DIGISCREENS - Identities and Democratic Values on European Screens
"DIGISCREENS - Identities and democratic values on European digital screens: Distribution, reception, and representation" asks how the streaming of audiovisual content from a great geographical diversity affect: a) the construction of identity and socio-cultural aspects such as gender, race, class and sexuality in film and TV series distributed in Europe, b) European audiences' reception of this content and negotiation of democratic values such as equality, inclusion, and solidarity
Duration
–
About the research project
The project has the objective to analyse how current practices of digital distribution of films and TV series on global and national platforms intertwine with the representation and the reception of identities and democratic values. 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. Thereby 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.
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.
DIGISCREENS is a collaborative project led by Dr. Maud Ceuterick (University of Bergen, Norway), in collaboration with Principal Investigators Dr. Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Lithuania), Prof. Maria Jansson (Orebro University, Sweden), and Prof. Adelina Sánchez (University of Granada, Spain).
Objectives
DIGISCREENS consists of four Work Packages (WP):
WP1: Overview of practices of digital distribution aims to produce an overview of practices of digital distribution cross-nationally, in France, Lithuania, Norway, Spain and Sweden, and of differences in consumption of streaming platforms and accessibility to national/transnational productions across the countries studied (PI: Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė).
WP2: Close readings of identities and democratic values on digital screens aims to provide new insights into how distribution practices play a role in the representation of identities and democratic values on screen across Europe, through the close analysis of a selection of popular content on popular platforms (PI: Adelina Sánchez).
WP3: Qualitative study of viewers’ reception of transnational identities and democratic values aims to develop an understanding of how individual viewers discuss their consumption habits of digital platforms and produce an in-depth analysis of how current transnational consumption and distribution models affect viewers’ reception and negotiation of identities and democratic values as they are represented on digital screens (PI: Maria Jansson).
Finally, WP4: Develop a cross-national theory on cultural transformations of digital distribution in Europe aims to to compare the results from the first three work packages implemented at national level, resulting thus in the production of a cross-national theory of the impact of the digitalisation of distribution on AV content and reception habits in the European context (PI: Maud Ceuterick).
Publications
DIGISCREENS - PUBLICATIONS
DIGISCREENS - PUBLICATIONS
Forthcoming
- Ceuterick, M. (Forthcoming). Production of public quality television in the streaming era: Controversy, popularity, and social relevance at the Norwegian Public Broadcaster NRK. Critical Studies in Television.
2025
- Calderón Sansoval, O., Medina, P., & Sánchez-Espinosa A. (2025). The (neoliberal) feminism of global SVOD platforms, Netflix’s inclusion policy, and the negotiations of women audiovisual creators: two Spanish case studies. Feminist Media Studies 1–16.doi: 10.1080/14680777.2025.2504498
- Jansson, M., Calderón-Sandoval, O. & Oral, T. (2025). Gender equality and diversity discourses intertwined with the implementation of the EU audiovisual media services directive in Lithuania, Spain, and Sweden. The International Journal of Cultural Policy, 1-23, doi: 10.1080/10286632.2025.2593352
- Jansson, M. & Van Belle, J. (2025). The politics of constructing television audiences: Diversity, equality and inclusion in Swedish media policy. Convergence. The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, online first, doi: 10.1177/13548565251388146
- Malet, M. (2025). La dimension collective et sociale des séries dystopiques à l’épreuve du streaming ? Enquête sur les pratiques de visionnage et les réceptions des séries dystopiques en contexte numérique, in V. Bullich & L. Schmitt (eds.), Les plateformes de vidéos à la demande en France. Au-delà de Netflix et YouTube, Editions des archives contemporaines, 399-416. doi: 10.17184/eac.9171
- Van Belle, J., Aitaki, G. & Jansson, M. (2025). Audiovisual fiction and democracy: A systematic literature review. Nordicom Review, 46(1): 55-83. doi: 10.2478/nor-2025-0008
2024
- Calderón Sandoval, O., Rivera Izquierdo, A, & Sanchez Espinosa, A. (2024). Race-ing Masculinity: An Intersectional Analysis of Representations of Latinidad in the Spanish Public Platform Series Riders. Feminist Media Histories 10 (4): 109–131. doi: 10.1525/fmh.2024.10.4.109
- Ceuterick, M. & Malet, M. (2024). The (in)visibility of diversity on national streaming platforms in France and Norway: A quantitative and qualitative visual analysis of thumbnails. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 30(4), 1402-1424. doi: 10.1177/13548565241270712
- Jansson, M. & Van Belle, J. (2024). Markets as free speech providers and political resignation: Swedish (non)regulation of streaming platforms. Journal of Digital Media and Policy, 15 (2), 279-295, doi: 10.1386/jdmp_00148_1
UNDER REVIEW
- Ceuterick, M. (under review). An integrated multi-method to television studies in the streaming era: gender violence on screen in a Norwegian public broadcaster context. VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture, Issue 29.
- Malet, M. (under review). Tokenism or Transformation? Banlieue Women and Conditional Diversity in French Streaming Series. Television & New Media.
- Oral T. and Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė L. (under review). The TV Series “Bad Girl” and the Youthification of Lithuanian Public Service Broadcasting. Baltic Screen Media Review.
- Šupa M., Rakauskaitė U., Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė L. (under review). "I'm even more interested in seeing a film that a lot of people didn't like": watching behaviour, viewer agency, and local imaginaries in Lithuania. Critical Studies in Television.
- Van Belle, J. & Jansson, M. (under review) The potential for solidarity in fiction: sympathy and gaze in the streaming era. Mediascapes.
For a full and updated list of publications and other disseminations, click on the link above.
People
Project manager
Maud Ceuterick Prosjektleder
Project members
Marine Malet Researcher
External project members
Maria Jansson Professor
Jono Van Belle Postdoctoral Researcher
Adelina Sánchez Espinosa Professor
Orianna Calderón Assistant Professor
Angela Rivera Izquierdo Postdoctoral Researcher
Lina Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė Førsteamanuensis