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Abstract
The War in Iraq has been one of the most documented wars in history using participatory media technologies. This essay examines how YouTube videos produced and consumed during the War in Iraq offer an alternative to the military-media control over information and images both during and after the conflict. Videos produced by soldiers on the frontlines provide a unique case study for vernacular discourse as it circulates and is re-mediated on the computer screens of multiple publics. Therefore, we describe the most popular genre of combat music videos and perform a critical rhetorical analysis that explores the problematic articulations inherent in the productions. While the videos perform an important role as vernacular argumentation, they nevertheless contain Orientalist and nationalist discourses. These representations become more powerful considering that audiences accord the videos a greater sense of authenticity and authority derived from their vernacular status. We also discuss how the circulation and consumption of both vernacular soldier-produced videos and hybridized participatory media products from the U.S. military in the YouTube digital space problematizes notions of vernacular and hegemonic. Ultimately, these combat videos complicate public deliberation regarding the War in Iraq because of their ambiguous authorship.
Acknowledgement
They would like to thank Cheree Carlson and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.
Notes
1. Howard (2008a, 2010) provides a thorough description of the two approaches to vernacular communication as everyday discourse and/or discourse that originates with marginalized groups. While military members may not be marginalized in the traditional sense, low-ranking frontline troops are stripped of their autonomy and subject to the orders and control of their military superiors.
2. In their book-length exploration of YouTube, Burgess and Green (2010) discuss the space as a co-creative culture involving the participation of many individuals, groups, and market forces, including mainstream news organizations. The soldier-produced videos demonstrate these conflicting forces, as longstanding media organizations struggle to capitalize on the new opportunities afforded by the internet while simultaneously protecting their financial interests.
3. Methodologically this was complicated, as we were often forced to rely upon self-identification of authorship when viewing non-MNFIraq productions. The ambiguity of authorship becomes a problem for claims of vernacularity. Although we undertook steps to ensure that the videos under investigation were soldier produced, ultimately, there is no conclusive evidence that many of these vernacular texts are indeed created, uploaded, and circulated by soldiers. This has an impact on the utility of vernacular theory in our investigation, as vernacular must be defined as a style rather than being tied to a specific producer.
4. These racist invocations are taken directly from viewer commentary from both soldier-produced and military-produced videos.
5. Examples of this commentary include a poster that challenged the Bush Administration's justification for war making, noting, “the war was lost the day it was started because it was immoral, illegal, and counter-productive. So enjoy your flag-draped delusions” (blazak, “Battle on Haifa Street,” 2007) and another who supported the war effort: “trust me, no one likes war. But to think that we can always live in peace without ever having to fight for what's right isn't right either … sometimes we have to fight back, whether we like violence and war or not” (IRFilmz2, “Sickness,” 2006). Furthermore, one viewer noted the important links between 9/11 and other worldwide terrorist attacks: “this damn war isn't just Iraq, and it isn't just Iraq and Iran. This is a global war, from Bali to Madrid to London and more. We will be in this for a long time” (isartam, “Battle on Haifa Street,” 2007).