Importance Behind Consistency: What Makes A Story Convincing?

The Walking Dead is a television series based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. The show follows Rick Grimes, a former sheriff’s deputy, in search of his wife, Lori, and his son, Carl. Rick Grimes awakes from a coma to find himself in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. He must locate his wife and son while finding a secure home. However, staying alive isn’t easy, and forces many survivors to become cruel. The group discovers that other humans are just as dangerous as the walking dead. Due to the complex storyline and intricate characters, the show quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and consistently gets millions of viewers every week.

In Chapter 24, Griffin explains the narrative paradigm theory. People are naturally storytellers and experience and understand life as a series of narratives with conflicts and characters. Excluding phatic communication, Fisher believes that almost all types of communication are stories. Narration is defined as, “symbolic actions-words and/or deeds-that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them,” (299). Narration is a form of communication that is a part of a speaker’s story. A paradigm is, “a conceptual framework; a universal model that calls for people to view events through a common interpretive lens,” (299). Paradigms allow people to view stories through a shared lens rather than varying interpretations. The rational-world paradigm assumes that people make decisions based on evidence. People believe stories or explanations to be false until they receive proof or evidence. Fisher states that there should be narrative coherence and, “internal consistency with characters acting in a reliable fashion,” (301). Therefore, characters are expected to behave in a specific way according to their role in the story. If there are contradictions within the story, the audience is less likely to believe the story.  In addition, there is narrative fidelity which discusses the importance of values embedded in a message lining up with what listeners regard as truthful. Fishers believes that stories have a powerful means of persuasion and almost all communication is narrative.

 

The Walking Dead is a story that follows the life of Rick Grimes. It is a narrative because it has symbolic action and deeds that have sequence and meaning for those who interpret them. The show is also a paradigm because there is a framework that calls people to view the events through a shared lens. When people view this story through the rational-world paradigm they would see that this story is not based on facts, but rather a source of entertainment. Employing narrative rationality, a viewer would see that that the television series is a coherent story that does not have an error within the storyline. If there were contradictions throughout the television show viewers would likely stop watching because we seek stories that make sense. Rick Grimes is a perfect example of narrative coherence because he behaves in a reliable fashion that is consistent with what viewers expect. Grimes was a cop, therefore; he is a good guy who tries to save everyone he cares about and not hurting innocent people. The values Grimes portrays is consistent with what listeners regard as truthful. In general, society believes that cops are good people and therefore Grimes must be a good person. The Walking Dead is a great example of a narrative paradigm because it is a good narrative that entices millions of viewers to watch through storytelling.