How TV Series on Terrorism Shape Perceptions of Insecurity in Canada.

• In Event: Work/Force: Exploring the Politics of Work, Violence & Terror in Popular Culture

Abstract

While an important part of the scholarly work on the impact of media on political preferences focuses on the central role of news, political science has progressively incorporated fiction as a medium for analysis. Fiction is here not just perceived as entertainment but also as political. Fiction products such as TV series inform political views held by the public. However, how they do it remain rather unclear. In times of fake news and alternative facts, understanding how people get informed, incorporate “facts” to their political attitudes and rely on sources of different kinds – including TV fiction series – is key for understanding the potential ideological resources for populism, a topic at the core of Division 54 - Ideas, Knowledge and Politics.

The focus of this proposal relates to the way TV series contribute to the production of knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of political actors, particularly in relation to insecurity in Canada. We organized the research in two steps: firstly, we selected and analyzed six different TV series (three American productions: 24, Homeland, and The Good Wife; and three Canadian productions: The Little Mosque on the Prairie, Flashpoint, and The Border). We identified the different discursive elements and visual tactics that were common for the construction of a story around terrorism and the related threats. Secondly, we carried out 18 focus groups in both Montreal and Toronto (9 in each city, with different groups of people segmented by gender, ethnicity, religion, age and expertise on TV series) in order to document and determine how different individuals react and “process dramatic fictional content” (Mutz & Nir, 2010). In each of the focus groups, participants watched one selected episode of the TV series The Border, in which a fictional Canadian security agency tries to prevent an Islamic terrorist attack with anthrax in the Toronto subway. After watching the episode, participants discussed their opinions and impressions on the TV series, establishing links with their own experiences of insecurity.

RESULTS
If you see something, say something, says metro security campaigns in multiple North American cities, including New York and Toronto. Passengers are invited to “say something” when “they see something”. But, what kind of “something” are passengers supposed to report to authorities? Drawing on the results of our research, potential terrorist attacks with anthrax are one of the dangerous threats that passengers may identify and report to authorities. Likely, the only information passengers have about how such an attack would take place comes from fictional accounts like the TV series The Border. Although focus groups’ participants acknowledged the fictional character of the episode they watched – of its protagonists and of the actions led by security agencies and terrorist cellules – TV series were perceived as a legitimate source of knowledge about terrorism in three ways. Firstly, TV series on terrorism contribute to the reinforcement and the definition of terrorism as a social problem deserving public interest. Secondly, although TV series on terrorism challenge stereotypes, they contribute and mediate feelings of distrust and suspicion toward others. Thirdly, TV series on terrorism depict crime prevention and security agencies as being intrinsically unable to prevent terrorism unless they break the law, which is interpreted by audiences as being paradoxically both unrealistic and justified. In the next paragraphs, we discuss these three ways in which audiences’ perceptions of insecurity are shaped by TV series on terrorism. Ultimately, TV series on terrorism are part of a “metaphysics of disorder” (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2004) that produces insecurity in their audiences. Across different focus groups in both cities, their participants shared a perception that, in terms of potential crimes and dangerous actions, “anything is possible this day and age” [racialized man, Toronto], that terrorist attacks – defined as violent crimes and not as religiously motivated actions – are just around the corner, potentially being carried out by someone who may live next door and out of reach for well-intentioned and efficient security agencies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Comaroff, J., & Comaroff, J. (2004). Criminal Obsessions, after Foucault: Postcoloniality, Policing, and the Metaphysics of Disorder. Critical Inquiry, 30(4), 800-824.
Mutz, D. C., & Nir, L. (2010). Not Necessarily the News: Does Fictional Television Influence Real-World Policy Preferences? Mass Communication and Society, 13, 196-217.

Authors

• Valérie Amiraux, Université de Montréal

• Javiera Araya-Moreno, University of Montreal