Interacting With Gender Violence: Interactive Documentary as a Means of Social Engagement and Affective Mobilization

Stemming from a process of non-linear narratives in a digital convergence landscape, interactive documentary proposes an innovative change in the documentary realm by allowing the user to choose how to consume the contents and produce a universe of narrative possibilities where the stories begin and end by linking to each other.

This paper examines to what extent interactive documentary may constitute a voice of process (Couldry 2), assuming to be a resource that may contribute to social change by seeking awareness of gender violence and justice for the victims. The empirical study focuses on two interactive documentaries approaching violence against women: Mujeres en Venta and The Quipu Project. The methodological approach draws upon a three-fold dimension: discourse analysis, multimodal analysis, and the interaction structure. Results show that both projects explore user’s interaction and participation to favor engagement and immersion with the narrated reality, aiming to promote social change.

The empirical study has identified that the two documentary projects use narrative resources from traditional documentaries and simultaneously introduce relevant novelties to the perspective of user interaction and participation, aimed at favoring the engagement and immersion with the narrated reality. Mujeres en Venta and The Quipu Project propose a multilevel communicative flow, which encompasses three combined dimensions: aesthetic, narrative, and emotional (Mora-Fernández 198–200).