The power of a well told story
As a child, I loved stories. My mum is a wonderful story teller, and till today, I have vivid images of places I’ve never been to, and things I’ve never actually seen because of stories she’s told me.
When she introduced me to books, she was showing me a world filled with stories I could explore for myself.
For the price of a few hours, I could be regaled by the likes of John Grisham, and all the Penguin authors.
Stories tend to stick with you
Watching TV as a child, I saw cartoons like Spiderman and his amazing friends, Batman of the future, shows like Barney & Friends, Colby’s Clubhouse, The Donut Man, and a lot more I’ve forgotten.
I still find myself making decisions, based off some of the early lessons I learned from those shows.
Stories are powerful
Stories have been used to help people understand concepts they’d normally struggle with.
It’s an effective strategy, making listeners relaxed, immersed in the details, so they’re not aware they’re learning something new.
Stories have a life of their own
Some stories live longer than others.
My go to, when telling a children’s story, is that of Alibaba and the forty thieves.
It’s an ancient story, drawn out of the Arabian nights, an old book of a thousand and one stories.
No one knows exactly who first told it, but it’s lived on and on.
Tribal folklore have gone on to become National Legends, and gain international fame, such as the Greek, Norse, Roman and Egyptian mythology.
Today, we’re crafting these myths into modern stories, some of which are so well told, they’ll go on to become legends.
Stories have more influence than ever, today
Last night, all over the world, over 100 million people sat in front of their TVs, computers, to see another episode of the Game of Thrones series.
We’ll spend much of this week, contemplating its happenings, and what it could mean for the next episode.
This is a powerful influence, for any one person or organisation to have on humans. Just how powerful, I can only imagine, but this article by Time, calls the Game of Thrones TV series, the most popular show in the world.
This week, Avengers Endgame came out in Cinemas.
It was remarkable, like nothing I’ve ever seen.
Marvel Entertainment, the company behind it, has been building up to this moment since 2007. That’s 12 years of extraordinary story telling in 22 movies, that’s made $19.8 billion at the global box office.
You see, these are the stories that will go on to become legends in a few years.
To think that just a few years ago, they were ideas in a person’s head, or that of a few people, is amazing.
Stories are powerful things.
