{"title":"‘Strangely comforted’: The rhetoric of sincerity in Kirsten Lepore’s Hi Stranger","authors":"Johanet Kriel-de Klerk, Martin P. Rossouw","doi":"10.1386/sfs_00055_1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the 2017 viral short film sensation, Kirsten Lepore’s Hi Stranger, with special attention to the weird, even unsettling, potency that her stop-motion animation manages to wield. Why is it that this admittedly ‘creepy’ short ultimately leaves viewers and commenters ‘strangely comforted’? A rhetorical solution to this question is proposed: Hi Stranger’s creepy-yet-comforting appeal derives from the density with which it incorporates an array of rhetorical devices and affective registers – particularly the ‘rhetoric of sincerity’ indicative of a more general ‘metamodern’ sensibility. The intensified sincere rhetoric at work in Hi Stranger moreover has a decidedly reflexive dimension, for this online crowd-puller draws on many devices and registers popular in amateur online videos too: its offers of low-stake, anonymous intimacy and no-strings gifting; its ASMR and ‘cute’ appeal; and its self-professed care and appreciation for the viewer.","PeriodicalId":40193,"journal":{"name":"Short Film Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Short Film Studies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1386/sfs_00055_1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract
This article examines the 2017 viral short film sensation, Kirsten Lepore’s Hi Stranger, with special attention to the weird, even unsettling, potency that her stop-motion animation manages to wield. Why is it that this admittedly ‘creepy’ short ultimately leaves viewers and commenters ‘strangely comforted’? A rhetorical solution to this question is proposed: Hi Stranger’s creepy-yet-comforting appeal derives from the density with which it incorporates an array of rhetorical devices and affective registers – particularly the ‘rhetoric of sincerity’ indicative of a more general ‘metamodern’ sensibility. The intensified sincere rhetoric at work in Hi Stranger moreover has a decidedly reflexive dimension, for this online crowd-puller draws on many devices and registers popular in amateur online videos too: its offers of low-stake, anonymous intimacy and no-strings gifting; its ASMR and ‘cute’ appeal; and its self-professed care and appreciation for the viewer.
期刊介绍：
The main purposes of SFS are: To stimulate ongoing research on individual short films as a basis for a better understanding of the art form To provide a flow of cutting-edge teaching materials that can be used in courses in which short films are either studied or produced, at film schools or universities To offer fresh inspiration to filmmakers and other professionals working with short films in connection with festivals, national film institutes, regional film centres, etc. While the principal focus is on the short fiction film, other classic forms – such as the short documentary, the short experimental film and the short animation film – are also covered from time to time. In each issue, two productions are singled out for comprehensive presentation and close study. For each film, the reader will find production data, an interview with the director, a shot-by-shot breakdown of the film with a still illustrating every shot, a number of peer-reviewed articles that illuminate the film from a variety of perspectives and a link enabling subscribers to view the film.
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