Introduction

In her recent book, The Truth About Modern Slavery, Kenway draws on the work of Lakoff in order to characterise the concept of modern slavery in terms of framing:

Whether or not we agree with this judgement on the adequacy of modern slavery as a concept, we can extend the analysis of framing literally to the moving image. Popular genre cinema in particular has a marked fondness for its own clearly defined heroes and villains. If we consider the prevalence of representations of modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) in screen media, then an analysis of the creative choices made during production will extend this attention to framing to types of media that are literally bounded by frames (in the camera and on screen).

Though film and television may seem remote from the immediate concerns of those involved in supporting survivors and victims of MSHT, one might appeal to anecdotal evidence from this author from teaching postgraduate students. Several students, at both master’s and PhD level, have stated that their first memory of learning about trafficking derived from the action film, Taken (Pierre Morel, 2008). The fact that this rather sensationalist treatment of MSHT nonetheless inspired students to undertake postgraduate study, with a view to a career in the field, underlines the importance of popular culture representations. It also attests to the critical faculty of viewers to negotiate their way through the tropes of popular culture to consider the important social issues at stake in such films.

Film and media representations have a particular role in providing salience for MSHT for a public that otherwise may have limited exposure to or interest in the topic. As Iordanova argues, ‘a popular TV sitcom or a Hollywood blockbuster has got a much broader public reach (and influence over minds) than a government “white paper” or a policy initiative that remains known to a handful of specialists’ (Iordanova, 2010: 110).