Mine damer og herrer, kom nærmere, jeg ville elske at dele med jer en historie.
Ladies and gentlemen, gather around. I would love to share with you a story.
Der var engang i det 19. århundredes Tyskland bogen. Altså på denne tid var bogen kongen af historiefortælling. Den var ærværdig. Den var allestedsnærværende. Men den var en lille smule kedelig. For i de 400 år den havde eksisteret, havde historiefortællere aldrig udviklet bogen som et fortællemiddel. Men så kom en forfatter, og han gav piben en anden lyd for altid. (Musik) Hans navn var Lothar, Lothar Meggendorfer. Lothar Meggendorfer slog i bordet, og han sagde, "Genug ist genug!" Han greb sin pen, han snappede sine sakse. Denne mand nægtede at folde det normales konventioner og besluttede bare at folde. Historien kom til at kende Lothar Meggendorfer som -- hvem ellers? -- verdens første sande opfinder af børnenes pop op-bog. (Musik) Over denne fryd og over dette vidunder glædede folk sig. (Glædesråb) De var glade, fordi historien overlevede, og at verden ville fortsætte med at dreje.
Once upon a time in 19th century Germany, there was the book. Now during this time, the book was the king of storytelling. It was venerable. It was ubiquitous. But it was a little bit boring. Because in its 400 years of existence, storytellers never evolved the book as a storytelling device. But then one author arrived, and he changed the game forever. (Music) His name was Lothar, Lothar Meggendorfer. Lothar Meggendorfer put his foot down, and he said, "Genug ist genug!" He grabbed his pen, he snatched his scissors. This man refused to fold to the conventions of normalcy and just decided to fold. History would know Lothar Meggendorfer as -- who else? -- the world's first true inventor of the children's pop-up book. (Music) For this delight and for this wonder, people rejoiced. (Cheering) They were happy because the story survived, and that the world would keep on spinning.
Lothar Meggendorfer var ikke den første til at udvikle måden, en historie blev fortalt, og han var bestemt ikke den sidste. Uanset om historiefortællere indså det eller ej, kanaliserede de Meggendorfers ånd, da de flyttede opera til vaudville, radio-nyheder til radio-teater, billeder til levende billeder til film med lyd, farve, 3D, på VHS og på DVD. Der lod ikke til at være nogen kur mod denne Meggendorferitis.
Lothar Meggendorfer wasn't the first to evolve the way a story was told, and he certainly wasn't the last. Whether storytellers realized it or not, they were channeling Meggendorfer's spirit when they moved opera to vaudville, radio news to radio theater, film to film in motion to film in sound, color, 3D, on VHS and on DVD. There seemed to be no cure for this Meggendorferitis.
Og det hele blev meget sjovere, da internettet kom frem. (Latter) For ikke alene kunne folk sende deres historier ud til hele verden, men de kunne gøre det ved at bruge, hvad syntes at være en uendelig mængde apparater. For eksempel, et firma ville fortælle en historie om kærlighed gennem dets helt egen søgemaskine. Et taiwanesisk produktionsstudie ville fortolk amerikansk politik i 3D. (Latter) Og en mand ville fortælle sin fars historier ved at bruge en platform kaldet Twitter til at kommunikere ekskrementerne hans far ville gestikulere.
And things got a lot more fun when the Internet came around. (Laughter) Because, not only could people broadcast their stories throughout the world, but they could do so using what seemed to be an infinite amount of devices. For example, one company would tell a story of love through its very own search engine. One Taiwanese production studio would interpret American politics in 3D. (Laughter) And one man would tell the stories of his father by using a platform called Twitter to communicate the excrement his father would gesticulate.
Og efter alt dette, holdt alle inde; de tog et skridt tilbage. De indså, at over 6.000 års historiefortælling er de gået fra at afbilde jagt på hulevægge til at afbilde Shakespeare på Facebook-vægge. Og dette var grund til fejring. Kunsten at fortælle en historie har forblevet uforandret. Og for størstedelen bliver historierne genbrugt. Men den måde, mennesker fortæller historierne, har altid udviklet sig med ren, ensartet nyhedsværdi.
And after all this, everyone paused; they took a step back. They realized that, in 6,000 years of storytelling, they've gone from depicting hunting on cave walls to depicting Shakespeare on Facebook walls. And this was a cause for celebration. The art of storytelling has remained unchanged. And for the most part, the stories are recycled. But the way that humans tell the stories has always evolved with pure, consistent novelty.
Og de huskede en mand, én fantastisk tysker, hver gang et nyt fortællemiddel dukkede op igen. Og for det ville publikum -- det dejlige, smukke publikum -- ville leve lykkeligt til deres dages ende. (Bifald)
And they remembered a man, one amazing German, every time a new storytelling device popped up next. And for that, the audience -- the lovely, beautiful audience -- would live happily ever after. (Applause)