Down with writing!
I'm just idly tossing this thought around my brain:
Writing ruined folk tales. It's good that the stories have been preserved but the act of writing it down codifies it, makes it permanent, and gives it the appearance of being 'right'. Folk tales are meant to change over time, to reflect the values and the life of the teller and society. Movie makers are criticized for altering and 'watering down' traditional stories (I'm looking at you, Disney). I agree that the second can be a valid criticism but not the first. If we don't alter the stories they gradually become more and more foreign/uncomfortable until they become something I don't really want to read to my kids. I can see preserving them for historical and academic reasons, but a good story should be able to adapt and be useful to new generations directly.
This is true for a lot of older literature as well and I sometimes find myself either avoiding it, altering it on the fly so that it more closely aligns with my ethical standard or uncomfortably explaining that "people used to think..."
Writing ruined folk tales. It's good that the stories have been preserved but the act of writing it down codifies it, makes it permanent, and gives it the appearance of being 'right'. Folk tales are meant to change over time, to reflect the values and the life of the teller and society. Movie makers are criticized for altering and 'watering down' traditional stories (I'm looking at you, Disney). I agree that the second can be a valid criticism but not the first. If we don't alter the stories they gradually become more and more foreign/uncomfortable until they become something I don't really want to read to my kids. I can see preserving them for historical and academic reasons, but a good story should be able to adapt and be useful to new generations directly.
This is true for a lot of older literature as well and I sometimes find myself either avoiding it, altering it on the fly so that it more closely aligns with my ethical standard or uncomfortably explaining that "people used to think..."