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ΟΡΦΕΥΣ's avatar

TL;DR: No, storytelling has not improved over time (since ~8000 ya). What *has* gotten worse are our attention spans, imaginations, and sensitivities—strip all of embodied reality down to 2.1 sensory channels, flip the input context every ~15 seconds, and leave absolutely nothing ambiguous, and you have our current “storytelling” culture creating generations of “consumers” rather than citizens of culture.

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Rebecca L. Fearnley's avatar

This was an interesting read! I think there’s a lot of nuance to this question. Perhaps it’s worth also considering what different audiences need from different stories over time? I’ve definitely noticed a trend in my own readers, since the pandemic, wanting stories with hopeful endings and positive messages, as if their emotional needs have changed to require more comfort and reassurance. I think writers have adapted to that. Perhaps a more emotionally resilient future society would look at our current storytelling and think it quaint or whimsical, but it’s what readers need right now, and writers today are better equipped than ever to understand, and respond to, the needs of their contemporary audience. Anyway, I enjoyed the essay.

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