Against the Motion – Adyasha Behera
Humans and stories are intricately entwined. There would be no us without stories and stories without us. As Will Storr very precisely writes in his book, The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make us Human, stories give our existence the illusion of meaning and turn our gaze from the dread (Storr 15, 2019). Not only did we encompass the essentiality of stories, we survive because of the stories that we weave in our everyday lives. Stories and the art of storytelling unfurled its wings over time, reaching the remote villages and places and originating from these isolated pockets of society. However, with the invention of computers and the advent of the internet, the art of storytelling has evolved into being more accessible and inclusive. A click on the keypad and you enter into a fathomless sea of digital stories, conversely, the stories that are somewhere bereft of the original storytellers. The age of digitisation was pushed a notch up by the onset of a pandemic.
While we were confined in the houses we called homes; the only window opened to the world was the virtual and digital platforms. This push towards digitisation, however, does have specific profound implications that can not be oblivious. Virtual media like Twitter/Instagram/Facebook stories have impacted the generation that prefers reading online than physical books. With the short witted stories that could be easily accessible to the readers, the virtual social media platforms do pose a potential threat to the authenticity and legitimacy of the ownership of original writers’ work. The spontaneity of the social media stories might capture the attention of the readers and users, but not for long. The digital storytelling enabled with the channels of social media platforms, could potentially lead to a complete deadlock through the entangled maze of hyperlinks and advertisements. This essay stands against the argument as it will try to delve deeper into the discussions and contentions enveloping the rationale of why print novels are more artistic and innovatory than the digital method of storytelling.
Print novels are the more conventional form of more intimate storytelling and a closed affair, between the storyteller and the reader. You sit down with a book, turning the pages with your fingers, feeling the words speak directly to you through the visuals of your mind—the only distraction being from your end. The print novels carried the idea of an ‘aura’ that Walter Benjamin talks about in his book, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Print novels are the tangible and palpable methods of storytelling that enclose in itself a world of creativity. While it is comparatively more manageable for the digital storytellers to create the illusion of the world, they are weaving through their stories, the print novels depend heavily on the readers’ perception and comprehension. This entails the fabrication of a world built upon the foundation of words and put together through the reader’s perspective.
Printed texts are still popular because of various factors, be it for preserving the ‘aura’ and ‘essence’ of reading a book or the medical reasons that arise when using too much of electronic devices. According to a study conducted by Khalid in the year, 2014 concluded that students who participated in the survey prefer printed texts over ebooks. This was because of the portability and readability that the printed texts offer (Khalid 256, 2014).
Another concern surrounding creativity in social media platforms, like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook stories, is the uncertainty of the authenticity and originality of the stories and content. The digital method of storytelling promotes the lesser-known writers and authors to reach out to a broader audience, yes, but also pose a potential threat to the stories’ credibility. The original storytellers might or might not be able to directly communicate with their readers, which could affect the process of intimate storytelling.
Social media platforms are the main channels of propagating information and stories and reaching a greater audience. But the originality, creativeness and freshness often are at a threat of being diffused in the process. Social media hashtags that are often used as a form of social activism, for instance, fail to deliver the original message. #ChallengeAccepted is a social media hashtag that originated in Turkey as #İstanbulSözleşmesiYaşatır that translates to ‘enforce Istanbul Convention’ according to an article by The Guardian. The movement was started to create awareness about the protest to uphold the Istanbul convention that their government wanted to repeal. It was raised to spread awareness regarding the escalating femicide, violence against women and gender-based violence. The movement wanted to showcase how pictures of murdered women resulted in the monochrome black and white images in the newspaper (McKernan). However, the purpose and the objective behind the hashtag are diluted and lost, stripping the movement to a mere women empowerment where women posted pictures online to support other women. The real reason behind #ChallengeAccepted was somewhere buried and the idea lost in the maze of social trends.
Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are a novel and fresh ways to interact and engage with the new-age ‘digital’ audience, yes, but with time, the freshness of the stories starts to wilt away without due credits to the writer. Views, short stories and even comic strips are copied without acknowledging the original writer. For example, a cartoonist, Adam Ellis claimed that the award-winning short film, Keratin, had been blatantly plagiarised from one of his comics without due credits (Cronin).
The art of storytelling has been evolving and adapting over the years of our existence with the advancements in technology. It would be wrong to object to the course of transformation. But, at the same time, we cannot let go of the idea of traditional printed novels and texts. Everything has its charm and ‘aura’ retaining, which would help preserve the practice. Social and digital platforms are a great way to increase engagement, yes, but printed novels are all about the intimacy and sense of confidentiality of the reader with the book and the stories that the writer has inter-knitted.
And storytelling has always been about this intimacy, isn’t it?
REFERENCES
Khalid, Adeel. “Text Books: ebook Vs. Print.” Journal of Education and Human Development 3.2 (2014): 243-258.
McKernan, Bethan. “Challenge Accepted: Turkish Feminists Spell out Real Meaning of Hashtag.” The Guardian, 4 Aug. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/31/challenge- accepted-turkish-feminists-spell-out-real-meaning-of-hashtag.
Cronin, Brian. “Cartoonist Adam Ellis Claims Keratin Plagiarized His Work.” CBR, 2 Feb. 2021, www.cbr.com/cartoonist-adam-ellis-claims-short-film-keratin-plagiarized-his-work.
