Within the emotional reactions that audiences have based on the weight of the mukbang YouTuber in which they are watching, there are several topics of note. Overall, thin mukbang YouTubers had higher emotional scores of 86.6% positive, calculated by taking the positive and negative parts that made up each comment and averaging them. Not thin mukbang YouTubers, on the other hand, received only a 65% positive emotional score.
Of the emotional themes present, one emotion proved to be most important when looking at the difference in audience reactions in thin mukbang YouTubers versus not thin mukbang YouTubers: sympathy.
SYMPATHY AND SAVIORHOOD
Multiple themes arise when looking at sympathetic comments. The first of these themes is the trend of an “online defender,” for not thin mukbang YouTubers. These are comments that defend the creator from other commenters, seeming to stand up on behalf of the YouTuber against other commenters. These comments appear under thin mukbang YouTube videos only once but under not thin mukbang YouTube videos nine times.
This comment is an example of a comment that defends the YouTuber from other commenters and stands up for the YouTuber because of the sympathy they feel towards them. The comments that fall under this theme are often uplifting for the YouTuber and encourage them to continue making content despite the hate that they receive from other commenters.
Sympathetic comments can also be divided into comments that relate to the mukbang YouTuber in some way as an attempt to get them to change their eating habits because they are seemingly “too kind” to be eating in this way. These comments appear zero times under thin YouTubers and eleven times under not thin mukbang YouTubers.
Both examples here show sympathetic comments that are sympathetic to the YouTuber only because they seem to be kind or have some type of positive trait. These comments show the possibility that most sympathetic comments towards not thin YouTubers are only sympathetic if the YouTuber has an outward or obvious positive trait. These outward positive traits act as a reason for the YouTuber to have value in the audiences’ minds, resulting in the commenter feeling a need to encourage the YouTuber to change their habits so they can continue contributing these positive traits to society. Thin mukbang YouTubers do not receive these types of comments because their weight does not concern audiences, even though they consume the same foods as not thin mukbang YouTubers. Therefore, they do not require prayers or sympathy that try to encourage them to change their habits because they seem outwardly healthy.