The technology of storytelling | Joe Sabia

Translator: Morten Kelder Skouboe Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

Ladies and gentlemen, gather around.

Mine damer og herrer, kom nærmere,

I would love to share with you a story.

jeg ville elske at dele med jer en historie.

Once upon a time

Der var engang

in 19th century Germany,

i det 19. århundredes Tyskland

there was the book.

bogen.

Now during this time,

Altså på denne tid

the book was the king of storytelling.

var bogen kongen af historiefortælling.

It was venerable.

Den var ærværdig.

It was ubiquitous.

Den var allestedsnærværende.

But it was a little bit boring.

Men den var en lille smule kedelig.

Because in its 400 years of existence,

For i de 400 år den havde eksisteret,

storytellers never evolved the book

havde historiefortællere aldrig udviklet bogen

as a storytelling device.

som et fortællemiddel.

But then one author arrived,

Men så kom en forfatter,

and he changed the game forever.

og han gav piben en anden lyd for altid.

(Music)

(Musik)

His name was Lothar,

Hans navn var Lothar,

Lothar Meggendorfer.

Lothar Meggendorfer.

Lothar Meggendorfer put his foot down,

Lothar Meggendorfer slog i bordet,

and he said, "Genug ist genug!"

og han sagde, "Genug ist genug!"

He grabbed his pen,

Han greb sin pen,

he snatched his scissors.

han snappede sine sakse.

This man refused to fold to the conventions of normalcy

Denne mand nægtede at folde det normales konventioner

and just decided to fold.

og besluttede bare at folde.

History would know Lothar Meggendorfer

Historien kom til at kende Lothar Meggendorfer

as -- who else? --

som -- hvem ellers? --

the world's first true inventor

verdens første sande opfinder

of the children's pop-up book.

af børnenes pop op-bog.

(Music)

(Musik)

For this delight and for this wonder,

Over denne fryd og over dette vidunder

people rejoiced.

glædede folk sig.

(Cheering)

(Glædesråb)

They were happy because the story survived,

De var glade, fordi historien overlevede,

and that the world would keep on spinning.

og at verden ville fortsætte med at dreje.

Lothar Meggendorfer wasn't the first

Lothar Meggendorfer var ikke den første

to evolve the way a story was told,

til at udvikle måden, en historie blev fortalt,

and he certainly wasn't the last.

og han var bestemt ikke den sidste.

Whether storytellers realized it or not,

Uanset om historiefortællere indså det eller ej,

they were channeling Meggendorfer's spirit

kanaliserede de Meggendorfers ånd,

when they moved opera to vaudville,

da de flyttede opera til vaudville,

radio news to radio theater,

radio-nyheder til radio-teater,

film to film in motion

billeder til levende billeder

to film in sound, color, 3D,

til film med lyd, farve, 3D,

on VHS and on DVD.

på VHS og på DVD.

There seemed to be no cure for this Meggendorferitis.

Der lod ikke til at være nogen kur mod denne Meggendorferitis.

And things got a lot more fun when the Internet came around.

Og det hele blev meget sjovere, da internettet kom frem.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Because, not only could people broadcast their stories throughout the world,

For ikke alene kunne folk sende deres historier ud til hele verden,

but they could do so

men de kunne gøre det

using what seemed to be an infinite amount of devices.

ved at bruge, hvad syntes at være en uendelig mængde apparater.

For example, one company

For eksempel, et firma

would tell a story of love

ville fortælle en historie om kærlighed

through its very own search engine.

gennem dets helt egen søgemaskine.

One Taiwanese production studio

Et taiwanesisk produktionsstudie

would interpret American politics in 3D.

ville fortolk amerikansk politik i 3D.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And one man would tell the stories of his father

Og en mand ville fortælle sin fars historier

by using a platform called Twitter

ved at bruge en platform kaldet Twitter

to communicate the excrement his father would gesticulate.

til at kommunikere ekskrementerne hans far ville gestikulere.

And after all this, everyone paused;

Og efter alt dette, holdt alle inde;

they took a step back.

de tog et skridt tilbage.

They realized that, in 6,000 years of storytelling,

De indså, at over 6.000 års historiefortælling

they've gone from depicting hunting on cave walls

er de gået fra at afbilde jagt på hulevægge

to depicting Shakespeare on Facebook walls.

til at afbilde Shakespeare på Facebook-vægge.

And this was a cause for celebration.

Og dette var grund til fejring.

The art of storytelling has remained unchanged.

Kunsten at fortælle en historie har forblevet uforandret.

And for the most part, the stories are recycled.

Og for størstedelen bliver historierne genbrugt.

But the way that humans tell the stories

Men den måde, mennesker fortæller historierne,

has always evolved

har altid udviklet sig

with pure, consistent novelty.

med ren, ensartet nyhedsværdi.

And they remembered a man,

Og de huskede en mand,

one amazing German,

én fantastisk tysker,

every time a new storytelling device

hver gang et nyt fortællemiddel

popped up next.

dukkede op igen.

And for that,

Og for det

the audience --

ville publikum --

the lovely, beautiful audience --

det dejlige, smukke publikum --

would live happily ever after.

ville leve lykkeligt til deres dages ende.

(Applause)

(Bifald)