The Art of Storytelling
What is art? What
is its purpose? What is its meaning and why are we always talking
about it or participating in it?
Some say that art
is a form of expression. A language of the soul that can be
philosophically understood by the mind but is perceived with the help
of our tangible senses. Some say that it is something beyond our
senses – a culmination of them all to create an experience that
stays with you for a long time. It has also been defined by some as a
unique way of appreciating beauty. There are others who also say that
art is defined by the way in which a person lives life. All of this
puts us in deep thought. But when we come down to the crux of the
matter, art is a way of trying to say something and that makes it a
form of storytelling. The story of an incident, an event, a feeling,
a place, a thought, an idea or a story of another story. Art and
storytelling thus seem to have a synonymous relationship.
Artists have
always had a way of expressing their work and defining it in their
own words. Let’s take the example for a few famous names that we’ve
come across:
One of the
greatest artists to have walked our planet was Leonardo Da Vinci.
“Learn how to see. Realise that everything leads to everything
else”; and he was right in saying so because he was not only an
artist but also a scientist, inventor, sculptor and storyteller.
Arguably one of
the ‘big-4’ influencers of classical music, Ludwig Van
Beethoven was legendary for his emotion-filled compositions. His
own story of losing his hearing senses in his late 20’s and then
composing symphonies is an extraordinary tale in its own right.
As the epitome of
martial arts, Bruce Lee (Lee-Jun-fan) had philosophy flowing
through his veins. He believed that “Art calls from complete
mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.” He
also used his love of philosophy and martial arts as film-star.
Known as The
Polish Vatel (a man of bold and distinct status), Stanislaw
Czerniecki created his fable by publishing the first ever cook
book in the world – a Latin & Polish Bilingual known simply as
‘A collection of Dishes’. He rose to aristocracy and worked in
many of the royal houses and served as a soldier. He created the
first ever story of tastes.
When Coco
Chanel (Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel) made it look like as if she
dropped a bottle of perfume, she created her own saga that is known
today as Chanel No.5. She enticed every customer that walked into the
store with a lingering fragrance and made the shop owner stock her
product without question.
In a way,
storytelling is the culmination of arts. Whether told in the form of
a song, music, words or in action, storytelling is meant to either
educate you with knowledge or connect with you by empathising with
the subject matter. The method is also an important tool that has
deep impact, if done in a way that resonates with us. Writer Robert
McKee is quoted to have said that "Storytelling is the most
powerful way to put ideas into the world today". As a master
storyteller, he understands that every science needs explanation and
every explanation happens through a story. Poets, writers, artists,
filmmakers - all look at storytelling to share their art. And in the
film business, this means big bucks!
It isn’t just
an audio-visual medium; it transcends the senses of sight and sound
to create experiences, with the help of its storytelling. Whether an
ad film (advertisement), a documentary (a study / documentation of
the topic) or a feature film (commercial cinema – entertainment);
what is evident in filmmaking is a storytelling format that is used
to capture the interest of the audience. What we say is as
important and significant as how we say it.
Filmmakers from
across the world that have gained a place for themselves in their
domains will always vouch for compelling storytelling to share their
art. Whether it is Akira Korusawa from the Far East, Shyam Benegal
from India, Massimo Troisi from Italy or Steven Spielberg in the USA,
their primary focus deals with 2 major components – the subject and
the means. While E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and
Jurassic Park (1993) made us reimagine the world of aliens and
science fiction that led us back to prehistoric earth, they were
still very human. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial showed us
friendship, humour and the value of life regardless of where it is
from; Jurassic Park showed us how as a species, we (humans)
are the ones who are the most dangerous of all.
In the initial
years of Walt Disney’s animation films, audiences thronged to see
the wonders of talking animals and the idea of personifying them.
Later however, animation became tagged as “children’s stories”.
But with powerful storytelling, this has changed, over the years
films such as Bambi (1942) and Lion King (1994) showed
us how to deal with loss and overcome it to hold our own, Kung Fu
Panda (2008) showed us courage and persistence. Delicate matters
and ideas have been handled with ease and entertainingly so; and that
shows the prowess of a true-blue storyteller. Even topics such as
awareness and action for climate change have been dealt with through
impressive animation and binding storytelling in films.
Books, music,
art, food and films take us to different worlds and show us
experiences that are out of the ordinary; what makes them relatable
and valuable to us is the art of storytelling. And as the Father of
Animation once said, “We have created characters and animated them
in the dimension of depth, revealing through them to our perturbed
world that the things we have in common far outnumber and outweigh
those that divide us”.
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