PhD Oral Exam - Aurélie Petit, Film and Moving Image Studies

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

Over the last ten years, Japanese animation series–or anime–fans have often been associated with digital right-wing communities of the alternative web. This is better observed in anime been called an aesthetic of the “alt-right” by its most powerful actors, in the rise of “anime avatars” (vitriolic users sporting anime-related profile pictures) on social media, and even in the use of anime in digital communications by right-wing politicians around the world. This association is typically traced to popular forum 4chan, the infamous American board blamed for initiating toxic hate culture, from the anti-feminist movement #GamerGate and related incel politics, to “memeing” Donald Trump into the White House. First started as an anime-related forum in 2003, its creator Christopher “moot” Poole took inspiration from Japanese forum 2channel. This relationship between 4chan and 2channel would then explain the former’s users’ long-standing inkling for anime. However, this story feels incomplete. In this thesis, I propose to understand anime’s current entanglement with the alternative web by going back to earlier social networks of the American online fandom from the 1990s to early 2000s. There, online anime fandom relied on USENET newsgroups (rec.arts.anime and rec.arts.anime.misc) and was an inherently political space where topics related to gender, race, and sexuality were frequently discussed and instrumentalized against marginalized communities in what I am calling negative networking practices. I argue that it is these very early networking dynamics of online anime fandom that shaped the ethos of 4chan, and of the alternative web as we know it.