The technology of storytelling | Joe Sabia

Translator: Laura Linares Reviewer: Adrián Levices Casal

Ladies and gentlemen, gather around.

Señoras e señores, presten atención.

I would love to share with you a story.

Gustaríame contarlles unha historia.

Once upon a time

Érase unha vez

in 19th century Germany,

na Alemaña do século XIX

there was the book.

o libro.

Now during this time,

Naquela época

the book was the king of storytelling.

o libro era o rei da narrativa.

It was venerable.

Era venerábel.

It was ubiquitous.

Omnipresente.

But it was a little bit boring.

Pero..., un pouquiño aburrido.

Because in its 400 years of existence,

Porque nos seus 400 anos de existencia

storytellers never evolved the book

os narradores nunca transformaran o libro

as a storytelling device.

nunha ferramenta para contar historias.

But then one author arrived,

Pero un día apareceu un autor

and he changed the game forever.

que cambiou as cousas para sempre.

(Music)

(Música)

His name was Lothar,

Chamábase Lothar

Lothar Meggendorfer.

Lothar Meggendorfer.

Lothar Meggendorfer put his foot down,

Lothar Meggendorfer púxose serio

and he said, "Genug ist genug!"

e dixo: "Genug ist genug!" (Xa basta!)

He grabbed his pen,

Agarrou a pluma

he snatched his scissors.

e colleu as tesoiras.

This man refused to fold to the conventions of normalcy

Non quixo dobregarse ante as convencións da normalidade

and just decided to fold.

e simplemente decidiu dobrar.

History would know Lothar Meggendorfer

Lothar Meggendorfer quedará nos anais da historia

as -- who else? --

como (quen senón?)

the world's first true inventor

o primeiro e verdadeiro inventor mundial

of the children's pop-up book.

do libro despregable para nenos.

(Music)

(Música)

For this delight and for this wonder,

Para a súa gran satisfacción

people rejoiced.

á xente encantoulle.

(Cheering)

(Ovacións)

They were happy because the story survived,

Estaban contentos porque a historia sobrevivira

and that the world would keep on spinning.

e o mundo ía continuar xirando.

Lothar Meggendorfer wasn't the first

Lothar Meggendorfer non foi o primeiro

to evolve the way a story was told,

en transformar a forma de contar historias

and he certainly wasn't the last.

e definitivamente non foi o último.

Whether storytellers realized it or not,

Xa se desen de conta ou non os narradores

they were channeling Meggendorfer's spirit

estaban canalizando o espírito de Meggendorfer

when they moved opera to vaudville,

cando transformaron a ópera en vodevil

radio news to radio theater,

as noticias radiofónicas en radioteatro

film to film in motion

a fotografía en películas

to film in sound, color, 3D,

películas con son, cor, en 3D

on VHS and on DVD.

en VHS e en DVD.

There seemed to be no cure for this Meggendorferitis.

Parecía non haber cura para esta Meggendorferite.

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

E a cousa púxose moito máis divertida cando apareceu Internet.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

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

Porque a xente empezou a poder difundir as súas historias por todo o mundo

but they could do so

e non só iso

using what seemed to be an infinite amount of devices.

usaban o que semellaba unha cantidade infinita de dispositivos.

For example, one company

Por exemplo, unha empresa

would tell a story of love

contaba unha historia de amor

through its very own search engine.

a través do seu propio buscador.

One Taiwanese production studio

Un estudo de produción taiwanés

would interpret American politics in 3D.

interpretaba a política estadounidense en 3D.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

And one man would tell the stories of his father

E un home contaba as historias do seu pai

by using a platform called Twitter

utilizando unha plataforma chamada Twitter

to communicate the excrement his father would gesticulate.

para comunicar o excremento que o seu pai xesticulaba.

And after all this, everyone paused;

E despois de todo isto, todo o mundo parou

they took a step back.

e deu un paso atrás.

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

Déronse conta de que, en 6.000 anos de historias

they've gone from depicting hunting on cave walls

pasaran de representar esceas de caza nas paredes das cavernas

to depicting Shakespeare on Facebook walls.

a representar a Shakespeare nos taboleiros de Facebook.

And this was a cause for celebration.

E isto era motivo de celebración.

The art of storytelling has remained unchanged.

A arte de contar historias permaneceu intacta

And for the most part, the stories are recycled.

e a maioría das veces as historias recíclanse.

But the way that humans tell the stories

Pero a forma na que os seres humanos contamos esas historias

has always evolved

sempre evolucionou

with pure, consistent novelty.

con innovación pura e consistente.

And they remembered a man,

E recordaban a un home

one amazing German,

un alemán alucinante

every time a new storytelling device

cada vez que unha nova ferramenta para contar historias

popped up next.

aparecía.

And for that,

E por isto

the audience --

as persoas do público

the lovely, beautiful audience --

estas marabillosas e encantadoras persoas

would live happily ever after.

vivirán felices e comerán perdices.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)