Analysis of "Persuasion in the Media Age" (part 18)

Narratives

Walter Fisher (1987) proposes a model of persuasion in which "stories" take on the role of arguments. It is these stories we refer to when we mention narratives. He claims that all people are essentially storytellers and that we constantly evaluate and choose from the stories we hear. For example closing arguments in a trial can be viewed as stories. That is not to say that these stories lack substance or that they are mere rhetoric. In fact, the contrary is true. Fisher argues that our world is created through symbols and that by using symbolic structures, or stories, we can induce others to see the world through our eyes. According to Fisher, stories have substance and weight because they reflect how we see our world. It is these "stories" that we refer to as narratives.

Fisher's narrative approach is particularly well suited for the media age, in which we are constantly exposed to the narrative form on television and in movies. Jamieson (1988) contends that television invites the use of private narratives about persuaders. The preferred style of language today is one of intimacy. Narratives, as ways of expressing reasons, work hand-in-hand with this intimate style of using language. Narratives allow persuaders to reduce complex ideas into short and eagerly understood arguments. Jamieson argues that the power of narratives lies in their ability"to create identity for an audience, to involve the audience and to bond that audience to the persuader.

First, Fisher says, humans are "essentially storytellers." Our communication can be considered a story with a plot, characters and other attributes of good fiction. Second, instead of using strict rules of logic such as inductive and deductive reasoning, Fisher writes that we use, "good reasons" when making decisions and persuading others. Good reasons include traditional ideas about logic, along with ideas about the values the storyteller shares with his or her audience. What "good reasons" means varies, among situations, genres, and media of communication. Finally, "the world as we know it is a set of stories that must be chosen among." Viewing communication as a narrative is meaningful for people in a wide variety of cultures and communities because "we all live out narratives in our lives and because we understand our own lives in terms of narratives."

Evaluating Narratives

Humans employ narrative rationality when evaluating the stories they hear. Narrative rationality is comprised of two standards: narrative probability and narrative fidelity. Narrative probability asks whether the story is consistent with itself. Narrative fidelity evaluates the degree to which the story "rings true" with the audience. Narrative rationality depends on hard-and-fast rules of logic, but also on the values that are a part of decision making. This is an important part of Fisher's (1987) theory.

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