Conspiracy soundtracks: The role of music and sound in audiovisually mediated conspiracy theoretical discourse

The purpose of this project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the roles played by soundtrack elements – sound effects, music, voice, silence – in audiovisually mediated conspiracy-theoretical discourse. This is done by studying a broad selection of documentaries, political election films and short videos produced in Europe and USA between 2003-2022.

The overall research question is: to what extent and in what ways can the sonic dimension be regarded as central for effective communication and persuasion in the spreading of conspiracy theoretical content? Theoretically stressing the soundtrack’s dual function as affective and meaning-producing discourse, and combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the project is realized in the form of three interlocking sub-studies.

Sub-study 1 and 2 each focus on a specific time period and on conspiracy theories that have been particularly influential in that period. Sub-study 3 develops a broader perspective. The output of the project will be four scientific articles, an edited special issue, and three international workshops with the project’s multidisciplinary reference group.

Conspiracy theories constitute a growing threat to democratic societies. Connecting soundtrack studies with research on conspiracy theories this project will contribute to the understanding of conspiracy theoretical worldmaking by shedding new light on how sonic phenomena are implicated in audiovisually mediated conspiracy theoretical discourse.