Melting Pot: An ambiguous series combining minority and majority discourses
Résumé
Abstract:
The RTBF (public Belgian television) can hardly be considered as a minority media. However, in the context of fictional production, the RTBF is not a powerful actor. Melting Pot is the only large-scale series currently produced by the channel. We can thus qualify it as a triple media exception: Belgian, French speaking, series. The fiction takes place in the Marolles district in Brussels. This area represents the “Belgian melting pot”: a mix of people, languages, origins... But how are these communities and languages represented, notably the French speaking (a minority in Belgium and a majority in Brussels) and the Flemish (a majority in Belgium and a minority in Brussels)? The question makes sense in a country divided by a political crisis for more than one year and where the question of identity crystallizes the debates. This article will put in context the Belgian production of fictions. A content analysis of the representations conveyed by the series will constitute the main part of the communication. An interview with the producer will unveil their initial intentions.