anonymity is

you know

like we’re doing

something wrong

Dave:  There isn’t any point in having a close shot with … us in, particularly because it does away with the group thing, and it’s very much a group thing isn’t it?

Katharine: Right, you see that’s a brilliant observation … ‘cos I know you and not anyone else, but for you it’s a group thing it’s a collective experience.

Joan: Absolutely.

Katharine: Ah. Oh, is that what it feels like?

Dave: Yeah.

Joan: Yes.

Dave: That we’ve been phased out because we’re going to be persecuted or worse still.

Katharine: …. I wouldn’t have come up with that ‘cos my idea of protecting you is just that I do it for everyone, not because I feel they are going to be persecuted, but because I just feel that yes, because it’s my job in a way to make sure no one can identify you… So, how do you feel Joan, about being recognised?

Joan: It doesn’t bother me. I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t want to be recognised… We would be in that many cameras in the area it really makes no difference to me… If you don’t want to be recognised don’t be there.

Extract from transcribed fieldwork interview, discussing perceptions of anonymity in the animation “Political Spectrum”.

Dave and Joan self-identify as ‘British’ and come from the South West of England. They are a white couple in their 60s. This image is based on photographs that were taken of them while attending a rally to celebrate Britain leaving the EU. They voted leave in the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.