Politics is done with stories’
In Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement, US political scientist Bill Chaloupka describes how a ‘dramatic, well-aimed story’ can produce the kind of changes in awareness that spark a movement, and that in turn create political change.
He asks how climate science can be translated into stories that make a difference, arguing:
It’s clear that to build a green future, we must change our politics. To begin, we must recognise a simple truth:
politics is distinctively narrative. It’s done with stories (p. 198).
But how do we ‘change the story’?
‘Changing the story’ is important in the thinking of many climate strategists. Apart from throwing in a hero here and an enemy there, how is it done?
What story elements can
- bring a story about climate change to life
- make it the kind of story which can provide an enduring basis for “winning hearts and minds” / “capturing” the public imagination, and propelling political change?
It is possible to have a message without a plot, a plot without depth, and a ‘moral’ without a story.
At best, climate movement stories can offer a strong, compelling plot with a powerful ‘moral’, which is enacted in a sequence of episodes in a social drama, and within which members of the public can ‘imagine themselves’ through characters with whom they identify.
‘Narrative’ vs ‘message’
Campaigners frequently talk about changing the narrative. However sometimes ‘narrative’ and ‘message’ are used interchangeably. Or ‘narrative’ might refer to ‘theme within a communication strategy’, ‘communication strategy’ and ‘overall public understanding of an issue’.
If we mean ‘narrative’ and not just ‘message’, we need to focus on story elements like plot, character and story structure.
