There are several factors that cause certain narratives to have a great global appeal, while others are considered to be unappealing to the media. Some narratives are too complex, too simple; or don’t spark an interest in a mass for a variety of other reasons. Marie-Laure Ryan, author of The Cambridge Companion to Narrative, argues that the number of times an event is narrated can influence the reader’s interpretation of a narrative.1 After one hears a narrative many times, they become jaded, the narrative loses its news value2, and the audience becomes blasé. The narrative unconsciously becomes less important in the media.
For example, think of the many natural disasters that have occurred within the past decade, most recently, the earthquake and tsunami that happened in Japan. Initially this narrative had a high news value and was reported on heavily, however as time has passed, the amount of coverage it’s received has declined. It has become unnarratable, “that which, according to a given narrative, cannot be narrated or is not worth narrating because it transgresses a law (social, authorial, genetic, formal), or because it defies the powers of a specific narrator (or those of any narrator) or because it falls under the so-called threshold of narrativity (it is not sufficiently unusual or problematic)”3 In this situation, the narrative becomes unworthy of narrating because it falls under the threshold of narrativity, and is not sufficiently unusual or problematic. More specifically, it becomes subnarratable, that which according to a given narrative, need not be told, because it is so “normal” as to go without saying.4
1Ryan, Marie-Laure. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print.
24Harcup, Tony/O’Neill, Deirdre: What is News? Galtung and Ruge revisted. Jounalism Studies 2001, vol.2, no. 2, pp. 261-280
3Robyn R. Warhol: Neonarrative; or, How to Render the Unnarratable in the Realist Fiction and Contemporary Film. In: Phelan, James/Rabinowitz: Peter J.: A Companion to Narrative Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005, pp. 220-231.
4Phelan, James/Rabinowitz: Peter J.: A Companion to Narrative Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005 (Glossary, A Companion to Narrative Theory, p. 542-551).
1. Portugal’s rate of borrowing from the financial institutions has been climbing sharply. In March 2010, the Portuguese government agreed to take austere measures to reduce public deficits. They paralyzed ports, closed subways, causing a general strike against the austerity to outbreak in November. All public services were severely affected, as were large companies, in a move of a magnitude unseen since 1988. The Portuguese government revises its economic forecast downward for 2011, now expects GDP to contract by 0.9% against a growth of 0.2% forecast previously. The European Central Bank and a majority of countries in the euro area are pressing the Portuguese government to seek assistance from the EU and the IMF (International Monetary Fund), thus far to no avail. This issue is one that affects France, and the entire European Union’s economic state. If Portugal’s predicament doesn’t improve, it may result in a widespread deficit that largely impacts the EU.1
2. Within France, this narrative has not received much attention. This is because the narrative becomes unworthy of narrating because it falls under the threshold of narrativity, and is not sufficiently unusual or problematic.2 In the case that the economic issues in Portugal exacerbate, the coverage it receives by the French will increase. This is because the likeliness that it will affect France directly increases as the conditions in Portugal worsen.
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