Clips Ranked: 5, 6, 48
Total Views: 470451 (9.79% of total views) Total Comments: 1480 (10.21% of total comments) Total 'likes': 591 / 93.22% (12.01% of total likes) Total 'dislikes': 43 / 6.78% (4.86% of total dislikes)
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Description
The clip title ‘Berlusconi keeps Merkel waiting by taking phone call at NATO summit’ offers a fairly accurate description of what occurs in the footage these clips contain. Chancellor Merkel (the 5th most prominent leader in the sample with 162 mentions) is greeting a formal procession of arriving leaders outside the venue for the summit as they disembark from their limousines. A parade ground style entrance area, a military honour guard, other NATO and German dignitaries in the welcoming party, along with a large international media contingent, serve to further formalise the situation. Berlusconi is conducting a phone conversation as his car arrives at the point of
disembarkation. He exits the limousine still talking on the phone. Rather than heading up the red carpet towards the waiting Merkel, Berlusconi casually wanders off in the opposite direction, towards a lake. As he continues his conversation, Merkel
continues to wait for him, while the other leaders’ limousines line up behind
Berlusconi’s vehicle. Eventually Berlusconi’s limousine moves on, allowing the other leaders to be greeted by Merkel. Berlusconi leisurely continues his conversation. This incident could perhaps best be summarised as Berlusconi appearing to act very casually in a very formal setting.
Aside from ‘impersonator harasses parking warden’, ‘Merkel left waiting’ is the only other clip theme with more than one representation among the top ten most viewed individual clips. ‘Silvio Berlusconi on Phone at NATO Summit’ ranks 5th with 259560 views (or 5.4% of total views), and ‘Berlusconi keeps Merkel waiting by taking phone call at NATO summit’ ranks 6th with 199734 views (or 4.16% of total views). This makes it the most viewed mass media reported (BBC, 2009) Berlusconi ‘gaffe’ on YouTube.
Interestingly this incident has the highest ‘like’ to ‘dislike’ ratio of any of the top ten clip themes, with 93.22% ‘liking’ versus only 6.78% ‘disliking’ it. Combined, this amounts to 16.87% of total usages of the ‘like/dislike’ function made in relation to all 51 clips included in the study, even though these three depictions of this incident commanded only 9.79% percent of total viewership.
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Merkel Left Waiting:Identification and Disidentification
"bravo mr berlusconi happy to see that angela merkel is not so interesting. F*cking g8. its better to have telefonsex with his sweetheart". (Clip: Berlusconi keeps Merkel waiting by taking phone call at NATO summit)
This comment is representative of a number of comments made in response to these clips that may offer an indication as to what might have inspired this ‘highly liked’ result. As was evident in the discussion surrounding the ‘Queen Annoyed’ theme, a section of the audience clearly identify with Berlusconi on account of his informal style amongst other leaders, many of whom appear to be considered ‘stuffy’ or ‘boring’ by those who appear to be interpreting Berlusconi’s ‘entertainment value’ as a measure of his merit. Juxtaposed against Berlusconi, Merkel is represented by many participating within this discussion as an exemplar of a traditional ‘stuffy’ politician, and hence receives a significant degree of disidentification on account of her not being a good entertainer, unlike the figure they have established
consubstantiality with. Thus, among some viewers, Berlusconi’s informality in her presence serves to amplify his persona of the ‘everyman’, a politician who is ‘not a politician’ status (Stille, 2006; Ginsborg, 2005). This theme of identification is
succinctly encapsulated in the comment “hahahaa, that's my PM, we are so proud of him, he doesn't give a sh*t”.
Berlusconi could be considered in this instance to benefit from the discursive
associations thatWest & Orman (2002) cite as associated with “famed non-politicos”, in that his discursive power is not seen as beholden to the rigid conventions and protocol of the traditional political system. This ‘political outsider’ interpretation, as a basis of identification with Berlusconi, was also evident in the comments pertaining to his encounters with Queen Elizabeth and Martin Shulz (see below).
Beyond this dichotomy of ‘fun politicians’ versus ‘solemn politicians’, some comments offered also articulate a contextually shifting sense of identification within the theme of politics as fun vis-à-vis Berlusconi’s association with other leaders. An instance of this follows:
“Im not a fan of merkel, but she was funny in this situation :D” (Clip: Berlusconi keeps Merkel waiting by taking phone call at NATO summit)
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This quote displays a conscious disidentification with Chancellor Merkel, yet
suggests that this has been contextually altered by her role in an amusing incident. It appears that she is being identified with solely on account of her role as a comedic adjunct to the entertaining spectacle of Berlusconi’s behaviour. In this interpretation, Merkel becomes in some sense consubstantial with Berlusconi, only if they are made one via their performance being viewed as that of a cast within a single piece of entertainment. It would appear most likely that this user is identifying with Berlusconi through the first of the Burkean types, perception of similarity, and that this
identification is being contextually extended to Merkel. That a humorous performance can contextually override an established sense of disidentification could be
suggested to be a strong indicator of the centrality of the super-logic of entertainment to the subjectivities of YouTube users more generally.
As would be expected, however, other users describe the same figures and incident very differently, as the following comment from a German user indicates:
“Merkel is well known for her sense of humour. I bet she often jokes with Cameron and Sarkozy about stupid Berlusconi behind closed doors, but one thing is for sure, as a German I will immediately end my personal diplomatic relations to Italy if you Italians vote this idiot for president again. Lol Berlusconi is a shame for beautiful Italy! Greetings from Germany” (Clip: Berlusconi keeps Merkel waiting by taking phone call at NATO summit)
In this quote Merkel is not been viewed as a comedic adjunct to Berlusconi’s
behaviour – rather she is being identified with, and defended, on account of her also possessing the ability to be funny, or entertaining. Furthermore, in order to show disidentification with Berlusconi, it is suggested that the leaders of Germany, France and Britain, the major EU powers, identify with one another in so much as they derive humour at Berlusconi’s expense. This user is not only demonstrating their own
internalisation of entertainment logics, but is also suggesting that other international leaders apply them to their own derisive assessments of Berlusconi.
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6)G - 8 Photo Opportunity: