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Title

"Only YOU Can Prevent This Nightmare, America": Nancy Pelosi As the Monstrous-Feminine in Donald Trump's YouTube Attacks.

Authors

Phipps, E. Brooke; Montgomery, Fielding

Abstract

The construction of Nancy Pelosi as the monstrous-feminine reveals itself in the highly misogynistic attack advertisements of Donald Trump's 2020 presidential reelection campaign. In our analysis of five YouTube attack ads, we demonstrate how short-form digital advertisements use the conventions of digital platforms to heighten the elements of horror used to construct the monstrous-feminine. Drawing from horror genre logics and editing conventions, the Trump campaign produces a narrative strategy that preys on conservative fears regarding women, race, and breaches in a gendered social contract. Targeting one of the most powerful women in American politics, Trump's digital ads deploy a variety of editing strategies combined with common horror tropes to push audiences toward violent conclusions of how to "defeat" the monstrous-feminine, Pelosi.

Subjects

PELOSI, Nancy, 1940-; TRUMP, Donald, 1946-; YOUTUBE (Web resource); INTERNET advertising; SOCIAL contract

Publication

Women's Studies in Communication, 2022, Vol 45, Issue 3, p316

ISSN

0749-1409

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1080/07491409.2022.2097144