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Updated
Reading 2 min.
in collaboration with
Amélie Boukhobza (Clinical psychologist)
Four years after Baron Noir, Eric Benzekri returns with a brand new original creation that is disturbingly realistic. “La Fièvre”, a new Canal coup-de-poin series, highlights the identity and social divisions that are fracturing the country. Decryption.
La Fever, a destabilizing series
It all starts with a cable crash. That of a star footballer, Fodé Thiam, who will call his coach a “dirty toubab” (“white” in Wolof), during the Football Trophies evening. Incident which will obviously be filmed and broadcast. From there, the networks ignite, the “Fever” starts.
Sam Berger, a talented communicator, then tries to put out the fire, alongside the club president, in a France on edge.
For her part, Marie Kinsky, an ultra-conservative comedian with political ambitions, took advantage of this incident to exploit it. She speaks on the networks of “anti-white racism” and capsizes public opinion… to the point of chaos.
Quickly, the two women “will engage in a battle without mercy or respite to guide a public opinion disfigured by the power of social networks and their culture of clash. At the heart of this fight, the destiny of a great player, and with him that of France“, relates, in comments, the site Allocinated.
A “Fever” which is strangely reminiscent of the one we are currently experiencing – in a country where public opinion is nourished more by the posts of influencers than by the opinions of political figures and other reference supports (media, books).
“It is an absolutely accurate series, which is an exact reflection of our society, of current issues. It shows the rise of extremes and has the finesse of using a banal fact – from the world of football – to reflect all the current topics – the secularism, violence against women… It’s brilliant, because the director shows us how since the excitement on the networks – we manage to manipulate facts, to exaggerate them and to sway public opinion ‘one side or the other. However, on one side or the other, right-wing identitarians and people on the extreme left, we arrive at the same conclusions. Everyone is lost… and people end up rallying to one side.” confides, in this regard, Amélie Boukhobza, psychologist.
Good in his body, good in his head!
Towards a borderline society?
If you can’t come away from watching the series unscathed, a question arises. At a time when everyone likes to give their opinion – and when algorithms dictate our lives – how can we explain such violence? According to our expert, several societal, psychological and media factors must be taken into account.
“Growing inequalities, economic tensions and feelings of insecurity can exacerbate violent behavior. Economic crises, for example, are often linked to an increase in delinquency and violence. From a psychological point of view, the rise of individualism and various frustrations generate a response in more violence, at least aggressiveness. I find that since Covid, it has only increased, look in the car for example. It speaks for itself!“, she asserts.
The media plays a rolenot negligible” Also.
“The availability and virality of images both creates a sense of fear and urgency but also serves as a catalyst that can incite more violence. We must consider the effects of globalization and technology, which, while connecting people, create spaces for extreme expressions of individualism and sometimes anonymity, which facilitate aggressive or hateful behavior without the immediate repercussions that one could experience in face-to-face interactions. You just have to see the youth violence precisely, the way in which affairs are blown out of proportion on social networks before falling into reality“, concludes the expert.