Clare O'Gara

Clare earned her BA from Smith College, where she studied Film and Media Studies, English, and Poetry. Her undergraduate thesis, “Camera-Penned, User-Generated: Searching for Self in YouTube Video Essays,” explored the contemporary “YouTube video essay” phenomenon and its relationship to digital selfhood and celebrity. Clare is broadly interested in digital media literacy and the expression of the self online, particularly as it manifests in videographic criticism, fannish remix culture, YouTube microcelebrity, and queer digital embodiment. Clare’s additional research explores the dichotomy between “bad” and “quality” television.