IS IT ONLY POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND REAL WORLD EVENTS THROUGH THE PRISM OF FICTIONAL NARRATIVE?

Abstract

Is it only possible to understand real world events through the prism of fictional narrative? How we interpret and rationalise real world events will be discussed in this work, looking at the specific story of the events that stemmed from and occurred in Tahrir Square in February 2011.
The salient methodologies for this piece will be Critical Theory and Interpretivism. This is a piece detailing the harshest of human stories, and these methods allow for this.
The literature review will look at how fictional narratives are viewed, looking at literary narrative and also how we choose to interpret the content from a new media perspective. Ideas surrounding protest and citizen journalism will also be discussed and assimilated into a wider framework.
The events of Tahrir Square, specifically the footage that was recorded and later edited into longer pieces will be the main source of data, utilising YouTube. An argument will be presented into how these stories fit into familiar fictional narrative paradigms and this will also link in to our perceptions into our relationships with visual and instant media.
Finally this thesis will conclude with the surmisation that stories run parallel to the human condition and are intrinsic to our understanding of our worlds.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English