meta-narrative
Tale about tales
A meta-narrative is an overarching story or framework that gives meaning to smaller stories, events, or beliefs within it.
In philosophy and cultural theory, meta-narratives are grand explanatory schemes—progress, enlightenment, religious salvation—that claim to make sense of human history or experience: Postmodernism is skeptical of meta-narratives.
The term can describe any dominant storyline that shapes how people interpret the world.
Alluding to itself
- intertextualityConnections between written works
- metafictionLiterature aware of itself
- framing deviceStructure enclosing main story
- postmodern fictionLiterature embracing fragmentation and irony
Skepticism toward universal truths
- universal truthFact holding everywhere, always
- legitimationFormal recognition as lawful
- foundationalismKnowledge rests on basics
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
incredulity · Foucault · power structures · Western philosophy · universalism
Conscious of own existence
- fourth wallInvisible stage-audience barrier
- behind-the-scenesHidden from public view
- commentary trackRecorded remarks over footage
- mockumentarySatirical fake nonfiction film
Deadpool · making-of · media criticism · Community · creative process
Story explaining first beginnings
- national identityShared sense of nationhood
- collective memoryCommunity's shared historical recall
- founding storyAccount of beginnings
- shared beliefView held in common
societal values · creation story · Manifest Destiny · American Dream · cultural identity · mythmaking · communal storytelling · Dreamtime
self-referential
Alluding to itself
- intertextualityConnections between written works
- metafictionLiterature aware of itself
- framing deviceStructure enclosing main story
postmodernism
Skepticism toward universal truths
- universal truthFact holding everywhere, always
- legitimationFormal recognition as lawful
- foundationalismKnowledge rests on basics
deconstruction · incredulity · Foucault · power structures · Western philosophy · universalism
self-aware
Conscious of own existence
- fourth wallInvisible stage-audience barrier
- behind-the-scenesHidden from public view
- commentary trackRecorded remarks over footage
mockumentary · Deadpool · making-of · media criticism · Community · creative process
origin myth
Story explaining first beginnings
- national identityShared sense of nationhood
- collective memoryCommunity's shared historical recall
- founding storyAccount of beginnings
shared belief · societal values · creation story · Manifest Destiny · American Dream · cultural identity · mythmaking · communal storytelling · Dreamtime · folk memory
- Self-referenceself-reference, self-referential, recursion, recursive, meta
- postmodernismdeconstruction, metafiction, hyperreality, pastiche, metanarrative
- strategystrategy, grand strategy, tactics, tactic, tactical
- mindbendersparadox, illusion, puzzle, riddle, enigma
meta-narrativepersonal narrative
Self-told life account
anecdote · case study · vignette · fragment · episode
meta-narrativerelativism
Context-dependent truth doctrine
anti-foundationalism · deconstruction · pluralism · multiplicity · contingency