A recent event that generated a range of interpretations across the media landscape is the Women's March. This was the largest protest in US History, estimated 2.9 million march. There are definitely two different competing narratives when talking about this protest. The first narrative would be that the Women's March was something that brought millions of women and others together to fight back against the sexist Donald Trump and him trying to control women's reproductive rights along with other things. This particular narrative relies heavily on emotion and really calls for the uniting of everyone to stand against injustice. It is also puts into light that if you do not stand up to this more and more rights will be stripped away, some say you need to do what our ancestors have done in the past. The second narrative that is being portrayed is that the Women's March is pointless and it is a bunch of women who are pissed about Hillary Clinton losing so they are simply acting out. This narrative talks about how the people marching did not even know what they were marching about, that they are just whining and that Donald Trump is just trying to make our country great again and this is just part of it. The differences in these narratives is pretty clear. The first side believes that their rights are being taken away and that they do not want to stand for sexism. Where as on the other side they are saying it is not sexist just necessary, and that the protest did and meant nothing. They both definitely are trying to appeal to different demographics when talking about this matter. The first narrative is appealing to women feeling trampled on, Pro-Choice people, and also to anyone who does not want to stand for injustice, and wants equality for everyone. With women being the primary target, they are also trying to show others that they are standing up for more than just themselves, in an attempt to get more support. They rely strongly on emotion and definitely use tactics to try and get people to feel something. On the other side however, they are appealing to more of the Trump supporters, and definitely the Pro- Life people in America. All though Pro-life and Pro-choice was not the only reason for the march, it definitely was a part of it and both of those large demographics are a large audience base. They are such a large audience base because you wither are one or the other, it is very hard to not strongly believe in one or the other. There are a variety of different techniques being used. For the first narrative the media tuned in on particular marchers with for example an influential story or sign they held. Also the simple fact that the march was the largest protest in US History is extremely influential in itself. Where as the other narrative is more focused on using facts and statistics to try and get their point across. They try to make it seem like their side is correct because they have numbers and statistics to back up certain points.


Sources:
https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2017/01/21/the-pointless-paranoia-of-the-womens-marches/
https://www.slate.com/articles/double x/doublex/2017/01/the trump resistance will be lead by angry women/.html