TheDis Appeal of Narratives

Throughout our discussions, the class has tried to define narrative in terms of technology and globalization.  From this, I have defined a narrative as "an event or sequence of events that "organizes" an "understanding of time" about the "human experience." (Alexis Thorne)(Abbot 3,4)(Herman 24)  In the context of internet, global media, etc., the way these events are organized is significantly different than they once were.

In the Tsunami article, Wilkes argues that in 2004 "distance in space," i.e geographical distance, had lost it's ability to barrier the travel of news in comparison to 1755. (Wilkes 49)  Because of technology, the spread of news had become faster and  more endurant.

In comparison to the Lisbon earth quake, the Tsunami recieved much more accurate, in depth, wide-spread and impactful news coverage. By this notion,  one could assume that contemporary narratives (especially media events) are better than narratives of the past, which lacked the ability to include all that they do now.

However, the faith in these advancements is what gives that narrative the power to manipulate or deceive.  In our discussions, the class talked about lonelygirl 15, who pretended to be a sad, young girl looking for friends.  We've talked about facebook, and it's collection of personal information and target marketing.  Both examples of deceit, where audiences trusted the reality of the media.  These examples serve as a warning that  individuals and organizations  have power to create mass-deception, just as they do to create mass-awareness. 

Wilkes article includes a picture (figure 4.1 and 4.2) of the aftermath in the Lisbon earthquake, as examples of individual conceptions of the earthquakes aftermath.  The pictures depict "dramatic, visually stirring" renditions of homes being carried away and screaming faces.  He points out that without technology, accuracy was of opinion and depended on the correspondent.   (Wilkes55)  Historically, events and their representation, were subject to the elite and the few, i.e those who could travel, those who could draw, those who were wealthy enough to learn and do both.

Really, not much has changed.  Facebook has an incredible power through their networking capabilities, and while they and lonelygirl15, and the Tsunami are more tied to realistic representations, they still have a plethera of images, videos and mediums to use in order to skew perspective.


Works Cited

Wilke, Jurgen: Historical Perspectives on Media Events: a Comparison of the Lisbon Earthquake in 1755 and the Tsunami Catastrophe in 2004. In: Couldry, Nick (ed.): Media Events in a Global Age, Chapter 4, pp. 45-60.

Abbott: The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.

Herman: The Cambridge Companion to Narrative.

Thorne, Alexis.  Global Media  Narrative Definitions.