Jakten på berättelsen : en modell för att testa berättelsers potential tillämpad på valfilmerna vid Riksdagsvalet 2010

Sammanfattning: In 2010 Swedish political parties used commercials broadcasted on TV for the first time in order to gain votes in a general election. In connection with the election the parties were criticized for not succeeding to formulate a story to the voters that conveyed how they wanted to change Sweden. In this paper I use central concepts from rhetoric, storytelling, postmodernism and psychology to formulate three demands each on the narrator, the story and its reception. Using the resulting image of what distinguishes a good narrator, a good story and a good reception as a starting point, I investigate to what extent the critique was justified. My findings indicate that the degree to which the commercials fulfill these demands vary greatly. Two flaws that I find are that the parties lacked credibility and were reluctant to state which groups in society would stand to lose from their policies. Another finding is that the stories provided by the parties were disturbed by other stories about the parties and the subjects their commercials covered. Based on these conclusions I formulate a set of questions that parties and others can use to test the potential of a story.