The potential for solidarity in fiction

Sympathy and gaze in the streaming era

Abstract

This article examines how fiction produced by and for transnational, regional and public service platforms respectively open up possibilities for imaginaries of solidarity. Using feminist and narrative theory, we explore how information guides sympathy for the characters, and what the characters and the plot reveal about the embedded gaze. The results highlight the significance of racial and geographic segregation across all three series. Thin Blue Line offers a structural critique of racism while promoting inclusion and solidarity based on middle-class tolerance. In contrast, the more commercially oriented Top Dog and Snabba Cash present a war of all against all to rule society, building on suspense to create sympathy for the characters. These two series imply a “peeping” middle-class gaze into the dangerous world of criminality, thus activating racialized boundaries for who is included in the community of solidarity. Based on the reading of the three series, the article finds that local contexts are important for opening imaginaries of solidarity.