Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments

This study aims to investigate the complex relationship among entertainment contents, networked publics, and politics by offering an overview of literatures in the fields and suggests that the emotional dimensions are the key to understand the political possibilities of mediated public discussion. B...

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Main Author: Claire Shinhea Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2019-01-01
Series:Social Media + Society
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118820766
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author Claire Shinhea Lee
author_facet Claire Shinhea Lee
author_sort Claire Shinhea Lee
collection DOAJ
description This study aims to investigate the complex relationship among entertainment contents, networked publics, and politics by offering an overview of literatures in the fields and suggests that the emotional dimensions are the key to understand the political possibilities of mediated public discussion. By analyzing the online comments of YouTube channel WIGS’s web series Lauren , this article reveals that audiences interpret and discuss this web series through mediated feelings of connectedness and thus are able to engage in public debate and political deliberation. I argue that, the connective affordances of YouTube and the emotional realism of the web-drama facilitated the web space of Lauren to function as an “emotional public sphere” where social solidarity was strengthened, political criticism was developed, and political activity could be motivated. Overall, this study reconceptualizes the place of entertainment media in democracy and everyday life and contributes to political communication and feminist media studies.
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spelling doaj.art-2a16d20a2777476a8a46e974754e117e2022-12-22T01:39:54ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512019-01-01510.1177/2056305118820766Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User CommentsClaire Shinhea LeeThis study aims to investigate the complex relationship among entertainment contents, networked publics, and politics by offering an overview of literatures in the fields and suggests that the emotional dimensions are the key to understand the political possibilities of mediated public discussion. By analyzing the online comments of YouTube channel WIGS’s web series Lauren , this article reveals that audiences interpret and discuss this web series through mediated feelings of connectedness and thus are able to engage in public debate and political deliberation. I argue that, the connective affordances of YouTube and the emotional realism of the web-drama facilitated the web space of Lauren to function as an “emotional public sphere” where social solidarity was strengthened, political criticism was developed, and political activity could be motivated. Overall, this study reconceptualizes the place of entertainment media in democracy and everyday life and contributes to political communication and feminist media studies.https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118820766
spellingShingle Claire Shinhea Lee
Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments
Social Media + Society
title Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments
title_full Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments
title_fullStr Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments
title_full_unstemmed Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments
title_short Web Series, YouTube, and Politics: Affective and Emotional Dimensions of User Comments
title_sort web series youtube and politics affective and emotional dimensions of user comments
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118820766
work_keys_str_mv AT claireshinhealee webseriesyoutubeandpoliticsaffectiveandemotionaldimensionsofusercomments