Do all stories have to teach a lesson?

[miss.almuete]

I saved this quote from Ursula K Le Guin, that might interest you

“I try to not have a message. Messages are for texting something (…) I don’t think any art is rightly done if it’s just delivering a message. That would mean the message is the real thing and the art is just sort of like cake decoration, fancy ornaments to make the message edible or pretty.

I think working on any practise of any art (…) you are opening yourself up to a mysterious force and to have a message in your mind all the time is going to block that force, and it cannot speak through you. And I think you have to trust it knows things much better than you do”

It's from this 2014 interview.

I've definitely read stories that took a turn and felt really frustrating and unsatisfying... coming across this quote helped me realise that for a bunch of them, it was bc the author got caught up in Saying Something :o

[NickRowler]

In my personal opinion, unless your story is targeted as young children (6 and younger) or defined as educational, you are not required to make your story teachable or have a life lesson.

I think the reason why we thing this way, especially for kid's media (7-12 year olds) is that a lot of kid's shows from the 80s and early 90s were giant toy commercials and they wanted to hide behind the fact that they are "educational" in order to continue what they were doing. At least in the US, the Children's Television Act (1990) put pressure on networks to have educational blocks. Which meant that shows with an educational spin would more likely get greenlighted. Cable and Streaming don't really have to follow these laws.

I think you should focus more on making something that is enjoyable to read. There can be a message or moral but it's OK if there isn't. With kid's media, especially books, I think it is more important to have something engaging that also appropriate for the demographic. Think of something like Captain Underpants which isn't about teaching a moral, it's just a fun and silly story that kids enjoy reading.

[llobucervallince]

not really, I remember I saying that said
"mistakes sometimes are just that, there's no lesson, it was a mistake that came because you didn't pay attetion or because it was just bad luck, sometimes it's just that"
I feel it can be aplied to stories too

[vapidink]

They don't have to, but there's usually something a reader can take away from a book. Stories are usually about overcoming some obstacle or dealing with a changing situation, so the way that a character faces the obstacles in their way and the way they change by the end of the book can be something for the reader to take away from the story. Maybe they learn the importance of perseverance or how to deal with something intangible like loss.

Up to a point, it's also up to the reader, and some readers don't think about these things, they just want to be told a good story. So, yeah, don't get bogged down thinking about pushing a lesson into the story you want to tell, but instead think about the things your characters have to go through and how that changes them as a person.

[LunarScyphozoa]

Not all are made with the intent of a lesson, but one usually happens and is different for every reader if the author doesn’t start out with one message in mind.

[Katzalcoatl]

Stories do not have to include any lessons. They could simply be seen for what they are. A form of entertainment.

That being said I like sharing my knowledge in my stories. I think entertainment is one of the best ways to educate people be it in one form or another. It doesn't have to be deep it can be somethings as simple as learning that certain teas have vitamin C or it can be something more profound like teaching someone that they are not alone in this desolate world.

Stories can be a form of escapism but it can still help someone have a better day. And there is nothing wrong with learning something new by reading a new story that entertains you. Including a lesson in a story is like adding extra seasoning to your favorite food.

Add too little and it can become bland. Adding too much would make it super salty. In my personal opinion adding the right amount can bring the best flavor possible but it is not something you have to add since you can eat a plate without that extra seasoning just fine.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

No, but... Good stories are often about how a character encounters some kind of challenge, battles with that & often emerges changed in some way. Even if there's no intent to make the story about teaching a lesson, that kind of story often leaves us with something we take along with us & we are changed in a small way. And I think that's like teaching.

[Zay]

No. Beavis and Butt-head exist and it's awesome.

[thepenmonster]

All art is the world filtered through the minds that made it. As such it will always have a message even if that message is, "Durr hurr. Boobs n booms are cool."

The difference is in how blatant that message is when presented.

[darthmongoose]

All art is the world filtered through the minds that made it. As such it will always have a message even if that message is, "Durr hurr. Boobs n booms are cool."

The difference is in how blatant that message is when presented.

Yeah, this is how I feel too.

No art is apolitical. It will always reflect your values and what you think is important, worth making art about, worth telling a story about, what you think is worth celebrating and depicting in a positive light, and what you want to vilify, make fun of or pretend doesn't exist.

You can either go in with your eyes open to it, or you can go in with your hands over your ears like "la la la! I'm not political, only people with opinions or values different from mine, which I consider "default" somehow, are political!"

[Lensing]

I agree with what you wrote
but there is a difference between a message and a lesson.

Every story, song, poem has a message, some try to teach a lesson

[allisoncandraw]

I don't think so. My comic is a funny slice of life, just meant to be silly and fun. I don't think everything needs a deeper meaning.

[Lensing]

Same here, I write funny / erotic slice of life stories, there is no deeper meaning
and no lesson I want to teach people, I also don´t want people to learn a lesson
from my story. You could say I have a message because I joke about relationship
stuff, but don´t, I just write what I find interesting

[GodbreakerComic]

A lesson for the reader? No it doesn't need that.

A lesson for the characters? Yes, at least for me anyways. Your characters should have learned and changed from beginning to end. You don't want static characters who start and finish the story as the same person. At least I find stories like that boring.

An example I can think of off the dome is The Batman. Batman/Bruce had to learn that it takes more than fear/violence to inspire change, and to not inspire more violence. In the beginning he was just angry punchy man, and(SPOILERS?) by the end he was a first responder and helping citizens, helping Gotham non-violently. Chefs kiss.

An example of a static character is Superman in Man of Steel. A bunch of stuff happens and hes the same as when he started. In the beginning he was morally-just hero... and the end he was a morally-just hero. The events didn't change him at all so I was like... what was the point of all that? Same person, same choices, no growth or change.

[Lensing]

I think that also depends on the kind of story you are reading and writing, just like the lesson / message
thing. A comic story doesn´t need characters who learned and changed, you just need that in some specific
kind of stories

[TheLemmaLlama]

Echoing the sentiments that:

• an actual, prescriptive moral/lesson is not needed so much as just a point in the sense of "why are you telling me this?"
• Nevertheless, everyone has opinions and some of them are going to leak through into their writing no matter what

I do think for a story to keep your attention and not meander around aimlessly, the author does have to have a conscious awareness of "why am I telling them this?" It could be

• a message, like "friendship is important", or
• a theme like "what is the nature of friendship and is it always good? Let's explore from various perspectives", or
• just something like "board games are cool, I'm going to write about characters playing board games because the world is sorely lacking in stories about characters playing board games".

(That is, I think the answer to "why are you telling me this?" needs to be more specific than 'it's cool/silly/fun/cute' - something individual people might find cool/silly/fun/cute/etc like 'board games', or 'baby fantasy animals', or 'enemies-to-lovers romances')

I will dispute the sentiment that "slice-of-life is when no message/point" though. I'd say My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is mostly slice of life sans the season premieres/finales when something big and world-shaking happens, and even without those, there's like a friendship lesson in every episode Unless your definition of 'slice-of-life' means having anything of meaning at all happening pushes the genre into drama or smth ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In fact, I feel like I'm drawn to writing slice-of-life precisely because it lets me explore deep themes without falling into a simplistic narrative of 'X is the solution' because life kind of just goes on for the characters instead of there being one big dramatic confrontation where the protag has an epiphany about X and uses the power of X to solve things forever and everyone lives happily ever after. Even if I'm clearly pro-X leaning, it feels like I'm not being too preachy, like the message isn't 'X is the solution' but rather 'maybe X is good, actually?'

[NickRowler]

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

MLP:FiM messages were so forced especially in the earlier seasons. This was mostly due to it being used to sell toys and products to young children. They were also trying to target a preschool audience and sell stuff like clothes, toothbrushes and toothpaste for toddlers.

[aqua03]

No art is apolitical. It will always reflect your values and what you think is important, worth making art about, worth telling a story about, what you think is worth celebrating and depicting in a positive light, and what you want to vilify, make fun of or pretend doesn't exist.

Honestly, I think a better term for it would be "NBo art isn't influenced by the writer's worldview and/or belief system" given that claiming something is "Political" tends to carry with it a certian feeling that it explcitly commentates on current events happening in the world if that makes sense.

[Inspector]

You probably won't notice it, but so long as you write a story with a strong plot, there will always be some sort of lesson. For example, a story about robots taking over. You may think the main purpose is entertainment and action, but it could also have a lesson of "Don't let technology overcome the world" or even "Don't let technology overcome your life,".
Basically, what I'm saying is you don't have to try to make it have a lesson, but it will probably have one. No matter how small.

[Lensing]

The robot example is a pretty obvious lesson / message but that doesn´t prove that every strong story / plot has a lesson.
I used to read a lot of stories which teach lessons but most of the literature that I read doesn´t teach lessons.
You can say that some of them teach the lesson that life sucks for some people but that´s just an interpretation