The effects of manipulative rhetoric in Kevin Spacey’s “Let Me Be Frank” YouTube video

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on Kevin Spacey’s manipulative rhetoric in the YouTube video he posted on Christmas Eve in 2018 when he was facing a felony sexual assault charge in Nantucket District Court in USA. Drawing upon the notion of “double deixis” used for the second-person pronoun, this article questions the extent to which Spacey’s use of the first-person pronoun could be called “doubly deictic”. The findings show that Spacey’s strategic use of deixis allows him to blur identities and conflate fictional and real worlds. Not only is he using deixis in a way that hampers easy interpretation and complicates cognitive projection but he assigns his audience an awkward double positioning (as fans and citizens). The article also tries to elucidate the complex effects of Spacey’s manipulation on viewers. It suggests an addition to the notion of “double consciousness” that malfunctions here, as a “third consciousness” seems to be imposed onto the audience. This may explain why certain viewers are likely to experience some “cognitive dissonance” while watching this video that the media has defined as “creepy”.