Narrative Analysis

Narrative analysis is derived from literary criticism, and its objective is "identification of structural elements and their diverse modes of combination, with recurrent narrative devices, and with the analysis of the kinds of discourse by which a narrative gets told" (Abrams, 1993, p. 123). Stern, Thompson, & Arnould (1998) believe narratology provides an analytical tool for the investigation of structure, content, and context with regards to the theory, language, and techniques of narrative (Greimas, 1971; Scholes, 1981; Prince, 1982; Martin, 1986). Due to a ‘narrative turn’, narrative analysis, used synonymously with literary analysis, has recently gained popularity in human sciences (Shankar, Elliott, & Goulding, 2001). For example, the narrative perspective and its potential contribution to consumer research have been explored by Stern (1989a; 1994), Brown & Reid (1997), Thompson (1997), and Brown (1998), who have lengthily reviewed and critically evaluated the use of various literary techniques, applied techniques from literary theory to enlighten our understanding of advertising texts, spawned greater understanding of consumption experiences, and provided relevant strategically managerial insights. Still, Shankar, Elliott, & Goulding (2001) argue, consumer researchers have lots to acquire from comprehending the inter-relationships between, consumption, identity and narrative.

In their work, Cooper, Schembri, & Miller (2010) use narrative analysis to shed new light on the James Bond movie series. Similarly, narrative analysis was used in this thesis to explicitly examine the means by which industry develop anthropomorphised mascots and ultimately produce brand narratives. Industry produced narratives – derived from Facebook status updates, adverts and articles (also autobiography and story books in the case of Aleksandr Orlov) – were closely analysed in order to delve beneath superficial meanings, to examine more implicit social meanings, to decode culture, and to show conscious or deliberate links to larger story depictions in society. A first take on this project (Patterson, Khogeer, & Hodgson, 2013) was carried out and published in the recent Journal of Marketing Management Special Issue on Anthropomorphic Marketing.

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In this mode of analysis, narratives were treated in terms of the familiar literary elements identified as plot, themes, character, interaction, structural pattern, and the verbal expression of language (Levy, 1981; Stern, 1989b; Stern, Thompson, & Arnould, 1998). Also, in addition to having these key elements, the plots were identified to have basic structure. Ever since Aristotle said in Poetics that narratives have a beginning, middle and end, scholars agree that sequence is necessary (Riessman, 1993). Therefore, basic plots were characterised further in the way that they were narratively arranged or configured (Polkinghorne, 1991); in other words, the way sequence is established towards a conclusion or a value end point. Following in the Aristotelian tradition, Frye (1957) distinguished four basic plots: comedy, romance, tragedy and satire; some of which have interestingly been identified in the case studies investigated in this thesis. Gergen & Gergen (1988, pp. 20-22) also highlight the fundamental features ‘to the construction of intelligible narratives in contemporary western culture’. These can be seen in Table 5.4.

Table ‎5.4 The key features of narratives

Feature Brief Description

The establishment of a value end point Every story must have a valuable ‘point’ to make. This may be perceived positively or negatively by the people involved in the narrative process

Selection of events relevant to the goal state

Only events that aid in portraying the ‘point’ of the story are selected.

The ordering of events The selected events, which support the point of the story, are usually placed in a ‘linear, temporal sequence’. Labov & Waletzky (1967) refer to this as a ‘chronological sequence’ where events move linearly through time.

Establishing sequences Causal sequencing: the order of events in the story is determined causally, that is, event b only happened because of event a and so on.

Consequential sequencing: one event causes another but according to Young (1987) links between them may not always be chronological.

Thematic sequencing: episodic narrative is linked by themes rather than time (Michaels, 1981).

Demarcation signs Stories tend to have well recognised beginnings, (middles) and ends

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In his work, Mishler (1995) identified three main approaches to narrative analysis used by researchers. First, he classified researchers who focused on reference and temporal order (paying particular attention to the ways in which stories were constructed, and the sequence in which events are told in the story). Next, he identified a set of researchers who focused on textual coherence and structure (paying particular attention to how stories gain their structure and coherence through the use of diverse grammatical devices). And finally he recognised a body of research that concentrated on narrative functions within a psychological, social and cultural context.

Shankar, Elliott, & Goulding (2001) highlight a number of related issues that emerge from Mishler's (1995) typology that may be of importance to consumer researchers. Whose story is it anyway? Does it have a relationship with reality? How is the story represented? What role does the narrative play for consumer cognition, memory and self-conception? These questions are of extreme importance to the investigation of anthropomorphised mascots, after all, they are creative creations, who came into life in the land of imagination and make- believe, and who are virtually living amongst us in the real world as the puppets of organisations, and subsequently if successful become the pets of consumers. Thus, investigating temporal order, textual coherence, and narratives functions are equally important to develop a comprehensive picture of the tactics being used by industry.