Narrative Paradigm Theory & Forrest Gump

Assumptions of the Theory

Humans are naturally storytellers In the movie, Forrest Gump does not pass any opportunity to tell a story. With each conversation he has he finds away to relate that to an experience he has had and this gives him the opportunity to tell one of his many stories

Decisions about a story’s worth are based on “Good Reasons” When we hear a story, we choose the worth of the story. This choice is more of a personal preference more than a logical decision. Many of the stories Forrest tells could be seen of much worth just because of the significance of the story. Some people though may put little worth on the story because of their preference.

Continued… Forrest tells many stories that are hard to believe. Some of the people he talks to reject his stories while others choose to believe them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuUIq0Y31S8

Good Reasons are determined by history, biography, culture, and character. Good reason and choices based of of history, biography, culture and character. It is through these that determine how well somone will accept or reject a story.

Rationality is based on people’s judgment of a story’s consistency and truthfulness. Someone will reject or accept a story based on its consistency and truthfulness. In the movie one man completely rejects Forrest’s story of him being the owner of bubba Gump shrimp. The man rejected the story because he could not believe that he was sitting next to a multi-millionaire

We experience the world as filled with stories, and we must choose among them. Stories are all around us and we choose which ones we believe and this in turn effects our life.

Key concepts in the narrative approach

Narrative Rationality Narration Defined as any verbal account with a sequence of events. All communication is a form of narration. Narrative Rationality How we determine which narratives to believe and reject.

Coherence This is how we determine if we will believe a story. If a story is consistent and does not leave out key details then it coheres and is more believable. Also when the story is consistent with what we would believe to have happen this helps the story to be more believable. Forrest though his stories were hard to believe at first, his actions remained consistent with his character which added coherence to the story.

Types of Coherence… Structural Coherence When the story flows smoothly and each part leads to the next without confusion The stories that Forrest told had a strong structural coherence, because each story led to another and he was clear about how his actions led to one thing and then another.

Material Coherence The similarities in one story to the other. If two stories are told about something and they both match up and do not conflict each other then they have strong material coherence. In the movie, Forrest does a good job at showing the material coherence in his stories. All of his stories mesh together and do not conflict each other.

Fidelity This is basically the narrative ethos. Fidelity is the rational used in order to determine the credibility of the story. Because of Forrest’s simplistic nature, some found it hard to believe his stories. Some did not see the credibility that Forrest had to do the things he did. There were a few objects that he had that showed his credibility with the stories he told..

To conclude. The narrative paradigm theory basically is the explanation of why we tell stories and how we come to the conclusion of which stories to reject or accept.

The End!

Works Cited "The Narrative Paradigm. " Communication Theory RSS. N. p Works Cited "The Narrative Paradigm." Communication Theory RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2014. <http://communicationtheory.org/the- narrative-paradigm/>. Turner, Lynn H. "Chapter 20." Introducing Communication Theory Analysis and Application. By Richard West. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.