An American Accent in Europe: Authenticity and Denaturalisation in YouTube Comment Sections

This chapter examines how an American accent is used in two separate contexts to delegitimate opposing ideologies, highlighting the transitory nature of elements within assemblages. In examining comments on two YouTube documentary videos discussing the aftermath of the MeToo Movement, the study demonstrates how commenters denaturalise two interviewees—a French feminist activist and a Spanish populist politician. Using the Appraisal framework and Delegitimation analysis, the analysis finds that the American accent is recognised as something which does not ‘belong’; however it is conceived as representing two different ideologies: feminism and populism. The American accent can therefore be seen as an ‘adaptable artefact,’ an element of an assemblage which is simultaneously robust in what it signifies and yet malleable in its application.