Discovering Stories Through Setting: A Narrative Analysis of Urban Decay in Photographs of Detroit

Miranda R. Ingraham, The College of Wooster

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how photographs from Andrew Moore’s “Detroit Disassembled” tell a story about urban decay through setting. Using narrative analysis, this study explored how other elements of narrative exist within the narrative element of setting, and how the existence of these elements helped create a story through the setting. Through the analysis of eight photographs, this study found that the themes of time, destruction and nature rising can be found in these settings and play an important role in the narrative of urban decay in Detroit.