Short videos as affective contagion: (Un)locked WeChat chatlogs on viral videos

This visual essay is a documentation of a series of morbid short videos circulating in local Wuhan chat groups at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, attached with video screenshots and adjacent chatlogs. The data was collected during the author's home quarantine in Wuhan in early 2020. This visual essay aims at viscerally exhibiting the circulation of emotions ranging from anxiety to boredom to lethargy via group conversations surrounding these short videos. Hopefully, they can serve as an archive and a miniature of a societal meltdown that is readily forgotten. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Visual Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)