NEWSPAPERS: BRIDGING PAGES TO PEOPLE THROUGH THE ART OF STORYTELLING IN NEWS OF THE WORLD

Abstract

NEWSPAPERS: BRIDGING PAGES TO PEOPLE THROUGH THE ART OF STORYTELLING IN NEWS OF THE WORLD

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between newspaper readership and storytelling, from the tradition of oral storytelling to modern print media, through the 2020 American-made film News of the World on Netflix platform. Since the movie’s main character Jefferson Kyle Kidd’s practice of telling stories through newspapers, is a symbol of the transition of the tradition from oral culture to written culture, this study aims to explore the changes in cultural narrative and social dynamics that occurred as a result of the widespread use of the printing press, newspapers in particular, and is embedded in this vision of storytelling as an outgrowth of oral culture. Thus, the study endeavors to enrich the literature by offering new insights into how media elements, particularly during the transition from oral culture to written culture, are embraced within the social sphere. Additionally, it explores how the film exhibits this transformative effect on society in Texas, where the movie is set. Through an interdisciplinary lens informed by folklore, literature, and cultural studies, the study traces the historical shift from orality to print as dramatized in News of the World and aims to examine the parameters of storytelling in the transition from oral culture to written culture. For this purpose, following the character of Kidd, it will utilize close reading and content analysis techniques through a film example to understand and examine in detail the role of newspapers in cultural change. The study will essentially begin with a research question framed around the position of media elements in this transition. It will consider the central role of the newspaper in storytelling in the film and also explore the role of the newspaper in facilitating the transition from storytelling in oral culture to written storytelling through media usage.

Keywords

• News of the World
• narrative
• newspaper
• traditional storytelling
• oral culture.

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