ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF VIDEO NARRATIVES ABOUT MACAQUE MONKEYS ON YOUTUBE CHANNELS: WHEN WILD ANIMALS BECOME “PETS”

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the narratives about macaque monkeys, the so-called “pets,” which constitute the content of home video recordings by amateur videographers on YouTube channels. The interest in this kind of “genre” on the internet emerged for the author quite accidentally, through internet searches, in March 2020 when a state of emergency was declared in the Republic of Serbia due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After several weeks of watching videos on this topic and reading about the endangerment of certain macaque species, the reduction of their populations, and the rapid destruction of natural habitats, the idea of writing an article with a central question in mind arose: what is it in the human being that makes them receptive to observing the behavior of macaque monkeys, especially rhesus macaques, in unnatural conditions, in human society and domestic environments? This paper seeks to answer that question by applying qualitative and narrative analysis to a random sample of thematic video narratives and using anthropological critique of anthropocentrism and animal abuse, based on understanding the relationship between human beings and other primate species in light of new theories of animal rights. The inspiration for researching this topic and writing the essay comes from the anthropological and interdisciplinary field of studying human-animal relationships and the discourse on primate rights, as well as from literature, because literature, among other things, is the moral consciousness and conscience of society.