#Chinfiesquad: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Commodification of Non-Confirming Self-Representation on Instagram

Abstract

Selfies are a form of self-representation that have been widely researched within the academic fields. However, there has been little attention to subversive selfies and the explanation of this phenomenon within the realm of social media. Michelle Liu who started her Instagram @Chinventures in the fall of 2016 has harnessed chinning, a subversive form of representing the self, and has gained a significant number of followers throughout the years. Currently, she has reached the status of being a microcelebrity on Instagram and has begun to collaborate with different corporate businesses for advertisements. Liu’s ability to harness her microcelebrity status is specific to the ways in which she has cultivated her Instagram account and online identity, further supporting the popularity of her account through self-branding, constructing a consistent persona/identity, and engagement with her audience. These components will lead the analysis by looking at Liu’s general Instagram page, and different posts between 2016 and 2018, including the sponsored content. The aim of this thesis seeks to investigate the ambiguity of the chinning phenomenon and its identity construction as a form of commodification on Instagram by using Critical Discourse Analysis.