YouTubers, Online Selves and the Performance Principle: Notes from a Post-Jungian Perspective
Abstract
Of the many challenges facing the field of media studies today, the rapid acceleration of the media ecosystem through which people communicate, share and indulge, and seek escape from the tedium of everyday life, presents a set of specific problems. The contemporary media landscape is both an extension and a continuation of more traditional forms and objects for analysis, and also an arena that has, arguably, radically redefined the discipline in terms of the innovations and stark changes to technology, institutions and financial arrangements that have shaped the world of media and communications as we know it. A key area in which post-Jungian approaches are well-placed to accommodate is in the fast-changing field of online media celebrity. The meteoric rise in popularity of YouTube vloggers has given new impetus to the fields of celebrity studies and persona studies –redefining the popular understanding of how celebrity status is sought, conferred, and consumed; and ultimately, transforming how celebrity is defined as a notion. Using critical inquiry as a method, this article discusses mediatised notions of self, persona, and self-commodification from post-Jungian and relational perspectives. The discussion from these theoretical perspectives will open vistas into the critical study of digital, networked media, as well as affording the possibility of an intensification of the critique from psychological and psychoanalytic perspectives on contradictions and tensions present in such contexts.
References
Allmer, T. (2015). Critical Theory and Social Media: Between Emancipation and Commodification. London: Routledge.
Andrejevic, M. (2011). Surveillance and Alienation in the Online Economy. Surveillance & Society, 8(3): 278–287.
Athique, A. (2013). Digital Media and Society. Cambridge: Polity
Balick, A. (2014a). How to Think about Psychotherapy in a Digital Context. In Weitz, P. (ed.), Psychotherapy 2.0: Where Psychotherapy and Technology Meet (pp. 23–40). London: Karnac.
Balick, A. (2014b). The Psychodynamics of Social Networking: Connected-up Instantaneous Culture and the Self. London: Karnac.
Baym, N. (2010). Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Cambridge: Polity.
Biressi, A. & Nunn, H. (2010). “A Trust Betrayed”: Celebrity and the Work of Emotion. Celebrity Studies, (1) 4: 49–64.
Bocarnea, M. C. & Brown, W. J. (2007). Celebrity-Persona Parasocial Interaction Scale. In Reynolds, R. A., Woods, R. & Baker, J. D. (eds.), Handbook of Research on Electronic Surveys and Measurements (pp. 309–312). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference.
boyd, d. (2014). It’s Complicated. London: Yale University Press.
boyd, d. & Donath, J. (2004). Public Displays of Connection. BT Technology Journal, 22(4): 71–82.
Bruns, A. (2008). Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and beyond: From Production to Produsage. New York: Peter Lang.
Burgess, J. & Green, J. (2009). YouTube. Cambridge: Polity.
Busch, T., Chee, F. & Harvey, A. (2016). Corporate Responsibility and Gender in Digital Games. In Grosser, K., McCarthy, L. & Kilgour, M. A. (eds.), Gender Equality and Responsible Business: Expanding CSR Horizons (pp. 31–45). Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing.
Cater, N. (ed.) (2008) Technology, Cyberspace, & Psyche. [Special issue]. Spring: A Journal of Art and Culture, 80.
Chen, C. (2016). Forming Digital Self and Parasocial relationships on YouTube’. Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(1): 232–254.
Chess, S. & Shaw, A. (2015). A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(1): 208–220.
Click, M. A., Lee, H. & Holladay, H. W. (2013). Making Monsters: Lady Gaga, Fan Identification, and Social Media. Popular Music and Society, 36(3): 360–379.
Cooper, M. (2008). Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy: The Facts are Friendly. London: SAGE.
Cunningham, S., Craig, D. & Silver, J. (2016). YouTube, Multichannel Networks and the Accelerated Evolution of the New Screen Ecology. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 22(4): 376–391.
Davis, A. (2013). Promotional Cultures: The Rise and Spread of Advertising, Public Relations, Marketing and Branding. Cambridge: Polity.
Driessens, O. (2012). The Celebritization of Society and Culture: Understanding the Structural Dynamics of Celebrity Culture. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 16(6): 641–657.
Driessens, O. (2013). Celebrity Capital: Redefining Celebrity Using Field Theory. Theory and Society, 42(5): 543–560.
Dyer-Witheford, N. (1999). Cyber-Marx: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High Technology Capitalism. Champaign, IL.: University of Illinois Press.
Dyer-Witheford, N. (2010). Digital Labour, Species-becoming and the Global Worker. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization. Accessed 15. 07. 2016. URL: http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/digital-labour-species-becoming-and-global-worker.
Freud, S. (1911). Formulations Regarding the Two Principles of Mental Functioning. Papers on Metapsychology; Papers on Applied Psycho-Analysis. Vol. 4 of Collected Papers (pp. 13–21). London: Hogarth and Institute of Psycho-Analysis.
Fuchs, C. (2014). Digital Labour and Karl Marx. London: Routledge.
Fuchs, C. & Sandoval, M. (eds.) (2014). Critique, Social Media and the Information Society. London: Routledge.
Fuchs C., Boersma, K. & Albrechtslund, A. (eds.) (2012). Internet and Surveillance. The Challenges of Web 2.0 and Social Media. London: Routledge.
Goffman, E. (1997). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. In Lemert, C. & Branaman, A. (eds.) The Goffman Reader (pp. 95–108). Oxford: Blackwell.
Griffin, E. (2006). A First Look at Communication Theory. Columbus, OH.: MacGraw Hill Education.
Gudykunst, W. (1995). Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) Theory: Current Status. In Wiseman, R. L. (ed.), Intercultural Communication Theory (pp. 8–58). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Hauke, C. & Alister, I. (eds.) (2000). Jung and Film: Post-Jungian Takes on the Moving Image. London Routledge.
Hauke, C. & Hockley, L. (eds.) (2011). Jung and Film II –The Return: Further Post-Jungian Takes on the Moving Image. Hove: Routledge
Hill, A. (2014). Reality TV Experiences: Audiences, Fact, and Fiction. In Ouellette, L. (ed.), A Companion to Reality Television (pp. 116–133). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Hockley, L. (2007). Frames of Mind: A Post-Jungian Look at Cinema, Television and Technology. Bristol: Intellect.
Hockley, L. (2014). Somatic Cinema: The Relationship between Body and Screen – A Jungian Perspective. Hove: Routledge.
Hogan, B. (2010). The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media: Distinguishing Performances and Exhibitions Online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(6): 377–386.
Jacoby, M. (2006). Individuation and Narcissism: The Psychology of Self in Jung and Kohut. London: Routledge.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press.
Jenkins, H., Ito, M. & boyd, d. (2015). Participatory Culture in a Networked Era. Cambridge: Polity.
Jerslev, A. (2014). Talking about Angelina - Celebrity Gossip on the Internet. Northern Lights, 12(1): 105–122.
Joinson, A. (2003). Understanding the Psychology of Internet Behaviour: Virtual Worlds, Real Lives. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jung, C. G. (1953). Two Essays on Analytical Psychology. New York: Pantheon Books.
Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological Types. London: Routledge.
Jung, C. G. (1921/1998). Psychological Types. In Storr, A. (ed.) (1998). The Essential Jung. London: Fontana.
Kohut, H. (1977). The Restoration of the Self. London: University of Chicago Press.
Kolhatkar, S. (2014, 26 November). The Gaming Industry's Greatest Adversary Is Just Getting Started. Bloomberg Businessweek. Accessed: 10. 01. 2017. URL: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-26/anita-sarkeesian-battles-sexism-in-games-gamergate-harassment.
Krüger, S. & Johanssen, J. (2014). Alienation and Digital Labour – A Depth-Hermeneutic Inquiry into Online Commodification and the Unconscious. Triple C – Communication, Capitalism and Critique, 12(2): 632–647.
Lagore, J. (2015). Self-Promotion For All! Content Creation and Personal Branding in the Digital Age. In Coombs, D. S. & Collister, S. (eds.), Debates for the Digital Age: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Our Online World (pp. 221–240). Westport, CT.: Prager Publishers Inc.
Lashley, M. C. (2013). Making Culture on YouTube: Case Studies of Cultural Production on the Popular Web Platform. Doctoral Thesis. University of Georgia.
Lange, P. G. (2014). Kids on YouTube: Technical Identities and Digital Literacies. Walnut Creek, CA.: Left Coast Press.
Lanier, J. (2013). Who Owns the Future? London: Allen Lane.
Learmonth, M. (2013, 2 May). Digitas Unveils Tool to Find YouTube Stars Before They're Stars: A Long Tail of YouTube Stars Is Out There But How to Find Them?. Advertising Age. Accessed 18. 07. 2016. URL: http://adage.com/article/special-report-tv-upfront/digitas-unveils-tool-find-nascent-youtube-stars/241262/.
Lemert, C. & Branaman, A. (eds.) (1997). The Goffman Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lovink, G. (2011). Networks without a Cause: A Critique of Social Media. Cambridge: Polity.
Lovink, G. (2016). Social Media Abyss: Critical Internet Cultures and the Force of Negation. Cambridge: Polity.
Lupton, D. (2016). The Quantified Self. Cambridge: Polity.
MacCallum-Stewart, E. (2014). “Take That, Bitches!” Refiguring Lara Croft in Feminist Game Narratives. Game Studies, 14(2). Accessed: 10. 01. 2017. URL: http://gamestudies.org/1402/articles/maccallumstewart.
Marcuse, H. (1955). Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud. Boston: Beacon Press.
Marcuse, H. (1964). One Dimensional Man. London: Sphere Books.
Markos, E., Labrecque, L. I. & Milne, G. R. (2012). Web 2.0 and Consumers’ Digital Footprint. Online Consumer Behavior: Theory and Research in Social Media, Advertising and E-Tail, 157: 157–182.
Marshall, P. D. (2014). Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Meikle, G. & Young, S. (2012). Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life. London: Palgrave.
Papacharissi, Z. (2010). A Private Sphere. Cambridge: Polity.
Papacharissi, Z. (ed.) (2011). A Networked Self: Identity, Community and Culture on Social Network Sites. London: Routledge.
Poland, B. (2016). Haters: Harassment, Abuse, and Violence Online. Lincoln, MA.: Potomac Books.
Rojek, C. (2015). Presumed Intimacy: Para-Social Relationships in Media, Society and Celebrity Culture. Cambridge: Polity.
Shaw, A. & Chess, S. (2016). Reflections on the Casual Games Market in a Post-GamerGate World. In Wilson, M. & Leaver, T. (eds.), Social, Casual and Mobile Games: The Changing Gaming Landscape (pp. 277–290). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Singh, G. (forthcoming). Death of Web 2.0: Ethics, Connectivity and Locked-in Psyche in the Twenty-First Century. London: Routledge.
Snickars, P. & Venderau, P. (eds.) (2009). The YouTube Reader. London: Wallflower.
Spangler, T. (2014, 14 April). YouTube Multichannel Network was Target of Relativity's Surprise $1.1 Billion Bid of Mostly Stock. Variety. Accessed 15. 07. 2016. URL: http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/relativity-offers-up-to-900-million-for-maker-studios-in-bid-to-outflank-disney-1201156736/.
Sproull, L. & Kiesler, S. (1986). Reducing Social Context Cues: Electronic Mail in Organizational Communications. Management Science, 32(11): 1492–1512.
Stever, G. S. (2011). Fan Behavior and Lifespan Development Theory: Explaining Para-social and Social Attachment to Celebrities. Journal of Adult Development, 18(1): 1–7.
Stewart, C. T. (2008). Dire Emotions and Lethal Behaviours: Eclipse of the Life Instinct. Hove: Routledge.
Stuart, K. (2014, 3 December). Zoe Quinn: “All Gamergate has done is ruin people's lives”. The Guardian. Accessed: 10. 01. 2017. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/03/zoe-quinn-gamergate-interview.
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other. New York: Basic Books
Van Dijck, J. (2013). The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vannoy Adams, M. (2004). The Fantasy Principle: Psychoanalysis of the Imagination. Hove: Brunner-Routledge.
Walker Rettberg, J. (2008). Blogging. Cambridge: Polity.
Walker Rettberg, J. (2014). Seeing Ourselves Through Technology: How We Use Selfies, Blogs and Wearable Devices to See and Shape Ourselves. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Weitz, P. (ed.) (2014). Psychotherapy 2.0: Where Psychotherapy and Technology Meet. London: Karnac.
Winnicott, D. W. (1956). On Transference. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 37: 386–388.
Zelenkauskaite, A. (2016). Remediation, Convergence, and Big Data: Conceptual Limits of Cross-platform Social Media. Convergence, The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 22(1): 1–16.
Copyright
Authors retain copyright of the published papers and grant to the publisher the non-exclusive right to publish the article, to be cited as its original publisher in case of reuse, and to distribute it in all forms and media.
Licensing
The published articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA). It is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and remix, transform, and build upon it for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original author(s), a link to the license is provided, it is indicated if changes were made and the new work is distributed under the same license as the original.
Users are required to provide full bibliographic description of the original publication (authors, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages), as well as its DOI code. In electronic publishing, users are also required to link the content with both the original article published in CM: Communication and Media and the licence used.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Self-archiving policy
Authors are permitted to deposit author’s publisher's version (PDF) of their work in an institutional repository, subject-based repository, author's personal website (including social networking sites, such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.), at any time after publication.
Full bibliographic information (authors, article title, journal title, volume, issue, pages) about the original publication must be provided and links must be made to the article's DOI and the license.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in the published works do not express the views of the Editors and the Editorial Staff. The authors take legal and moral responsibility for the ideas expressed in the articles. Publisher shall have no liability in the event of issuance of any claims for damages. The Publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.