Stories and images

• cultural power • the climate movement • social movement history
Key points - in images and diagrams

This website argues that picturing, narrating and dramatising the issues is central to achieving change 

 – see the video below:

The way we picture, narrate and dramatise the issues is central to how we ‘see’ and understand them. 

Stories and images define what is at stake—the facts about climate change often become compelling only when they ‘come alive’ through narratives and imagery. 

Stories and images also ‘propel’ and motivate action, ‘making social movements move’. 

Some challenges we are up against

Conservative successes1 raise questions about our ‘theories of change’ and the assumptions we make about politics. The use of images to mobilise fear and ‘capture’ [large parts of] the public imagination is not an aberration – 

fear campaigns are an ordinary feature of politics.

Responding to opponents is clearly just part of the task: stories, images and the “theatre” that combines the two also provide opportunities for social movements to take the initiative and put new issues on the agenda.

Stories, images and ‘theories of change’

Our ‘theories of change’ shape the strategies we choose to achieve social movement goals. This website argues that the power of stories and images belongs at the centre of how we analyse: (1) “the problem”, and (2) pathways to address it.

‘People power’ is essential, and the more of it, the better – 

however as the Trump era has shown, the far right is well and truly able to generate people power of its own – 

and there are other dimensions of politics where outcomes are determined as well.

Sometimes, politics is boiled down to a contest between ‘organised people’ & ‘organised money’.

This website treats ‘people power’ and ‘cultural power‘ as two “dimensions” of power— standing alongside a range of other forms of power. 

While ‘organised people’ and ‘organised money’ are clearly central, at any point, a movement of ‘organised people’ may have high or low levels of the ‘cultural’ power that stories, images and drama generate –

e.g. a large turnout on the streets does not always translate into enduring shifts in the ‘climate of opinion’ or the ‘political climate’.

This website argues that building high levels of BOTH “people power” and “cultural power”:
  • makes social movements stronger
  • shifts the ‘political climate’, creating conditions that make broader change more achievable 
  • counteracts opponents’ capacity to strengthen their ‘base’ and ‘win hearts and minds’1
  • generates political will

See also:

See also:

Broader issues 

This website applies this kind of analysis—lining up the cultural power exerted by the climate movement alongside the way the movement’s opponents use stories and images— to: 

Drama features on pages that focus on:

Cultural power matters for shifting the climate of opinion, changing the political climate and building movements:

For a more detailed outline of these key points, see:

How stories and images matter politically – some thoughts in progress 

Notes

1On conservative successes:

(1) Some examples from Australia:

(2) In the US,

  • Trump lost in 2020, but came to power in 2016 in what many saw as an election he could not win, and
  • in 2020, many Trump supporters made gains in Congressional elections.

images above: Statue of a black man facing a policeman and a police dog, Birmingham, Alabama, drawing on an iconic photograph of Walter Gadsden (Dave Barger).
The Dutch anti-apartheid movement in action: Botha = apartheid, Mandela = the people of South Africa (Roland Gerrits / Anefo / Wikimedia Commons).
President Mohamed Nasheed signing the decree of the underwater Cabinet meeting (Mohamed Seeneen /Presidency Maldives)
Selma, 1965: confrontation between police and marchers (Spider Martin / GPA Photo Archive).
No money for Adani – Rally outside Westpac bank (350).
Coral bleaching at Lizard Island March 2016: (The Ocean Agency / XL Catlin Seaview Survey / Richard Vevers)
Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament (Anders Hellberg, Wikimedia Commons).
Greta Thunberg in Global Strike for Climate 2019 Image: Frankie Fouganthin
“School Strike for Climate, Berlin, 29 March 2019 (Jakob Huber/Campact)
Ende Gelände, “Here and No Further” – Germany (Jens Volle/ Ende Gelände ).
Antarctica – Neko Harbour (Rita Willaert).
Fossil fuel images: Storyblocks
Trump MAGA rally in Johnson City, Tennessee (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
President Donald Trump at a Make America Great Again rally in Johnson City, Tenn., on Oct. 1, 2018. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
This is the climate election (Julian Meehan)
Liberal Flyer 2019 Election (Andrew Scanlon, Flickr)
Julia Gillard (CPSU/CSA)
“Liberal Flyer 2019 Election
(Andrew Scanlon, Flickr)“
Scott Morrison (Palácio do Planalto)
Tony Abbott (Nick-D/ Wikimedia Commons)
John Howard (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
Fishing Boat (Daniel Evans)
Ships belonging to the British naval taskforce that Margaret Thatcher sent to defeat Argentina in 1982 in the Falklands War Wikimedia Commons
Margaret Thatcher Image: Wikimedia Commons
Premier meets with Keystone XL workers (Government of Alberta)
September 11 attack (TheMachineStops (Robert J. Fisch))
President George W. Bush discussing Social Security Eric Draper/ Wikimedia Commons
Guantanamo Bay (Shane T. McCoy/ Wikimedia Commons)
Saddam Statue (defenselink/ Wikimewdia Commons)
Saddam Hussein (CIA/ Wikimedia Commons)
“Climate change is real sign: Becker1999
Kangaroo Island fire, 2020, Australia (robdownunder)
President Mohamed Nasheed signing the decree of the underwater Cabinet meeting (Mohamed Seeneen /Presidency Maldives)
#JobsJusticeClimate March: Toronto (Robert van Waarden / 350).
Skyscrapers: Storyblocks
Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament (Anders Hellberg / Wikimedia Commons).
“ExxonKnew” – Exxon killed the Reef (350)
Mika Maiava of Tokelau (Jeff Tan)
Stop Adani at Congo Beach, Eurobodalla (Gillianne Tedder/ Stop Adani)
London Anti Iraq War march, 15 Feb 2003 (Wikimedia Commons)
Peoples Climate March, 2014 (Robert van Waarden/ Survival Media Agency/ 350)
The Climate Elephant in Melbourne (Australian Youth Climate Coalition)
“Alabama civil rights movement: Selma to Montgomery march, halted at the Edmund Pettus bridge (Tuesday, March 9, 1965) (Jack Rabin collection, Pennsylvania State University).
Gandhi and other campaigners during the Salt March / “Salt Satyagraha”, 1930 (Gandhi Heritage Portal, Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, Ahmedabad) .
Freedom Riders hang anti-segregation signs from bus windows, 1961 (US Embassy The Hague, Flickr).
Selma, 1965: confrontation between police and marchers (Spider Martin / GPA Photo Archive).
“School Strike for Climate, Berlin, 29 March 2019 (Jakob Huber/Campact)“
Ende Gelände, “Here and No Further” – Germany (Jens Volle/ Ende Gelände ).
Composite image from: Alabama civil rights movement: Selma to Montgomery march, halted at the Edmund Pettus bridge (Tuesday, March 9, 1965) (Jack Rabin collection, Pennsylvania State University).
Selma, 1965: confrontation between police and marchers (Spider Martin / GPA Photo Archive).
Fridays for Future, Leipzig (De Havilland, Flickr).
In August 2018, outside the Swedish parliament building, Greta Thunberg started a school strike for the climate. Her sign reads, “Skolstrejk för klimatet,” meaning, “school strike for climate”. Image: Anders Hellberg, Wikimedia Commons
No money for Adani – Rally outside Westpac bank (350).
Workers in hi vis vests: Storyblocks
Pacific Warriors confront the Rhine: Mike Bowers/ Eyevine/Australscope

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