Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies

First Committee Member

Linda Dam

Second Committee Member

Benjamin Burroughs

Third Committee Member

Arthur Soto-Vasquez

Fourth Committee Member

Michael Borer

Number of Pages

121

Abstract

Mukbang, a type of online eating broadcast which originated in South Korea, has become a widely popular form of digital media practice across different platforms. Although existing studies have examined Mukbang from perspectives such as audience psychology, health concerns, and platform economies, fewer studies have focused on how Mukbang influencers communicate cultural meanings and identity through food-related media contents in different cultural contexts. To address this gap, this study conducts a cross-cultural analysis of Mukbang influencers in China and the United States, focusing on how food, identity, and cultural values are represented in digital media environments.

This research adopts an interpretivist research paradigm and applies Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis (CTDA) as the main analytical framework. The findings indicate that Mukbang functions as a technocultural communication practice shaped by platform structures, cultural norms, and influencer performance strategies. Chinese Mukbang videos tend to emphasize food abundance, everyday dining culture, and social companionship. In contrast, American Mukbang videos often focus on individual performance, entertainment value, and consumer-oriented food experiences. Influencers in both contexts build recognizable online personas through self-branding, emotional expression, and interaction with audiences, transforming eating into a mediated social experience. Overall, this study demonstrates that Mukbang is not only a form of entertainment but also a digital media practice through which cultural meanings, identities, and social relationships are constructed and communicated.

Keywords

Critical Technocultural Discourse Analysis; Cross-Cultural Communication; Influencer Culture; Mukbang; Platform Studies

Disciplines

Broadcast and Video Studies | Communication | Journalism Studies | Social Media

File Format

PDF

File Size

2040 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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