I think stories are incredibly important, especially the ones we
tell about our lives and our collective past. They make absolutely
horrible experiences bearable and often meaningful. Pain without a
purpose is terrifying.
If you haven't experienced stories as a way to endure a bad situation, consider the little girl in Pan's Labryinth. She created a story - a somewhat terrifying story - that gave her experience meaning and her life purpose.
The Royal de Luxe understands the power and importance of stories. This group tells stories to entire cities with crane-operated
giants. It is storytelling on a very grand scale.
Each time Royal de Luxe plays a new location – and this
was their Scandinavian debut – Jean-Luc Courcoult, the company
director, writes a story especially for the people of that place, a
simple story that will reach deeply into their trove of archetypes yet
be understood by children under 10. It must be performable by the
Giants, too, who are between 20 and 40 feet high, made of carved wood
and operated not only by cranes but by numerous actor-technicians
manning pulleys and ropes, swarming all over the marionettes. Learning
this, one might assume there was a lid on the expressive potential of
the Giants. There is, but not in the way that springs to mind. And
which is more important? What a giant marionette does, or how it makes
you feel watching it? “For years, I wondered how one could tell a story
to an entire town,” Courcoult has said. “On a plane to Rio, the idea of
using out-size marionettes came to me… People have believed in giants
since the year dot. Every culture on earth has stories about them. I
find the giant more powerful than God or religion – because it is more
make-believe yet more human.” [link]












I wouldn't go so far saying it's more powerful than God or religion, but definately amazing.
"How can you say mad when there's so much beauty in the world?"
I think if people were unable to articulate their painful experiences of the past, those who would experience that same pain in the future would feel incredibly alone, and wonder if there was anyone they could relate to. So I agree that pain without purpose is terrifying. I also think we can learn from pain, and grow from pain, which is unrelated, but I defnately see what you're saying.