Why Do Stories Exist?

 

            At the dawn of humanity, we have been telling stories. From the pictures drawn on tablets to a summer blockbuster thriller today, humans have not stopped writing and creating worlds in our heads. For generations, we have been engaged by worlds and conflicts that do not exist. 

If you think about it, it is kind of weird that we enjoy stories. Why do we watch movies or read books? Why do we connect ourselves to these made up worlds? Why do we spend hard-earned time and money to consume these stories that will ultimately have no effect on our lives? At first glance, stories seem like a waste of time and money, but they would not exist if they did not benefit us greatly somehow. Whether we create stories to learn more about the world or just for pure escapism, the existence of them fulfills the innate human yearning to seek conflict and spectacle, in turn, highlighting the importance of stories to the human race.

One of the oldest stories to ever be discovered is the Epic of Gilgamesh. Written on tablets in Babylon, it is a story about an arrogant king, Gilgamesh wreaking havoc on his kingdom. One day he is challenged to a fight by a humble traveler, Enkidu. After Gilgamesh is defeated, they both become good friends and they go on an adventure throughout the kingdom. Even though it is the oldest living piece of literature, it includes many elements of a story that would be enjoyed today.  The character of Gilgamesh undergoes character development and learns from the humble Enkidu changing from an arrogant tyrant to a noble man. Clearly, this story has touched the hearts of many readers as it has been rewritten many times throughout history. A practical reason that stories exist is that they “[allow] us to simulate the world around us and imagine different strategies, particularly in social situations”(Robson). The Epic of Gilgamesh highlights the importance of friendship and “[teaches] us how to cooperate” (Robson). As humans, we learn a lot from social interaction and through the example of others. Thus, when we are immersed in a world where even the demi-god king has to learn to be humble and respect others, then many of us would follow suit. Stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh taught humans lessons about the real world that could not be taught through other methods.

Though there are stories with many good lessons to be learned from, humans also enjoy stories because of our love for conflict. The horror genre is an extreme example of humans seeking out conflict through horrific or traumatic events. While the horror genre is deemed scary, millions of people flock to theaters every year to watch horror films. An article written by G. Neil Martin proposes the “Excitation transfer Theory” which explains that “the tension created during the feeling of suspense can arise from
events [that] signify conflict, dissonance, and instability”(Martin). In a horror movie, more so than other movies, this tension is built up to an all time high. But when “the threat is resolved, our negative affect converts to euphoria” (Martin). Throughout a story,

tension is always being heightened and then released. The more drastic a drop in tension, the more cathartic the viewer feels. This heightening and dropping in tension can be seen applied to every other story created. This is why we as humans are so attached to conflicts in stories. Though it may sound weird and heinous, we all get pleasure from conflict, even in real life. For example, when there is drama like a break up or two friends beefing with each other, what do we all do? Gossip about the conflict. We start discussing who did what or who started it. Though horrible things are happening, we take pleasure in talking about them. Even knowing what happens gives us pleasure. We are still looking for a story about the drama and its details even though it really has nothing to do with us. 

Recently, I watched a movie called Nope directed by Jordan Peele. On its surface it's a sci-fi horror story about two siblings trying to catch an alien on film, but under its main plot, it really delves deep into the human interest in great images and stories. Peele said that “the word [he] said most on set was spectacle.” The movie illustrates the absurdity of our interest in amazing spectacles like movies and great feats of nature while also showing its viewers exactly that, pointing out its own hypocrisy. We have an extremely complex relationship with spectacle, especially traumatic images or stories.

The movie Nope gives us many examples of how humans are so captivated by a story even when it is horrific. In the movie, the character Jupe was a child actor on Gordy’s Home

, a show about a family and their monkey Gordy. The incident that scarred him for life was when one of the monkey’s who played Gordy went rogue and suddenly started mauling all of Jupe’s cast mates on set during production. Jupe could only hide under a table as he watched the monkey maul out his cast mate’s bodies. In the beginning of the movie, it's clear that Jupe as an adult is traumatized from this experience, but he still uses the story of the Gordy’s Home incident and capitalizes on his trauma creating a huge theme park. People still come to his theme park and enjoy his shows because they are interested in the story of his trauma.

     In the present , Jupe is capitalizing the alien, turning it into a spectacle, just like Gordy was on the Gordy's Home set. He calls his show of feeding the alien, the Star Lasso Experience. The alien swallows horses whole yet people still come out to watch the spectacle. Even when it's horrific, even when the possibility of death is imminent, people still come out to watch. Not only does the movie point out its own hypocrisy, but it also directs it to the audience. We as the audience are also getting pleasure out of Jupe’s traumatic childhood experience, even getting the first person view of it. We are also captivated by the story of his trauma. We are also paying money to see the spectacle of the alien in this movie just like the audience at Star Lasso Experience. Though this movie points out the absurdity of our interest in stories, it does not necessarily advocate against it, but rather display it as an innate human desire. Our curiosity and our interest in stories is an integral part of what makes us human in the first place. 

Scene of the Star Lasso Experience

        Our love for stories can also be attributed to our boredom with our mundane lives. Our innate human instinct to seek out conflict is highlighted by Voltaire in the conclusion of his novel. Candide and all of his friends finally have money, peace, and security after a life of violent wars and disaster.  Yet, they still feel boredom living their comfortable life. The old maid put it best: “I’d like to know which is worse: to be raped a hundred times by Negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet in the Bulgar army, to be whipped and hanged in an auto-da-fé,[…] - in short suffer all the miseries we’ve gone through - or stay here doing nothing”(Candide 110). Candide does not have a firm answer to that question. We experience this boredom too. We feel as though our lives are so mundane and boring that we would rather immerse ourselves in other worlds where there are fire breathing dragons, space battles, or a real war. Despite the many things that would bring pain and suffering to the characters in the story, the conflicts the characters face give us pleasure and satisfaction because it is not our own boring life. We use these stories as escapism from our own mundane world. 

                                                                    Escapism

 Whether it's the conflict or the lessons learned that captivate us, stories are integral to the human species. Even though they may have no effect on our lives, we still create these worlds and they’re truly a testament to our ability to empathize. I think there is great beauty in our connection with stories. Characters that don’t even exist bring out raw emotions in us. We revel in their triumphs and we cry with them in their failures. Whether it is a horror movie or fantasy adventure, we see ourselves in these characters and are able to learn more about ourselves and our own world through them. We have been storytelling since the beginning of our existence. As long as we continue to exist, we will continue to tell stories for generations to come.

Work Cited

Around the Table with Jordan Peele and the Cast of 'Nope' | Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly, 2022.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Epic of Gilgamesh." Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Epic-of-Gilgamesh. Accessed 13 January 2023.

Martin, G. Neil. "Why Do You Like Scary Movies?" Frontiers in Psychology, Frontier Media S.A, Oct. 2019, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02298/full. Accessed 10 Jan. 2023.

Peele, Jordan, director. Nope. Monkey Paw Studios, 2022.

Robson, David. "Our fiction addiction: Why we need stories." BBC, www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180503-our-fiction-addiction-why-humans-need-stories. Accessed 13 Jan. 2023.

Voltaire. Candide. Paris, Bantam Classics, 1759.

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