Emily Weinzheimer
Narratives are the root of nearly everything we think and do. They are the way to tell a story, and, if crafted correctly, sway an audience to a desired opinion. They are selective, only including the information that contributes to their desired effect’s theme and thrust. Furthermore, narratives are the synthesis of information and are the outcome of the different ways information is processed. Foundational cultural narratives can impact the effectiveness of stories and other forms of communication, especially if they have a foundational narrative similar to that of the audience. In the case of the Russia-Ukraine War, the narrative put out by Ukraine resonates with most of the Western world, with the United States at the forefront. When utilized in a conflict, a master-narrative – narratives at the heart of a society that determine how the majority of that society gives meaning to events – can heavily sway an audience to one side, impacting the outcome of both smaller battles within a war and the overall outcome of the conflict itself.
Narratives are the root of nearly everything we think and do. They are the way to tell a story, and, if crafted correctly, sway an audience to a desired opinion.
The next layer of a narrative is a metanarrative, which is defined as the following:
“…created by global media as the prism through which the international community views the situation and it determines how conflicts are perceived and how events and actors are understood. It does this by selecting which aspects of the conflict are emphasized, which topics are highlighted and which actors are identified, and how motivation is assigned to the actors.”
Understanding metanarratives can be highly advantageous for an actor in conflict, as will be shown by Ukraine’s immediate harnessing of the narrative – global news outlets ran with the narrative that Ukraine had been wrongly invaded by a larger, hostile, neighboring country. This narrative will build upon the West’s existing metanarrative of Russia that has existed since the Cold War.
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