Frojdovski narcisizam u međumedijskom pripovijedanju - čudesni slučaj Nudžin Mustafe

Sousa Almeida

doi:10.5937/politeia0-24203

Abstract

The importance of storytelling in the 21st Century's media is indisputable. Facts alone do not satisfy our desire for identity. Only stories can provide us with a sense of identification and belonging. However, stories can also exacerbate our emotional and narcissistic response; and this is precisely what posttruth storytelling is all about: fact-devaluation, appeal to the emotions, extreme partiality and aggressive rhetoric. Based on Freud's theory of narcissism, our research article proposes an objective and interdisciplinary model from which we can recognise, depict and analyse narcissistic patterns in today's cross-media storytelling. In effect, this will help us to better understand the story of the refugee Nujeen Mustafa, which seems to illustrate so well our explicit and implicit dynamics of self-love.

Highlights

Human perceptions are grounded on emotions and identification processes rather than facts and figures
Taking into account Freud’s influence in modern culture and the interdisciplinary nature of his psychoanalytic approach, we suggest the Freudian concept of narcissism as a hypothetical model through which we can recognise, depict and analyse narcissistic patterns and dynamics in cross-media narratives
We first contextualise the relationship between storytelling, emotionalism, subjectivism and their potential exacerbation, which leads to our research problem: What interdisciplinary criteria/model can we use to effectively recognise, describe and analyse narcissistic traits in cross-media narratives? We suggest the Freudian concept of narcissism as a reasonable hypothetical model due to its coherence and comprehensive nature

Summary

Introduction

Human perceptions are grounded on emotions and identification processes rather than facts and figures. Those who work in the culture and entertainment industries and media are well aware of this reality. It is one of the main reasons why storytelling has taken over the early 21st century, reinforcing subjectivity and emotion over objectivity and facts. Taking into account Freud’s influence in modern culture and the interdisciplinary nature of his psychoanalytic approach, we suggest the Freudian concept of narcissism as a hypothetical model through which we can recognise, depict and analyse narcissistic patterns and dynamics in cross-media narratives. By reinterpreting a peculiar Freudian insight, we will see that can ‘minor differences’ exacerbate objectification and aggressiveness, but so too can ‘minor similarities’

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion