In an era of nepotism babies, fashion and lifestyle influencer Emma Chamberlain serves as an emblem to her fanbase that regular people can make it big, too. The 21-year-old creator’s success lies in the way that she uniquely combines relatability with an aspirational lifestyle. She frequently appears makeup-free in her videos, discusses her experiences with depression and anxiety, critiques LA influencer culture, and divulges her IBS struggles that are exacerbated by her all-too-relatable coffee addiction- all while making millions as a content creator.
Chamberlain’s success is characterized by her evolution. Her first videos, posted five years ago, feature content like going to Target, taking her drivers test, and making homemade slime. She garnered a fanbase by doing the same things her fans did, but made it funny and entertaining through her signature quirky editing and dry sense of humor. More recently, by contrast, her videos account her experiences at the Met Gala and Fashion Week, follow her along her Euro trip, and reveal the interior of her extravagant Los Angeles home.
Emma’s transformation is perhaps most salient through her style evolution- although she was always on-trend, her closet went from thrifted to designer as her following grew. This phenomenon mirrors what media communications scholar Katherine Sender outlines in her essay Queens for a Day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the Neoliberal Project, where she discusses the way that late-stage capitalism pins consumption of products as the main signifier of success. She writes, “the transformation of bad luck to good took place exclusively through the consumption of (placed) products, which were represented as both the vehicle for and evidence of a change in fortune.” (134) For Emma, getting new clothes was both a driver of and product of her success, with haul videos like “I HAVE A SHOPPING PROBLEM” amassing views in the millions, and brands like Louis Vuitton sending her free clothes as a result of her YouTube prowess. Through her possession of mass amounts of increasingly expensive products, she made her climb up the social ladder palpable to viewers.
What differentiates Emma from other influencers who start from a similar point is her ability to remain relatable to fans, even as her lifestyle grows increasingly close to that of an A-list celebrity more than of an average teen. Her video titled “met gala” perfectly encapsulates the balancing act Emma negotiates between being relatable and showcasing her unattainable life. The opening clip is of her bare-faced in the bathtub ranting about her anxiety regarding going to the Gala for the first time. While the content of her video (which ends with her getting dolled up by professional makeup artists and expert stylists) is objectively unattainable, the style of her video- the way the content is conveyed- is at odds with the content itself. The glimpses into her reality that her videos show offer the perfect response to the most ubiquitous critique of social media as being “fake”, making Emma “real” by contrast. Anthropologist Crystal Abidin calls this honing of relatability by influencers “intimacy”. While a level of intimacy between creators and fans is crucial to what makes an influencer an influencer, not a celebrity, some influencers bridge the gap between creator and fan more than others. By being crude and sometimes unpolished on her channel, Emma works to close that gap. In “met gala” in particular, Emma sends the message that she’s “not like other influencers”- instead, she’s one of us.
As Abidin articulates, this manufacturing of influencer-fan closeness can often be made profitable. She explains, “it is possible for intimacies between influencers and followers to be motivated by commerce or elaborately curated as long as followers (who may or may not be critically aware of these) feel familiar, close, and emotionally attached to influencers.” For example, Emma capitalizes on her relatable coffee addiction to market her coffee brand- what Abidin would call an advertorial. Her video titled “alterations” opens with a shot of Emma pouring her own Chamberlain Coffee cold brew blend into a mason jar labeled “Chamberlain Coffee”, which is carefully centered to the middle of the screen. By making coffee her personality, she is given an opportunity to market her products multiple times in one video. Additionally, by contextualizing her brand within her own life, she gives her brand a personality, a personal flair that makes the product come to life.
The unique intersection of Emma’s relatability and unattainable lifestyle gives her the best of both worlds: not only can she bask in the spoils of fame, she can simultaneously enjoy being perceived as having the humility of someone who isn’t famous at all. The latter is beneficial not only to her public image but also for her brand. Her down-to-earth personality works to counteract the elements of her platform that are commercial, like her promotion of her brand and her company sponsorships. Also, by manufacturing closeness with her fans, Emma gives fans the illusion that they are just like her, and by extension that they can attain a life like hers someday. For her audience, which is overwhelmingly young girls, Emma’s videos send the message that everyday people are capable of rising to the top.
Works Cited
Abidin, C. (2015). Communicative ❤ intimacies: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No.8. https://doi.org/10.7264/N3MW2FFG
Sender, K. (2006). Queens for a day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the neoliberal project. Critical Studies in Media Communication.
Hi Aly! I really enjoyed reading your article on Emma Chamberlain. I used to watch her for a couple of years ago and I very much resonated with what you said. I think about the Neoliberalist ideology concept of “pulling yourself up from the bootstraps”. I think Emma is the perfect Neoliberalist YouTuber. Through her progression as you’ve said, it’s clear that she was once an ordinary person in her small apartment (just like the rest of us), and now her multi-million-dollar home is featured on Architectural Digest. Also, in talking about the video you chose to analyze, I completely agree about both the aspects of reliability and unreliability. I think many fans, as I did in the past, have developed a parasocial relationship with Emma. The casual way she talks at the camera, like she's talking to a friend, makes it feel like a facetime call. Additionally you mentioned how she discusses normal topics such as dealing with depression and anxiety and isn't trying to filter anything, she is very honest and I think many fans love this about her. However, I feel like as she went viral she has lost a bit of her authentic essence. When she started posting more “advertorials”, was the time when I realized she was very big. One of her most recent collaborations was with the very popular clothing brand Aritzia. As Storey would say, Emma Chamberlain who started out as a small youtuber is cooped up in the “mass culture” and “hopelessly commercial” with things like her coffee company, brand deals, and red carpet appearances. I do agree that she still maintains some reliability and her fans will always stick with her, but I wonder if there will ever be a day when it's impossible for an ordinary person to relate to her.
ReplyDelete-Msangwa Ogada