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Start Date
25-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
25-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Today, you could interpret this proverb to mean, “the bigger they are, the longer the documentary.” The rise of the Me Too Movement led to major interest in sexual misconduct cases involving public figures. If one were to count all the documentaries and docuseries on major streaming platforms that center on or relate with victims and accusers of the Me Too Movement, it’s in the double digits, with Netflix in the lead. What explains this increased interest? I argue that increased media attention goes beyond shock, awe and schadenfreude. These documentaries can serve as proxies for individual cases of sexual violence and misconduct when they are not even holistic representations of them.
This submission examines how these documentaries and docuseries represent sexual violence to the public and how they may benefit the platforms that fund their creation and distribution. Are they creating a media atmosphere where blockbuster documentaries must follow after every big sexual misconduct case? What do these documentaries and docuseries mean to people who don’t have fame tinged with their violations? Do these documentaries and docuseries pose a reinvented--perhaps more effective-- way to portray rape culture in media? This paper examines both the political economy of episodic documentaries such as Room 2806: The Accusation, On the Record and Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein appearing on streaming platforms Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max and the regime of representation constituted within their creation and yield.
Me Too Documentaries: How Prolific of a Predator Do You Have to be to Get One?
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Today, you could interpret this proverb to mean, “the bigger they are, the longer the documentary.” The rise of the Me Too Movement led to major interest in sexual misconduct cases involving public figures. If one were to count all the documentaries and docuseries on major streaming platforms that center on or relate with victims and accusers of the Me Too Movement, it’s in the double digits, with Netflix in the lead. What explains this increased interest? I argue that increased media attention goes beyond shock, awe and schadenfreude. These documentaries can serve as proxies for individual cases of sexual violence and misconduct when they are not even holistic representations of them.
This submission examines how these documentaries and docuseries represent sexual violence to the public and how they may benefit the platforms that fund their creation and distribution. Are they creating a media atmosphere where blockbuster documentaries must follow after every big sexual misconduct case? What do these documentaries and docuseries mean to people who don’t have fame tinged with their violations? Do these documentaries and docuseries pose a reinvented--perhaps more effective-- way to portray rape culture in media? This paper examines both the political economy of episodic documentaries such as Room 2806: The Accusation, On the Record and Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein appearing on streaming platforms Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max and the regime of representation constituted within their creation and yield.
Bio
Vanessa Nyarko is a second-year doctoral student in Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Her research interests center on political gossip and scandal, political cartoons, television and film and the ties between colonialism and broadcast syndication in Sub-Saharan Africa. She received her B.A. in Journalism and History from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She can be reached at nyark002@umn.edu