It is a skill we learn early, the art of inventing stories to explain away the fearful scared strangeness of the world. Storytelling and make-believe, like war and agriculture, are among the arts of self-defense, and all of them are ways of enclosing otherness and claiming ownership.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the human inclination to use storytelling as a means to make sense of the world and alleviate fear.
William Kittredge's quote emphasizes the innate human ability to create narratives that help us cope with the uncertainties and fears we face in life. Storytelling serves not only as a creative outlet but also as a fundamental method of understanding our surroundings, framing our experiences, and exerting control over the unfamiliar aspects of existence. Just as war and agriculture can be seen as means of defense and control, so too can storytelling act as a powerful tool for personal empowerment and understanding.
In practice
In a motivational speech about creativity, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of storytelling in overcoming challenges.
We tell stories to talk out the trouble in our lives, trouble otherwise so often so unspeakable. It is one of our main ways of making our lives sensible. Trying to live without stories can make us crazy. They help us recognize what we believe to be most valuable in the world, and help us identify what we hold demonic.
I want to make films without a single clear message, and films that are as close as possible to what it feels like to be alive. At least to me.
He realised, more vividly than ever before, that art had two constant, two unending preoccupations: it is always meditating upon death and it is always thereby creating life.
A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.
When you get down to it, the way that the music affects you individually is the most important thing, and when you let things like the location of a band get in the way or have an effect on your overview, you're cheating yourself out of a really good time.
I grew up watching foreign programs - American, English, Mexican, and very little Kenyan. 'The Color Purple' was the first time I saw people who looked like me.
A good picture book can almost be whistled. ... All have their own melodies behind the storytelling.
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