When I Became a Threat A TV Documentary about the Historical Roots and Political Instrumentalisation of Migration

Abstract

"When I became a Threat” is a TV documentary that critically investigates contemporary political discourse and its role in the construction of the immigrant as a threat within the contexts of the Global North. Structured in three acts, the film outlines a historical panorama of migration, from its constant presence throughout human history to its recent political instrumentalisation. The film adopts an essayistic approach, combining personal experience, a subjective tone, interviews, and archival footage to explore when and how the migratory phenomenon became embedded in political narratives that associate migration with the loss of national identity, economic crisis, and social insecurity. The audiovisual format was chosen for its ability to reach a broader audience and offer more tools for constructing a narrative that merges elements of collective history to build a personal story and vice versa. The narrative techniques employed were selected to facilitate a deeper understanding of both macrostructural contexts and the individual human stories that are intertwined within the migration debate. The film also aims to provide viewers with a better understanding of the use of fear politics as a strategy, the binary simplification between “us” and “them” in media and political discourses, and the symbolic construction of the immigrant as a scapegoat during times of crisis. The work further identifies the effects of this discursive construction on the legitimisation of authoritarian policies and the weakening of public debate and social justice.