Science and Story-telling

Imagine watching a two-hour long movie that initially sets the stage for the story and then, the major twist in the plot follows. Finally, the plot concludes and all the loose ends come together. What a nail-biter, you think. Believe it or not, this is exactly what science needs too. A story makes science more exciting and relatable. Let us talk about a famous framework that is used for science communication, inspired from none other than Hollywood movies!

Let’s start with John Campbell’s Monomyth, a framework used for narratives. It is a cyclical narrative where the hero starts his journey from the ordinary world, which is also a non-narrative world, then encounters a problem midway through his journey. This marks the transition from the ordinary world to a special world, which is also the beginning of the narrative world. The hero eventually finds a solution to the problem and enters the ordinary world as a resolution is now obtained. This ends the story. Key features of such a narrative is a single protagonist who also solves the problem in the narrative. The story has a linear timeline, where a causality is established for every timestep in the story. Now imagine using such an engaging narrative for science communication, where you communicate science through characters and an interesting plot.

The ABT framework is used in science communication for building a narrative. The ‘A’ stands for ‘AND’, where you describe the past and the current knowledge that exists in science. This is the knowledge that has been agreed upon by the majority and known to many. Then we introduce the ‘B’ that stands for ‘BUT’, which is the contradiction or the gap between the known and the unknown. This is where the story enters the special world of narrative and peaks. Drama and anticipation builds up. Finally we introduce the last element of the framework ‘T’ that stands for ‘THEREFORE’. Here the story describes how the problems are addressed and a resolution is achieved.

This way of communicating science is much better than a series of ‘ANDs’ , which ends up becoming boring and the audience loses interest. This helps us realize that science and storytelling go hand in hand. Next time we want to develop content for a science communication piece, we know where to get inspiration from! (HINT : Hollywood and Bollywood Movies)