Why Do We Only Get Anime Girl Avatars? Collective White Heteronormative Avatar Design in Live Streams. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brett, Noel
• Other Names: Ruberg Bo guest-editor.; Brewer Johanna guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Television & new media. Volume 23:Number 5(2022)
• Page Start: 451
• Page End: 461
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: live streaming -- avatars -- anime -- gender -- 3D modeling -- relationalism; Télévision -- Aspect social -- Périodiques; Télévision -- Aspect économique -- Périodiques; Médias -- Publics -- Périodiques; Civilisation -- Histoire -- Périodiques; Television broadcasting -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Digital media -- Periodicals; 302.234505
• DOI: 10.1177/15274764221080956
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1527-4764

Abstract

With live streaming rising in popularity, many people stream the creation of 3D avatars However, many of these avatars end up following a similar output: a hyper-feminized anime girl. Why is this? What are the social and technological processes constructing these avatars? To answer these questions, I propose that human (streamer and audience) and non-human (streaming platform and 3D modeling software) participants interact to produce the cultural experience of the live stream, re-producing common heteronormative, cisgendered, and racialized tropes about bodies and desirable avatars. And so, I take as my object of study the interaction that happens when all of these participants merge, forming what I call a white heteronormative assemblage . I argue that this assemblage is collective, relational, and self-reinforcing. Analyzing the relations between human and non-humans participants helps us turn our analytical lens away from media content or streamer motive, and instead toward the restrictive outcomes of such interactions.