Presenters: Patricia Nogueira and Inês Amaral
Registration Number: 049
Institution: ISMAI—University of Maia and University of Coimbra, Portugal
Abstract: Interactive documentary presents a fertile opportunity to explore social engagement and intervention for social change since such format provides the audience with the freedom of exploring a variety of contents and delving into the perspective of the story that interests them the most (Aston & Gaudenzi, 2012; Galloway et al., 2007; Nogueira, 2020). Beyond the classic inference that documentary is a representation of reality (Bruzzi, 2000; Grierson, 1934; Nichols, 2001), its interactive form grants a chance of reshaping the narrative and playing an active role in negotiating with reality (Gaudenzi, 2013; Whitelaw, 2002). Regarding interactive environments, several authors (Yaros, 2009; Wiehl, 2009, 2020; Miller & Allor, 2014) argue that interactivity enhances the audience’s emotional engagement and social mobilization. However, there is little or no literature focusing specifically on interactive documentaries and social change. Therefore, the main question is to understand if interactive documentary may effectively engage audiences towards social change, namely, to address gender violence. This paper explores social engagement and affective mobilization through the analysis of two interactive documentaries focused on the representation of women’s violence: Mujeres en Venta (2014), an interactive project denouncing women’s trafficking for sexual exploitation in South America; and The Quipu Project (2014), a collaborative interactive documentary focused on testimonies of women victims of unconsented sterilizations in 1990’s Peru. The complexity and multimodality of web pages present an additional research challenge and presuppose a comprehensive methodological approach (Herring, 2004). As such, we will employ an articulation of methodologies that combines content analysis and discourse analysis (Neuendorf, 2004), drawing a three-dimensional exploration: 1) discourse analysis of the testimonies; 2) the type of media format available in each documentary; 3) the navigation structure designed from the available links. Whereas discourse analysis follows Roman Jakobson’s linguistic meta-functions (1960), to include the various media elements such as still and moving images, graphics, and the navigation interface, we will also conduct a multimodal analysis based on Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar (2006). An in-depth analysis of the two case studies has concluded that while each interactive documentary presents a different format, as well as distinct strategies of collaboration and engagement, both work as a structuring device for denouncing gender issues and provide to the audience a multifaceted affective encounter with a variety of powerful testimonies and rich materials. Such findings allow us to understand that interactive documentary adopts a diversity of approaches and emerging social engagement practices to address gender violence. Also, preliminary results lead us to consider that interactive documentary is particularly persuasive when blurs the boundaries between representation, advocacy, and social activism, while enhancing the audience’s social engagement and affective mobilization.
Inês Amaral is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra. With a PhD in Communication Sciences from the University of Minho, Inês is a researcher at the Centre for Studies in Communication and Society. She is the PI of project Mediated Young Adults’ Practices: Advancing Gender Justice in and Across Mobile Apps, and a member of the projects teams (De)Coding Masculinities: Towards an Enhanced Understanding of Media’s Role in Shaping Perceptions of Masculinities in Portugal and Deconstructing Risk and Otherness: Hegemonic Scripts and Counter-Narratives on Migrants/Refugees and "Internal Others" in Portuguese and European Mediascapes.