An essay about the relationship between media and folk stories

Abstract

The studies, which are put forward to consider the relationship between media and folklore, investigate mostly whether media is fully equipped by folkloric elements (or not) and whether these elements are presented in a modernized favor by media (or not). They examine this problem as a culture transfer, yet they miss out the reasons of the impossibility of such a relationship and cannot build a critic of media by considering this impossibility. Because the belief that media uses folklore by modernizing and making suitable for itself is quite common not only in folklore, but also in media studies. In this regard, the claim that folklore is continuing its life by means of media and the only change is about the forms of using folklore is also a common assertion. On the other side, the prejudice based on that media uses folklore effects the discussion environment, and accordingly the layers of the folklore structure used by media are questioned in positive or negative points of view. This study aims to demonstrate that two main actors of the folklore course, folk stories and storytellers cannot be put analyzed in the frame of media. With the claim that folk stories and storytellers cannot be absorbed in the mechanism of media, another dimension of this discussion is about the misleadings, which argue that media and folklore are combined.