A line chart would forgo the act of scrolling which would eliminate the narrative feel of the graphic (scrolling through time to see what happened next). Consid

A line chart would forgo the act of scrolling which would eliminate the narrative feel of the graphic (scrolling through time to see what happened next). Considering that the content of the graphic is somewhat complex I think the "noise" serves to represent the data in the clearest possible way (representing countries by their flags) while establishing visual fields that represent relevant conclusions (the long-term preoccupation with a single foreign country). If this had been a simple line chart not only would the data need to be different (showing comprehensive amounts for each year rather than one or two top values) but it would be visually bland. The informational margins and somewhat infotainment-esque color variety are perfectly appropriate for this graphic. A more studious design would betray its content for something more quantitatively robust.