Story World Research Articles

Respons-Able Trees. On Permaculture Ethics of Responsibility in the Films of the Exhibition "Cambio" (2020)

The extensive research project Cambio (2020) by the Italian designer duo Formafantasma focuses on the tree, the forest in its function of securing the existence of humans, animals and other plants. The project uses various forms of critical representation and storytelling to explore the connections between exploitation, consumer culture and colonialism in the face of the industrial timber industry. The question is: What responsibility do we bear in relation to the treatment of trees and what response-ability do trees themselves have? Based on three essayistic short films and other objects from the Cambio exhibition, my contribution addresses these questions of responsibility and respons-ability with regard to the relationship between humans and trees. In the sense of Donna Haraway, the what and how of artistic representation and narration itself becomes a question of response-ability - i.e. the possibility of becoming responsible in responding. Here, with Haraway in mind, the ethically necessary perspective unfolds of not having to distinguish between a real world and a world of stories and narratives, but of being able to think material-semiotic worlds in a (responsible) situated way and allow them to emerge. This paper proposes response-ability as a conceptual and analytical rubric and as a guiding ethical practice for the new materialist-inspired endeavor to rethink human and non-human interdependency in relation to trees. I will intruduce the exhibition Cambio and three of its films as an exemplary site of narrative and representational modes that have the potential to sensitize us to those relations of interdependency.

Latent Profiles of Visual Imagery: Aphantasics, Mid-Range Imagers, and Hyperphantasics Experience Reading Differently

Mental imagery differs markedly between people, with research tentatively identifying three categories, namely aphantasia, mid-range imagery, and hyperphantasia. Further, aphantasia poses interesting questions as to how people with low imagery experience reading. Accordingly, we used Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) on a sample of adults (n = 287) to see what distinct imagery profiles exist empirically. Second, we tested different imagery profiles for associations with different reading enjoyment and absorption experiences. The online correlational study asked participants to complete measures including the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ-2), the Story World Absorption Scale, and a measure of reading enjoyment. LPAs were run to identify imagery profiles and correlations were run with reading enjoyment and absorption. Results of the LPA validate the existence of three profiles. All groups reported moderate to high enjoyment and absorption, however, significant group differences existed between the lowest and highest imagers. Future research needs to better understand what these experiential differences are and how they may or may not affect reading ability.

Thinking diegetically

In the process of thinking diegetically, the videographic practitioner is guided by the diegetic (story world) logic of the films or media works under scrutiny. As opposed to videographic approaches that extract audiovisual segments from a narrative and spatiotemporal logic, this form of videographic work engages with the constraints of the source materials’ diegetic tethers to (re)construct a story world in meaningful and productive ways. This essay seeks to explore the ramifications of such diegetic argumentation through an analysis of several videographic works: the author’s “Imagining Orphée | Orphée imaginé” (Oyallon-Koloski 2023), Catherine Grant’s “Fated to be Mated: An Architectural Promenade” (2018), Dayna McLeod’s “Speculative Queer Autoethnography: Desert Hearts” (2023), and Liz Greene’s “Spencer Bell, Nobody Knows My Name” (2022). These examples embrace the intrinsic form of their source material’s diegesis, prioritize the rhetorical impact of spatiotemporal construction, and deliberately balance the pulls between original and videographic diegetic logic through the application of precise videographic techniques. Video essayists use the formal, performative, and nonverbal options afforded by centering diegetic principles in powerful ways to shape their rhetoric.

Storytelling in Science Film: Narrative Engagement Relates to Greater Knowledge, Interest, and Identification With Science

To explore narrative engagement’s impacts on science communication, we examine a representative sample of U.S. adults randomly assigned to watch one of the four short documentary science films. Our results indicate that narrative engagement—feeling connected to the story world and identifying with characters—predicts a wide range of outcomes relevant to engagement and learning: greater knowledge gain and perceived knowledge and interest, perceiving science in a new way, perceiving science as valuable, and identifying with science. These outcomes typically appeared regardless of viewer demographics. We describe implications and opportunities for research into the impacts of stories and science films for engaging diverse audiences.

Christian Motifs and Images in the Short Story by V. G. Korolenko “In a Bad Society”

The article analyzes Christian motifs and images, evangelical quotations and reminiscences that make up an important semantic layer of the work.In the center of the events is the fate of a six-year-old boy (the hero-narrator), who, after the death of his mother, experienced the “horror of loneliness” and is looking for a “soul mate.” It is established that such evangelical reminiscences as “separating sheep from goats” (Matthew 25:32), “helping others” (Matthew 25:33‒46), make it possible to identify the axiological coordinates of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian town where the protagonist’s family lives. It is shown that the behavior of the townspeople explicates such a phenomenon of religious life as Pharisaism, recalling the conversion of Christ to the Pharisees (Matthew 25:27‒28). The text includes an allusion to the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 13:13) and parallels the situation to that in the small town in western Ukraine which exists only by virtue of three righteous people living there, one of whom is the narrator’s father. Also, the mention of the biblical prophet Jeremiah doesn’t seem accidental: he had to convert the people who had departed from the faith, knowing well that his calls to repentance would remain fruitless (Jer. 20:8). The events of the short story show that the boy’s personality is formed under the influence of beggars and vagabonds, as opposed to ordinary people who seek to observe the moral law. It has been determined that an important place in the plot structure is occupied by the good/evil, life/death and heart/stone oppositions, which outline the main differences in the characters’ ethical systems. According to the conclusions, in the imagined world of the short story, the inhabitants of Princetown, whose hearts have hardened, are the antithesis of the boy Vasya and his friends from the dungeon with merciful and sympathetic hearts. Their very existence seems to remind readers of the well-known words of the Savior: “…unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Relationship between Setting Description and Immersion in Fiction in Algeria

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between setting description and immersion in fiction in Algeria. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: The study found that vivid and detailed depictions of settings significantly enhance reader immersion. The Study have shown that richly described settings contribute to a more immersive reading experience by allowing readers to mentally visualize and emotionally connect with the story world. Moreover, descriptive passages that engage multiple senses, such as sight, sound, smell, and texture, have been found to deepen immersion by creating a more sensory-rich environment. Additionally, the effectiveness of setting description in fostering immersion seems to be influenced by factors such as reader preferences, genre conventions, and the narrative context. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of thoughtful and evocative setting descriptions in enhancing reader engagement and immersion in fictional narratives. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Schema theory, transportation theory and reader-response theory may be used to anchor future studies on assessing the relationship between setting description and immersion in fiction in Algeria. In terms of practical implications, findings from research on setting description and immersion can inform authors, educators, and practitioners in the fields of literature, media, and education. From a policy perspective, research on setting description and immersion in fiction can inform initiatives aimed at promoting literacy, cultural diversity, and media literacy.

Esboço para uma leitura iconográfica dos objetos artísticos marianos na Costa Rica

This article provides an iconographic reading of the figure of Mary of Nazareth based on the description and contextualization of artistic objects in Costa Rica. The study uses only the first two levels of reading proposed by Panofsky (1987). First, the pre-iconographic description, as a practical experience that facilitates familiarization with the objects and the circumstances that surround them, and second, the iconographic analysis to trace the constitution of the world of images, stories and allegories that underlie artistic assets. The study join the different Marian titles seen in different plastic artistic supports, into three large categories: 1. Joyful Mary; 2. Glorious Mary and 3. Mary Sorrowful, which are associated with the narrative of the mysteries of the Rosary, and are also linked to the way in which the Marian cult developed from Divine Motherhood dogmas, the Assumption to heaven and the Mary’s compassion towards her Son`s death.

E pluribus Unum: toward a poetics of the TV anthology

ABSTRACT The TV anthology series, which enjoyed significant popularity in the past but has been scarce amidst the dominance of episodic series and serials in the 2000s and early 2010s, seemed to experience a kind of renaissance after the international success of Black Mirror (Channel 4, 2011–2014; Netflix, 2016–present), followed by other popular shows like Room 104 (HBO, 2017–2020) and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (Channel 4/Amazon Prime Video, 2017–2018). The anthology format differs from series and serials in that its seasons consist of packages of episodes that are not connected by a narrative throughline, but instead feature a different plot, cast, and story world in each installment, raising the question of whether they can really be described in terms of ‘seriality’. This article explores the serial qualities of the anthology format and the source of poetic unity that grants cohesion to the multifarious episodes bound together in this type of show. In the absence of narrative accumulation, alternative qualities of seriality are examined and several ‘anthological markers’ are identified. Ultimately, this article argues for a poetic peculiarity of the format that is determined by a dynamic interplay between a single creative purpose and episodic variety and experimentation.

Possible Worlds, Possible Selves in the Works of Michel Houellebecq

ABSTRACT There exists a sharp divide amongst literary scholars about whether or not Michel Houellebecq’s works reflect aspects of the living author’s opinions and biography. In a new analysis of Houellebecq’s creative practice, this article seeks to avoid the pitfalls to which either side of the debate is prone by considering his works as expressions of ‘the possible’ and, in particular, as explorations of the ‘possibilities’ within his own life. Houellebecq has himself explained the creative process through which his protagonists come into being in terms of the counterfactual and the possible—‘j’ai pris un évènement réel de ma vie et je me suis demandé qu’est-ce qui se serait passé dans ma vie si j’avais pris la décision opposée’—having previously affirmed that they represent ‘Ce qu’on pourrait être et qu’on n’est pas’. This article therefore proposes that his fictional universe can be read as an exploration of Possible Worlds, that is to say, non-actualized worlds that may have eventuated if circumstances in reality had taken a different turn. By extension, his protagonists, including his self-portrayals (in his novels, films and other mediatic projects) are frequently potentialities of the author, his story worlds depicting what he ‘might have become’.

Love/Hate as lyrical sociology: Mapping the spaces of urban crime

This article considers the sociological function of television drama via the Irish television crime series Love/Hate, which aired over five seasons between 2010 and 2014 on RTÉ, Ireland’s public service broadcaster. Drawing on Andrew Abbot’s concept of ‘lyrical sociology’, it will examine how media discourse surrounding Love/Hate consistently foregrounded the connection between its fictional events and real-life crime scenarios. Media coverage of Love/Hate, as well as the content of the series itself, it will be argued, posed the problem of sympathy between audience and its violent protagonists in spatial terms, as a question of belonging or otherwise in a shared social space. In particular, the experiential quality of home as a space of belonging will be explored as a central organizing structure in the series, one which ambiguously connected the lived spaces of its domestic television audience to the highly gendered home and city spaces of Love/Hate’s story world.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary representation on Australian scripted television in the 2000s and 2010s

Over the past few decades, there has been significant industry and scholarly interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion in television. Alongside this, attention has been paid to the politics of queer representation in screen and media contexts. Providing much-needed data on these issues, this article catalogues the representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and nonbinary characters in Australian scripted television since 2000. We highlight the inclusion of more queer characters onscreen and situate this in the context of two significant decades of change in the Australian television industry and the broader socio-political context. In teasing out recent trends around gender and sexually diverse representation, we identify shifts toward representing more complex and inclusive queer story worlds on Australian television. We also note significant tensions in these representations, highlighting how Australian television remains quite conservative in depicting queer sex, intersections between sexualities and gender identities, and bisexual identities.

Validation of the Story World Absorption Scale through annotation of online book reviews

In this paper we present our attempt at validating a self-report instrument developed in the field of empirical literary studies to capture absorption experiences, namely the Story World Absorption Scale (SWAS, Kuijpers, et al. 2014). We used the SWAS as the foundation for a tag set, that targets mentions of absorption in online book reviews. Online book reviews posted on social media platforms are a relatively new form of reader testimonials that can be of use to researchers from different disciplines to investigate reading experience and evaluation, as well as social discourse about reading. This paper discusses the annotation tag set, which was developed through an iterative process, presented alongside a series of inter-annotator agreement studies that show the validity of our annotation process. Finally, it will discuss the validation and reconceptualization of the Story World Absorption construct, where we consider instances of systematic disagreement during annotation and discuss new categories that we added to the tag set that indicate areas where absorption theory may need to be refined.

Character in the Adapted Series “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries”: Playing with Tradition

The Australian TV-series “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries” follows a trend that has emerged in mystery film genre over the last few decades. On the one hand, it is an old story about a private detective; on the other – a new narrative, that fascinates the viewer with an extraordinary setting. This effect is provided by the intertextual links that the series forms with the texts of its surroundings. This article examines how various intertextual elements form the image of the “Roaring Twenties”, linking the cinema text with the ‘classic detective’, while at the same time referring to modern cinema. These challenges are reconciled through the image of the main character. The ironic play with the familiar texts produces a light atmosphere of the series, and the references to the fashion and art of the 1920s construct the illusion of the “reality” of Miss Fisher, who finds her own place in the canon owing to the connections with the world of a detective story

Flash fiction as a distinct literary form: some thoughts on time, space, and context

ABSTRACT This article combines a craft-focused approach with a stylistics perspective to consider the ways in which flash fiction may be said to operate as a unique literary form. In the opening section flash fiction is defined in relation to what are usually seen as its two closest literary companions: prose poetry and the short story. This is followed by an introduction to the linguistic phenomenon known as deixis, and to related concepts from the field of Narratology. These ideas are subsequently illustrated and explored through the close analysis of several short texts and used to uncover what might be considered the defining features of the form. The earlier taxonomic approach of William Nelles is also evaluated in the light of more recent creative practice. The article concludes by arguing that the mobilisation of a story world is a necessary requirement for a text to be classified as flash fiction, by highlighting the importance of deft manipulation of deictic elements, and finally by suggesting that the unique communicative context evoked by flash fiction has significant implications for its interpretation.

Narrative Worldmaking of Temporal and Spatial Intersections: "Here" and "Elsewhere" in Life Is Elsewhere

Milan Kunderas novel, Life Is Elsewhere, narrates the entire life of the protagonist from pre-birth to death. The author constructs a realistic world of here in contrast to a dreamlike world of elsewhere in the novel, setting up two homologous narrative worlds that finally drift into an irreconcilable separation and opposition. Cognitive narratologys focus on narrative worldmaking provides the readers with a pathway to analyze the dual narrative worlds in the text, creating double-scope stories represented by the personae of Jaromil and Xavier. The discrepancy between the two worlds runs throughout the narrative, and the relationship between the two independent yet mirroring worlds is evident from the beginning of their worldmaking. The implied distinction between here and elsewhere in Life Is Elsewhere is a metaphor for the unity of opposites in these two story worlds. The storyteller guides the interpreters reading activity through narration.

An Open World of Stories: A Critical Examination of Open-Access Global Digital Picturebook Platforms

Abstract: This article presents a critical examination of four open-access global digital picturebook platforms to determine the messages the books could convey to readers about specific cultural groups, and what opportunities are provided for young readers to make important cross-cultural connections to strengthen their socioemotional development and prepare them to engage with diverse individuals in a global society. The sample included five books from each of the open-access platforms. Using both visual content analysis and semiotics, researchers examine how cultures are illustrated—in character demographics, themes, color choices, use of cultural symbols, and any notable differences or similarities between the books in each platform. Each platform was evaluated for its ability to provide opportunities for readers to make important connections with characters in the books, as well as for its potential to support the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals of preserving and providing access to the world's culture and heritage. The study provides insight into how children's books in open-access platforms represent different cultures and how this in turn influences the potential for readers to make cross-cultural connections.

A Functional Study of Film Sound Design in Science Fiction Films

As a form of art combining audio and visual, movie sound effect is an important element in building the story world of the movie. When sound films first appeared, they were recognized and welcomed by the public, and it is extremely important to use sound effects in narrative films so that the audience can have a better connection with the fictional world. As one of the popular cinema genres, science fiction movies were loved by the audience when they first appeared, attracting the audience's attention with brilliant special effects, but the role played by sound effects in them should not be neglected. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of sound effects in science fiction films, and will use Avatar, Inception, The Prestige and Gravity, the four films, respectively, to explain the three functions that sound effects have. They are to enhance the realism of the movie, to help complete the temporal construction of the movie and to express the inner world of the characters.

가능세계의 양상 논리 시스템을 활용한 전설 서사 분석 모델 연구

This study develops a new analysis methodology for legendary narratives based on the possible world theory. As part of this, it develops a narrative analysis model. Unlike “traditional narratology,” possible world theory enables new and diverse approaches related to narrative by establishing various worlds created through stories, and it allows the establishment of related hypotheses and theories. Particularly, it provides a methodology for a new understanding of narratives that are difficult to establish in literature or history, such as legendary narratives.
 Legends are often regarded as fictional narratives that have a certain degree of historicity with temporal and spatial limitations and evidence but are differentiated from history. However, according to White, history is also a fictional narrative that creates a specific world by constructing a plot and indicates a specific ideology or meaning. Finally, historical narratives are simply narratives related to the history of actual events, whereas legendary narratives are non-historical narratives about a world believed to have existed. By breaking away from the conventional perspective of mimesis and assuming various possible worlds, we can plan a new methodology for narrative research by examining the worlds presented by narratives.
 In this discussion, a model for analyzing legend narratives was presented using Doležel's modal logic system. The alethic, deontic, axiological, and epistemic plots were established as segmented units and analysis items that operate in the story world. The modes of each stage of the narrative were analyzed and connected to create meaning in the form of a single sentence. This analysis model was applied to Song Si-yeol legends handed down in the Goesan region to analyze the composition principles of the narrative text and the meaning of the narrative. By applying the secondary narrative analysis model using a modal logic system, it is possible to examine the semantics of the story world within a systematic framework, rather than simply finding the primary indicative meaning or subjective and abstract commentary of the legendary narratives.

Prototyping first-person viewer positions for VR narratives with storyboards and pilot productions

In this article, we present two related approaches to scripting or prototyping VR narratives. We tested storyboarding and pilot production techniques with 40 students over two years, and they were tasked with creating documentary VR narratives characterized by embodied moods and experiences. The aim was to help students tailor a strong first-person viewer relationship with the virtual environment utilizing the ways the body can be centred in story worlds. In particular, the article deals with character positioning and point of view-writing in the first-person, drawing on insights from human–computer interaction (HCI) and postphenomenology. There is an ongoing exploration of new experimental approaches to story world production for immersive media, and prototyping processes from fields such as HCI are becoming increasingly relevant for screenwriters. We provide analyses of how storyboards and pilot productions can situate the user in relation to the virtual environment. Based on the analyses, we evaluate the use value of such prototyping for students and practitioners who need to make first-person viewer positions for VR narratives, and we compare our approach with similar pedagogical projects as represented in the literature.

Disney's Non-Screen Character and Transmedia Story World Building

Disney's Non-Screen Character and Transmedia Story World Building