The Structure and Purpose of Shared Festival Memories: A Storytelling Approach

Abstract

There is a dearth of research that addresses post-festival experience and particularly the effect of memory sharing on the sharer and the listener. In this paper, we gather the memory stories from eleven festival goers focusing on those they share with others. Analysing these using Aristotelian storytelling principles helps us understand how they are constructed, what makes them memorable and affective. It allows us to better understand the effects on others of sharing these and the purpose behind sharing. Our findings show that a storytelling analysis provides a rich understanding that has implications for festival design and post-event marketing. We found that emotional resonance in the plot coupled with a moral outcome is often present. More surprisingly, we discovered that each story is condensed to a short phrase or title to aid recall in the teller and the listener. Implications for narrative analysis, post-event marketing and festival design are discussed.