Identities and Democratic values on European digital screens: Distribution, reception, and representation

This project focuses on how digital audiovisual platforms contribute to transform social and cultural dynamics in Europe at a time when digital platforms provide access to film and television from all over the world. DIGISCREENS asks how the increased possibilities for audiences to watch audiovisual content from a great geographical diversity affect (a) the construction of identity and understanding of the other through global, yet culturally specific, mediations of gender, race, class, sexuality, and other social aspects, and (b) the negotiation of democratic values such as equality, inclusion, and solidarity. It therefore also investigates the role of streaming and public TV actors in the production and distribution of audiovisual content and their social values. By investigating distribution, representation, and reception in Norway, Sweden, France, Spain and Lithuania, this project discusses how transnational distribution and consumption of audiovisual content to create social encounters and a sense of global integration. It will also problematise how this promise of creating common democratic values and models of identity is conditioned by different national distribution policies and individualised algorithms that govern commercial platforms, potentially creating “filter bubbles” in the consumption of film and television. DIGISCREENS is a transdisciplinary project that connects studies of distribution, reception, and representation in the light of the last decades’ policies for increased diversity and inclusivity on screen. The project combines methodologies from media studies, cultural and political analysis, as well as ethnography, literature and psychology and involves PIs from Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Lithuania. The main goal through its comparative approach is to contribute to understanding how streaming content shapes members of different social and cultural groups' perceived roles, rights and democratic participation in contemporary Europe.

At a time when streaming platforms provide access to film and television from all over the world, DIGISCREENS focuses on how these platforms contribute to transform social and cultural dynamics in Europe. The project asks how the increased possibilities for audiences to watch audiovisual content from a great geographical diversity affect our construction of identity and understanding of the other, as well as our negotiation of democratic values such as equality, inclusion, and solidarity. DIGISCREENS is a transdisciplinary project that studies film and TV distribution, reception, and representation in the light of the last decades’ policies for increased diversity and inclusivity on screen. In particular, we problematise how European distribution policies and individualised algorithms govern public and commercial platforms, creating both “filter bubbles” and a promise of common democratic values and models of identity. By investigating digital film and TV distribution, representation, and reception in Norway, Sweden, France, Spain and Lithuania, this project discusses how transnational distribution and consumption of audiovisual content may create social encounters and a sense of global integration. By combining methodologies from media studies, anthropology, literature, cultural and political analysis, we compare how members of different social and cultural groups perceive their roles, rights and democratic participation in contemporary Europe.