Making a Narrative of Repetition: Diachronicity and the Second-Person Address in YouTube's Routine Videos

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article seeks to explain the tellability of routine videos on YouTube. It examines two videos by two motivational videobloggers, Kalyn Nicholson and Aileen Xu, whose channels include several videos based on the blogger's daily routine. The article suggests that contrary to generally accepted narrative-theoretical views, telling about a routine can create narrative dynamics without explicitly expressing singularity or uncanonicity. The article demonstrates how videobloggers make their mundane routine tellable under the pressure of the platform's commercial affordances and the directive of tellability by underlining the diachronic dimension of their actions. The article develops further philosopher Nils-Frederic Wagner’s [2021. “Habits and Narrative Agency.” Topoi 40 (3): 677–686] idea about the connection between identity-shaping habits and narrative agency by introducing it to narrative studies. This article uses a method that combines a philosophical approach and narratological text analysis. It argues that tellability lies in the diachronic dimension of routines instead of synchronic telling, and that the iterative narrative and second-person address in co-operation with YouTube's quantitative metrics indicate the masterplot of self-made YouTube success.