Tham, Jason. “Vine: Redefining Racial Stereotyping in Six Seconds.” National Communication Association 100th Annual Convention. Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Chicago, IL. November 21, 2014.

Read manuscript and presentation deck here.

In early 2013, a new mobile video creating and sharing application, Vine, was launched to allow users to record and share video clips up to six seconds in length. Soon after its inception, the app became a frontier for racial comedies, including distasteful stereotypes similar to those of blackface minstrel shows in the 19th century. By identifying the likeness between Vine and early minstrelsy, and by scrutinizing the identification process in racial stereotyping, this paper considers the ethical dimensions in the video-sharing app as a new stage from racial comedy. The author also seeks to establish strategies for confronting stereotyping on social networking platforms based on three major ethical theories in moral reasoning, namely deontological, teleological, and virtue theories.

Referenced videos:

• “White People Dunking vs. Black People”
• “I Love Black People”