Why do we need stories?
21 08 2014Well, another journalism class means that it’s time to jump back into work on this WordPress blog. It’s been almost two years since my last post, so hopefully I’m not too rusty. For class today, we read a bunch of sections from Telling True Stories which talked about how to write literary journalism and why it is important. The very first reading: “Stories Matter” by Jackie Banaszynski went so far as to call stories the defining element that makes us human (5). Banaszynski said that stories are our enduring soul, that one enduring element of our being that transcends our bodies, accomplishments, and material goods (4).
I have to agree with Banaszynski’s take on the intrinsic importance of stories to humanity. In a practical sense, stories teach. Stories allow us to learn from other people’s mistakes, so they give those who tell stories an evolutionary advantage. But, on a deeper level, stories allow us to transcend ourselves and become other people, other beings. Consuming written stories can reduce stress, improve brain function, and even make us more empathetic, They allow us to become more human. And for all of these reasons people crave stories. We need them just like (although maybe not the the same extent that) we need oxygen, food, and water. We seek them out in conversations, television shows, movies, comics, books, newspapers, and hundreds of different forms of media. We need them because “stories are our soul” (6).
It’s interesting that you write this as a story, Hannah. As we discussed in class, learning language is an “evolutionary advantage” because it allows us to communicate complex ideas.
Great use of links!