Thursday, April 05, 2012
Storytelling, Truth And Consequences
Techdirt: I really like telling stories. Quite a bit. At times, my friends will make fun of me for this, because if there's an opportunity when hanging out to tell a story, I often can't resist. An old friend has referred to it as "uncle Mike's story time." My wife likes to joke about the stories I use often -- that these are "date stories" -- because I probably told her a bunch of them back when we were dating, and she assumes that I told them to others prior to her as well (that might be true). She numbers the most common ones (e.g., "date story 37") to highlight how frequently I use some of them.
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Stories are a natural part of the human condition. Everywhere we go, everything we see and do, makes a story. This ranges from actual human interaction to the ones we make up while we're watching something more abstract. However, if it's a story, call it a story. Don't call it the truth. If you're telling us something regarding your life, but exaggerating it, say so. I think there is this stigma to a piece suddenly becoming less funny or poignant when it is advertised as "based on a true story." For me, at least, this is completely false. If it's a good piece, it's a good piece. And when I realize that, I won't care if it's truth or fiction.
Ok this is a big issue that comes up all the time in regards to many different platforms. I always think of the controversy surrounding A Million Little Pieces. Any potential copyright issues aside, I frankly don't care. If someone is telling a wholly true account of their life, that's great, and if it's exaggerated I just don't care. I am going to believe the story and invest myself in it while I'm reading, watching, or listening to it, and it doesn't much matter to me how exact it is. I understand that everyone gets explosively upset, but it doesn't have any effect on my experience taking in the story, and that is what I'm most concerned with. I want to have an experience that affects me in one way or another, and fiction or non-fiction can both do that and I don't care which one it is. When I'm experiencing it, I'll think of it in the same way. It just does not matter at all to me.
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