The TikTok trial : negotiating believability through engagement with the Depp v. Heard trial
(2023) MKVM13 20231Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
- Abstract
- After the #MeToo movement in 2017, a widespread feeling that women’s rights have gone too far has emerged in Western patriarchal societies. In this context, women’s believability is (again) heavily contested, mainly through social media. The present study critically examines how Gen Z women negotiate believability through their engagement with TikToks about the Depp v. Heard trial. This defamation trial featured mutual accusations of domestic violence between ex-spouses and Hollywood celebrities Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It was livestreamed and gained unprecedented visibility on social media, especially on TikTok.
Through critical analysis of audience engagement with social media content which constructs meanings around... (More) - After the #MeToo movement in 2017, a widespread feeling that women’s rights have gone too far has emerged in Western patriarchal societies. In this context, women’s believability is (again) heavily contested, mainly through social media. The present study critically examines how Gen Z women negotiate believability through their engagement with TikToks about the Depp v. Heard trial. This defamation trial featured mutual accusations of domestic violence between ex-spouses and Hollywood celebrities Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It was livestreamed and gained unprecedented visibility on social media, especially on TikTok.
Through critical analysis of audience engagement with social media content which constructs meanings around believability, this thesis addresses a gap in the growing body of research in feminist media studies about the mediated negotiation of women’s believability in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. Previous studies have focused on examining social media content and comments on cases where women struggle to be believed in the wake of #MeToo. This study contributes an in-depth understanding of the audience perspective regarding believability and uncovers the importance of the audience members’ identity in shaping who they believe.
The theoretical framework comprises literature on believability, victimhood, spectacular celebrity trials, media events, TikTok’s platform affordances and media engagement. To gain a multifaceted understanding of the dynamics shaping believability, a qualitative multi-method approach involving 15 semi-structured interviews with Gen Z women who followed the Depp v. Heard trial on TikTok and a critical visual analysis of 10 TikToks about the trial is adopted.
The analysis of the interviews reveals the complex entanglement of the affective structure of social media content and the interviewees’ identity in negotiating believability. The critical visual analysis shows that Depp is constructed as the victim and Heard as the villain. This forms the basis for the interviewees’ affective responses to the TikToks. Together with these responses, identity markers like fandom and gender influenced the interviewees’ interpretations of the actors’ behaviour in court and their (lack of) victimhood. The actors’ believability was evaluated differently based on gender stereotypes and their diverging celebrity status. Most interviewees supported Depp. This was often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence, and it uncovers the current zeitgeist of re-positioning women as unbelievable subjects. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9114424
- author
- Ledro, Anna LU
- supervisor
-
- Annette Hill LU
- organization
- course
- MKVM13 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- believability, TikTok, audience engagement, celebrity trial, feminist media studies
- language
- English
- id
- 9114424
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-15 15:35:28
- date last changed
- 2023-06-15 15:35:28
@misc{9114424,
abstract = {{After the #MeToo movement in 2017, a widespread feeling that women’s rights have gone too far has emerged in Western patriarchal societies. In this context, women’s believability is (again) heavily contested, mainly through social media. The present study critically examines how Gen Z women negotiate believability through their engagement with TikToks about the Depp v. Heard trial. This defamation trial featured mutual accusations of domestic violence between ex-spouses and Hollywood celebrities Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It was livestreamed and gained unprecedented visibility on social media, especially on TikTok.
Through critical analysis of audience engagement with social media content which constructs meanings around believability, this thesis addresses a gap in the growing body of research in feminist media studies about the mediated negotiation of women’s believability in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. Previous studies have focused on examining social media content and comments on cases where women struggle to be believed in the wake of #MeToo. This study contributes an in-depth understanding of the audience perspective regarding believability and uncovers the importance of the audience members’ identity in shaping who they believe.
The theoretical framework comprises literature on believability, victimhood, spectacular celebrity trials, media events, TikTok’s platform affordances and media engagement. To gain a multifaceted understanding of the dynamics shaping believability, a qualitative multi-method approach involving 15 semi-structured interviews with Gen Z women who followed the Depp v. Heard trial on TikTok and a critical visual analysis of 10 TikToks about the trial is adopted.
The analysis of the interviews reveals the complex entanglement of the affective structure of social media content and the interviewees’ identity in negotiating believability. The critical visual analysis shows that Depp is constructed as the victim and Heard as the villain. This forms the basis for the interviewees’ affective responses to the TikToks. Together with these responses, identity markers like fandom and gender influenced the interviewees’ interpretations of the actors’ behaviour in court and their (lack of) victimhood. The actors’ believability was evaluated differently based on gender stereotypes and their diverging celebrity status. Most interviewees supported Depp. This was often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence, and it uncovers the current zeitgeist of re-positioning women as unbelievable subjects.}},
author = {{Ledro, Anna}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The TikTok trial : negotiating believability through engagement with the Depp v. Heard trial}},
year = {{2023}},
}