Narrative resistance

Whenever money and power are in agreement, it is probably time to resist whatever they agree upon. These days, politicians and corporations seem to love nothing more than telling a good story. There are stories for brands, stories for strategies, stories for leaders, and stories for campaigns. Indeed, in the past five years it is fair to say that at the big end of town storytelling has become a tool of critical influence. With this co-opting of narrative for commercial and political gain now playing out across a number of cultural spaces, often with unnerving effect, we think it is time to think about a counter-response, perhaps what might be thought of as a resistance to storytelling itself. Or, at least, a resistance to whatever it is that the powers that be think makes a good tale – and their reasons for telling one.