Multimodal rhythm in TikTok videos: Exploring a recontextualization of the Gillard ‘misogyny speech’

Abstract

This article presents a multimodal rhythmic analysis of a TikTok video, adopting a social semiotic perspective on embodied meaning-making. We highlight the importance of rhythm in coordinating and intertwining semiotic modes to produce meaning. The study develops a method for undertaking an integrated multimodal analysis of rhythm across speech, bodily action, gesture and music, and develops a transcription convention for representing this rhythmic unfolding. The data considered is a TikTok ‘glambot/boss challenge’ video featuring a lip sync to audio sampled from former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s 2012 culturally iconic ‘Misogyny Speech’ condemning misogynist and sexist men, particularly those in positions of power. This speech achieved viral prominence internationally and continues to be a key feminist text in Australian political history. The paper demonstrates how end-accented rhythmic groups create anticipation and lead to the main event in both the speech and glambot sections of the video. Alongside the rhythmic analysis, the article examines the intertextual meanings established with other TikTok videos that iterate the glambot meme and glambot challenge.