Humor as political possibility: Critical media literacy in LGBTQ+ participatory cultures | Culture and communication in digital worlds

Author(s): Addie Shrodes

Year of publication: 2021

Keywords: LGBTQ+, Reaction videos, Humor, Dominant ideologies, Multimodal analysis

Methodology/Sample: Virtual Ethnography/Six episodes from three videos

Reference: Shrodes, A. (2021). Humor as political possibility: Critical media literacy in LGBTQ+ participatory cultures. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(4), 855-876. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.328

Abstract

The author contributes new insights into everyday literacies in participatory cultures using a multimodal analysis of three LGBTQ+ reaction videos on YouTube. LGBTQ+ reaction videos respond, often comedically, to oppressive media forms and technologies. In the analysis, the author considers how reaction video makers draw on seven meaning-making modes and multimodal techniques in digital composition to enact practices of critical media literacy, namely, to identify, interrogate, and disrupt dominant ideologies that undergird media forms and technologies. Through analytic video logging and multimodal analysis of video episodes, the author also examines the role of humor in enactments of these practices. The article forwards the conceptual framework of humor as political possibility made manifest in the range of ways that video makers construct slips of humor, compose multimodal parodies, and create satires that critique dominant ideologies and imagine new ways of being in the world. Examining literate activities in participatory cultures with a focus on LGBTQ+ identities has purchase to explicate possibilities to name, challenge, and transform dominant ideologies toward more just futures.

> Summary

The paper analyzes LGBTQ+ reaction videos on YouTube, focusing on humor and critical media literacy practices.
It explores how these videos disrupt dominant ideologies through multimodal techniques.
The author contributes to scholarship on participatory cultures and queer of color critique.
Humor is framed as a political tool for challenging oppressive media forms.
The study highlights the role of digital spaces in youth engagement and identity formation.

> Problem statement

The paper discusses the challenge of dominant ideologies in media that affect LGBTQ+ identities and experiences.
It highlights the need for critical media literacy to interrogate and disrupt these ideologies.
The author examines how humor in reaction videos can serve as a political tool against oppression.
The problem of maintaining security in one’s identity while confronting societal norms is also addressed.
The paper critiques the hegemony of heteronormativity and cisnormativity in media representations.

> Methods used

The paper employs virtual ethnography to analyze video data and its social contexts.
It utilizes multimodal analysis to examine LGBTQ+ reaction videos on YouTube.
The author conducts analytic video logging to explore humor’s role in critical media literacy.
Methods include selecting, constructing, transcribing, and analyzing video data.
The analysis focuses on seven meaning-making modes and multimodal techniques.

> Practical implications

The paper suggests further research on everyday rhetorical tools for liberation in nondominant communities.
It emphasizes the need to historicize digital practices in literacy studies.
The findings can guide critical media literacy practices for social critique and reimagination.
Future studies should explore how disidentification practices evolve across different contexts.
Humor is highlighted as a political tool for challenging dominant ideologies.
The research advocates for situating digital compositions within participatory community contexts.
It proposes new trajectories for educational research focusing on equitable learning and critical literacy.
The analysis of LGBTQ+ reaction videos offers insights into multimodal composition and critical media literacy.