Audiovisual fiction and democracy: A systematic literature review

Polarisation and an increased blending of politics and fiction in various media outlets makes audiovisual storytelling and politics increasingly intertwined. This article presents the first systematic literature review of what we know about the relationship between audiovisual fiction and democracy. We investigate how articles conceptualise 1)democracy and 2) the relationships between politics, fiction, and audiences. Wefind that most articles implicitly assume a taken-for-granted liberal representativedemocracy, rather than elaborate on particularities. Further, extant research tendsto find that fiction relates to democracy primarily by the way it may impact politicalopinions, attitudes, and behaviour under certain circumstances, or by contributing toconstructing identities and belongings that can either enhance or diminish democraticvalues. Finally, some research elaborates on how cross-media flows makes fictionalelements part of democracy movements.