It is difficult to differentiate the appealing and dis-appealing narratives in the age of globalization and the Internet. However, within the traditional media, it seems accurate to say that “appealing” narratives are narratable and “dis-appealing” narratives are unnarratable.
As Gerald Prince defines narratable as a quality of “worthy being told” in Dictionary of Narratology, appealing narratives must have certain values. [1] Among variety of values such as controversy and unexpectedness, cultural proximity might be the one of the essential factors since narratives are always decoded based on “what is taken for granted” in the given culture, in other word, context. [2] Indeed, it is the given context that decides whether the story is appealing or not to the narrates, as Lec Herman and Bart Vervaeck states in Narrative Interest as Cultural Negotiation that story is “empowered” by “cultural materials”circulated in the text. [3] The more narratees see their own “culture” within the text, the more worthy stories become.
On the other hand, dis-appealing narratives are supposed to be unnnaratable in the traditional media. According to Prince, one of the reasons of unnaratable nature is the unworthiness of the narratives. That is, the story is not unusual enough thus not appealing enough to be told. [4] The other reason is that the narrative is “simply taboo” and cannot or should not be told in the given context. [5] In the latter case, unnnaratable narratives are defined as “counternarratives” against hegemony such as law and narrators in the given context. [6] Since only the narrators with power could tell the story within traditional media, counternarratives are supposed not to be told and become unnarratable.
The way narratives work within the traditional media, however, is no longer true due to the globalized narratees and the emergence of the Internet. Globalization has made some of the “contexts” similar each other. That is, the contexts as a means of deciding the narrativity of story are disappearing. Moreover, the Internet gives voice to the narrators of counternarratives to speak up against hegemony. Therefore, it seems appropriate to say that the distinction between appealing and disappealing narratives has been made up by the given context within the traditional media. The borderline between appealing and dis-appealing narrative is, in fact, very ambiguous by its nature. Narratives cannot exist without decoding which is a context-sensitive process. Thus, it is very possible that “disappealing” counternarratives become very appealing to the global narratees on the Internet and vice versa.
[1] Prince, Gerald: Narratable. In: Dictionary of Narratology, p56f.
[2] Prince, Gerald. “The Disnarrated”. Style,Vol. 22(Spring 1998), p.2.Print.
[3] Herman, Luc and Bart Vervaeck. “Narrative Interest as Cultural Negotiation”. NARRATIVE, Vol. 17, No. 1 (January 2009), p. 112. Print.
[4] Prince, Gerald. “The Disnarrated”. Style,Vol. 22(Spring 1998), p.1.Print.
[5] Ibid., p.1.
[6] Ibid., p.1.
Takane Kobayashi
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