Several years ago my husband and I watched “Hotel Rwanda” together. We both found the film disturbing and powerful, but while I was moved to take action, he was not. Of course I understood that different people are passionate about different global ethical issues, but I wondered how he – or anyone – could watch a film like this and not feel called to make some sort of life change or engage in some action to address the issue.
We know from experience, observation, and even studies, that stories are essential in reaching people and inspiring positive action. But what makes people respond differently to the same story? What prompts them to respond to one story and not another? What motivates people to take action?
Participant Media, which has produced films such as “An Inconvenient Truth,” “The Cove,” and “Food, Inc.” has been investigating such questions through its Participant Index, which “examines the ‘social impact’ of entertainment on its audience – and specifically, on the audience’s interaction with a core social issue.”
Participant has developed an assessment tool (the Index) that looks at audience numbers, measures of various kinds of activity, and results from an online survey to score “issue-driven narrative films, documentaries, television programs and online short videos” on emotional and behavioral measures.
Recently the Index released a report of some of its initial key findings. As a recent New York Times article reported:
“In an inaugural general survey, which polled 1,055 of its viewers in March and April of this year, Chad Boettcher, Participant’s executive vice president for social action, and Caty Borum Chattoo, a researcher and communications professor at American University, found some perhaps surprising results.
Even among the presumably progressive Participant audience, crime ranked near the top of the list of 40 primary concerns. It was cited by 73 percent of respondents as an important social issue, placing it just behind human rights, health care and education.
Gay rights, female empowerment and prison sentencing reform, by contrast, ranked near the bottom of the list, while climate change was stuck in the middle, a concern among 59 percent of respondents. Digital intellectual property issues, at 38 percent, brought up the rear.
Stories about animal rights and food production, it turned out, were the most likely to provoke individual action. But tales about economic inequality — not so much.”
The initial report includes data such as what respondents viewed as the most important social issues; how engaged they are and in what ways (from finding out more information to engaging in community actions); how different social issues inspire different kinds of actions; and how strong the link is between emotional engagement and social action.
The Participant Index affirms not only that stories matter, but that the stories we choose to tell and how we tell those stories matters. As humane educators and changemakers, it’s vital that we pay attention to this kind of research to help us in connecting with and inspiring and empowering our students and audiences and in increasing our effectiveness as world-changers.