Your writing sounds gorgeous: post-cinematic experiments in ASMR videos as a sign of posthuman sensibility

Abstract

Based on the visual, textual and video analysis of selected autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) films published on YouTube, this article seeks to provide an overview of numerous roles that both the activity of writing and onscreen written elements play in sonic contexts. In line with the findings of post-cinema studies and posthumanism theories, the author aims to present the post-cinematic techniques used in ASMR videos focusing on the written element as a sign of processuality-, relationality- and experimentation-oriented posthuman sensibility. In this essay, it is demonstrated that in ASMR culture the process of writing supersedes the final product of this activity, and that listening designates multimodal reception experience. While this research draws primarily on the concepts developed within the fields of post-cinema and posthumanism studies, it is interdisciplinary in nature and can be situated within the academic fields of sound studies, new media studies, and performance studies.