Digital Affect Culture and the Logics of Melodrama: Online Polarization and the January 6 Capitol Riots through the Lens of Genre and Affective Discourse Analysis by Míchílín Ní Threasaigh et al.
AML is pleased to showcase this recent provocative article co-authored by AML Director Míchílín Ní Threasaigh: “Digital Affect Culture and the Logics of Melodrama: Online Polarization and the January 6 Capitol Riots through the Lens of Genre and Affective Discourse Analysis.” Míchílín’s co-authors are Megan Boler and Yoon-Ji Kweon. The essay was published in Social Media + Society, January-March 2024.
This essay examines the January 6 US Capitol riots through the lens of melodrama structure. Based on a three-year study of online debates around the 2020 US election and January 6 Capitol riot, it examines how melodramatic storytelling deepens political divisions on social media. Analyzing 5000 posts from Twitter, Facebook, and Gab, it shows how users adopt victim and villain roles, reinforcing polarized identities and narratives of good versus evil. The study introduces “affective discourse analysis,” a method to track and understand these emotional expressions in digital conversations.
Enjoy. . .
Click here for the article.
