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Part I. Interdisciplinary Approach to Storytelling ] 31
medium (cinema, television, or computer) can change the characteristics of
the narration (Kovács, 2002).
CHAPTER 3.
COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA THEORY
The number of media for storytelling is constantly expanding, and Donalds
theory of cultural evolution suggests that they are in complementary
relationship with each other. From a historical perspective, three periods
can be distinguished in terms of the use and social impact of media.
‘The typical institutions of the age of spoken language and manuscript writing
(the logosphere) are the kingdom, the church, the faith, and oral preaching;
the media of print (the graphosphere) are the republic of citizens, the secular
state, philosophy, and elected leaders; [...] and the audiovisual media sphere
(the video sphere) is characterized by ,cathodic’ democracy, the seduction of
the event, the triumph of political emotion over political reason. (Barbier &
Berjho Lavenir, 1996 - translated by the author of this book)
Narrative activities are realized in social relations, and the conventions
of story creation, communication, and transmission are determined by
the social context. Access to information through technical media is not
a given for all ages and for all social classes. Access to media is strongly
dependent on the socio-cultural status of individuals and the availability of
the medium. Until the spread of technical reproduction, the small number
of handwritten texts was only accessible to privileged groups in society (e.g.
scribes or clergymen); even if the illiterate masses had access to these texts,
they would not have been able to decode the characters. The need to eradicate
illiteracy on an ever wider scale began at the time of the Reformation and
was fulfilled by the Enlightenment, the spread of scientific and systematic
thinking, and the industrial revolution. From the 18 century onwards, with
the institutionalization of popular education, reading and writing became
available to a wider range of people. At this time, high and mass culture
became separated (the most striking example being the dichotomy between
high and popular literature). These developments made it necessary to
regulate the publication of printed texts, and new segments emerged such as
the book industry and the press, including publishing houses, which not only
produced and distributed books, but also carried out a kind of professional
pre-screening. The 19" century was also the beginning of the networking of
technical media-based information transmission. The mass distribution of
books and periodicals was facilitated by the postal service, bookshops and
news agents. The globalization of information took place between 1850 and
1950 with the entry of new media from the early 20" century. In addition to