame that stories lose their meaning, but I think it’s the driving force behind human creativity as well. People are really always telling the same stories, but their ability to find new ways to tell them is quite extraordinary. A tweak here, a different character there, and you have a completely new experience unfolding in front of you.

Storytelling has evolved pretty dramatically over the years, but I think people often fail to make the connection between modern story-tellers and those in the past. Movies and books are our modern forms of stories, instead of just one man retelling events, or a group of actors re enacting an event, we now have an entire ensemble of actors, directors, writers, and special effects gurus working to create something worth showing to thousands of people.

Storytelling has also become quite a profitable industry, people literally make millions, and create fame for themselves, by acting in stories, or directing them. That’s impressive, but the monetization of storytelling does remove some of its meaning, I think.