Violence against women in contemporary Finnish audio-visual fiction: The decision-making process

Violence against women (VAW) in Finnish audio-visual fiction had a significant peak in 2018. The article examines the financiers’ and filmmakers’ decision-making processes that resulted in scenes containing brutal VAW in Finnish TV series and films. Were the decisions rational or emotional, and were these different decision modes separable? The article draws from a study based on two sets of data: first, sequences from Finnish films and TV series that portray VAW, and second, interviews and questionnaire responses from the makers of these scenes covering various stages in the film and TV productions. The results provide insights into the themes of identification, empathy and the normalization of filmic violence, pose a question about the demand for brutalization in AV productions and give suggestions for future research in audio-visual decision-making.