Ladies and gentlemen, gather around. I would love to share with you a story.
Señoras e señores, presten atención. Gustaríame contarlles unha historia.
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.
Érase unha vez na Alemaña do século XIX o libro. Naquela época o libro era o rei da narrativa. Era venerábel. Omnipresente. Pero..., un pouquiño aburrido. Porque nos seus 400 anos de existencia os narradores nunca transformaran o libro nunha ferramenta para contar historias. Pero un día apareceu un autor que cambiou as cousas para sempre. (Música) Chamábase Lothar Lothar Meggendorfer. Lothar Meggendorfer púxose serio e dixo: "Genug ist genug!" (Xa basta!) Agarrou a pluma e colleu as tesoiras. Non quixo dobregarse ante as convencións da normalidade e simplemente decidiu dobrar. Lothar Meggendorfer quedará nos anais da historia como (quen senón?) o primeiro e verdadeiro inventor mundial do libro despregable para nenos. (Música) Para a súa gran satisfacción á xente encantoulle. (Ovacións) Estaban contentos porque a historia sobrevivira e o mundo ía continuar xirando.
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.
Lothar Meggendorfer non foi o primeiro en transformar a forma de contar historias e definitivamente non foi o último. Xa se desen de conta ou non os narradores estaban canalizando o espírito de Meggendorfer cando transformaron a ópera en vodevil as noticias radiofónicas en radioteatro a fotografía en películas películas con son, cor, en 3D en VHS e en DVD. Parecía non haber cura para esta Meggendorferite.
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.
E a cousa púxose moito máis divertida cando apareceu Internet. (Risas) Porque a xente empezou a poder difundir as súas historias por todo o mundo e non só iso usaban o que semellaba unha cantidade infinita de dispositivos. Por exemplo, unha empresa contaba unha historia de amor a través do seu propio buscador. Un estudo de produción taiwanés interpretaba a política estadounidense en 3D. (Risas) E un home contaba as historias do seu pai utilizando unha plataforma chamada Twitter para comunicar o excremento que o seu pai xesticulaba.
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.
E despois de todo isto, todo o mundo parou e deu un paso atrás. Déronse conta de que, en 6.000 anos de historias pasaran de representar esceas de caza nas paredes das cavernas a representar a Shakespeare nos taboleiros de Facebook. E isto era motivo de celebración. A arte de contar historias permaneceu intacta e a maioría das veces as historias recíclanse. Pero a forma na que os seres humanos contamos esas historias sempre evolucionou con innovación pura e consistente.
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)
E recordaban a un home un alemán alucinante cada vez que unha nova ferramenta para contar historias aparecía. E por isto as persoas do público estas marabillosas e encantadoras persoas vivirán felices e comerán perdices. (Aplausos)