Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 25:1 (2015) ► pp.113–130
Multimodal figuration of product stories
Experience crossing and creating empathy
Published online: 19 February 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.25.1.07tse
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.25.1.07tse
The product story, an emerging genre increasingly used in creative industries, introduces the product by means of storytelling. Unlike a typical personal narrative, which reports events, the product story, which usually includes one or more pictures showing the item for sale, uses the past as a resource to tell a story about a new product pertaining to human experience. This study uses the notion of multimodal figuration to characterize the co-presence of narrativity and visuality in product stories. The notion simultaneously refers to three key features of product stories which are co-produced by word and image: participants (i.e. product and human), the generation of plots, and emotionality. In the interactions between participants exists a tension between objectifying and animating forces. Two other phenomena result from the interconnections among the three senses or layers of multimodal figuration: crossing experience and creating empathy, in both of which metaphor plays a central role.
Keywords: metaphor, product stories, empathy, experience crossing, small stories
References (34)
Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. M. Holquist (Ed.), C. Emerson & M. Holquist (Trans.). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Bal, M. (2005). Visual narrativity. In D. Herman, M. Jahn, & M. -L. Ryan (Eds.), Routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory (pp. 629–633). London & New York: Routledge.
Bamberg, M. (2006). Stories: Big or small—Why do we care? Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 139–147.
. (2012). Why narrative? Narrative Inquiry, 22(1), 202–210.
Bamberg, M., & Georgakopoulou, A. (2008). Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis. Text & Talk 28(3), 377–396.
Berger, P.L., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Cameron, L. (2011). Metaphor and reconciliation: The discourse dynamics of empathy in post-conflict conversations. New York, NY: Routledge.
Duan, C., & Hill, C.E. (1996). The current state of empathy research. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 431, 261–274.
Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2002). The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Georgakopoulou, A. (2007). Small stories, interaction and identities. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Goodwin, M.H. (1997). Byplay: Negotiating evaluation in story-telling. In G.R. Guy, C. Feagin, D. Schiffrin, & J. Baugh (Eds.), Towards a social science of language: Papers in honour of William Labov, vol. 21 (pp. 77–102). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Heinrichsmeier, R. (2012). “What we’re going to be doing”: Small stories and the “doing” of institutional identity by guides of working visitor attractions. Narrative Inquiry,22(2), 384–404.
Johnstone, B. (1990). Stories, communities, and place: Narratives from middle America. Bloomington, US: Indiana University Press.
Labov, W. (1972). The transformation of experience in narrative syntax. In W. Labov (Ed.), Language in the inner city: Studies in Black English vernacular (pp. 354–396). Philadelphia: University of Washington Press.
. (1997). Some further steps in narrative analysis. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 71, 395–415.
. (2006). Narrative pre-construction. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 37–45.
LeFebvre, L., & Blackburn, K. (2012). Choosing Emma’s ending: Exploring the intersection of small and big stories, antenarrative, and narrative. Narrative Inquiry,22(2), 211–225.
Norrick, N.R. (2004). Humor, tellability, and conarration in conversational storytelling. Text & Talk, 24(1), 70–111.
. (2005). The dark side of tellability. Narrative Inquiry, 151, 323–344.
Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2001). Living narrative: Creating everyday lives in storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Padgett, D., & Allen, D. (1997). Communicating experiences: A narrative approach to creating service brand image. Journal of Advertising, 261, 49–62.
Patrick, P.L., & Payne-Jackson, A. (1995). Functions of Rasta talk in a Jamaican creole healing narrative: “A bigfoot dem gi’ mi”. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 6(1), 1–38.
Rugen, B.D. (2010). The relevance of narrative ratifications in talk-in-interaction for Japanese pre-service teachers of English. Narrative Inquiry, 20(1), 62–81.
Ryan, Marie-Laure. (2014). Narration in various media. Retrieved: [URL]. Accessed 2 January, 2015.
Shuman, A. (2006). Entitlement and empathy in personal narrative. Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 148–155.
Tovares, A.V. (2010). All in the family: Small stories and narrative construction of a shared family identity that includes pets. Narrative Inquiry,20(1), 1–19.