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Last active February 22, 2016 20:12
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modeling narrative structure

A. J. Griemas worked out a model to represent narrative structure that underlies much of the classic narrative storytelling explained in How to Win an Election and the lessons given in F for Fake — How to Structure a Video Essay.

Sender -------------------> Object ----------------------> Receiver
                              ⌃
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Helper -------------------> Agent <------------------------ Opponent

I'll use the story of Little Red Riding Hood to quickly demonstrate both how these roles are mapped to narrative structure and how this diagram makes drawing THEREFORE and BUT conclusions natural and easy.

Mother wants to send food to Grandmother. THEREFORE she enlists Little Red Riding Hood to take it to her. BUT Little Red Riding Hood encounters a wolf on the way who threatens to eat her and her grandma and prevent the successful completion of the task. BUT a woodcutter appears on the scene and THEREFORE the wolf bites the dust and Little Red Riding Hood completes her task.

Mother -------------------> food --------------------------> Grandmother
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Woodcutter,axe ----------> R.R.Hood <----------------------- Wolf

Using this diagram structure we might be able to generate some narratives around C4Q and its programs/missions that lend themselves to interesting THEREFORE/BUT transitions. Most interesting of all would be if we could associate the roles with data and then tell a data story that we could cross cut with the story about people, events, programs, and policy.

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