Emotional self-disclosure and stance-taking within affective narratives on YouTube

Abstract

This case study explores how Spanish YouTubers construct affective narratives in terms of self-disclosure in the context of sensitive topics. In addition, it sheds light on how YouTubers take up a stance within the stories, and the components of this stance-taking. Stories and stance-taking will be evaluated through multimodal analysis, observing both the verbal and non-verbal cues used. According to the results, YouTubers’ affective narratives are characterized by emphasis on explicitly named feelings and by non-verbal cues that reinforce the transmission of mediated emotion, as well as functioning to boost self-disclosure. The narratives reveal a kind of stance-continuum that underlines the dynamic nature of phenomena, where YouTubers gradually construct, in conjunction with self-disclosure, the act of stance-taking, starting from self-oriented positioning, then moving toward a more instructive and self-to-others perspective, and finally acting as stance-influencers of the community in which they are involved.