VTuber
How Do We Imagine a Being with a Non-Existent Body?
VTubers exist only through voice and avatar, without a physical body. This theme asks how we imagine and direct emotions toward an existence that has a 'non-existent body'. When we feel 'cute' or 'cool' toward a character on screen, what kind of body image are we projecting? What is the mechanism by which we perceive 'bodiliness' from voice quality and movements? When real attachment or familiarity arises toward a virtual existence, what kind of body is our imagination complementing? From the perspectives of phenomenology and body theory, we explore the nature of imagining a 'body without a body' in the digital age.
Genuine emotions and relationships require a physical body; attachment to disembodied existences like VTubers is an illusion or incomplete.
Through avatar and voice, the viewer’s body schema extends, and the VTuber exists as the viewer’s 'extended body'. The boundary of the body flexibly expands.
The VTuber’s body is complemented and created by the viewer’s imagination. Even without physical substance, the imagined body image generates real emotions.
Not having a body is precisely the strength of VTubers; existence as pure 'voice and image' beyond physical constraints enables a new form of intimacy.
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What kind of 'body' do you imagine from a VTuber’s voice and movements? What specific image comes to mind?
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When you feel 'cute' or 'cool' toward a bodiless existence, what kind of bodily characteristics are you projecting?
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When you thought 'I want to meet' a VTuber, where and how did you want to meet? Is a body necessary?
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When you feel the avatar’s movements are unnatural, how does the body image collapse?
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How does this theme connect to the question 'Can you fall in love with someone just by their voice?'
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Does imagining a non-existent body sometimes make you strongly aware of your own bodiliness in return?
This theme does not speak of the presence or absence of a body in terms of 'superiority or inferiority'. It is a space for dialogue to phenomenologically explore the nature of imagination and emotion toward bodiless existences, while respecting each other’s experiences.
- Bodiliness / Embodiment
- The mode of perception, emotion, and engagement with the world that comes from having a body. In the case of VTubers, even without a physical body, bodiliness can be felt through voice and avatar.
- Body Schema
- The mechanism for unconsciously grasping the position and movement of the body. By watching a VTuber’s movements, viewers extend their own body schema and overlay it onto the avatar.
- Phenomenological Body
- Not the objective physical body, but the 'lived body' as experienced. In the case of VTubers, it appears as a 'lived body' within the viewer’s experience.
- Virtual Body
- A body image existing in digital space. Constructed through avatar and voice, it possesses flexibility unbound by physical constraints.
- Disembodiment
- A state of having no body, or the mode of existence lacking bodiliness. VTubers are based on this disembodiment while paradoxically causing strong bodiliness to be imagined.
How do you imagine the 'body' of the VTuber you are currently pushing, from their voice and movements? Please tell me as specifically as possible.
If a VTuber were suddenly given a real body, how do you think your emotions and relationship would change?
While the other person is talking about a VTuber, ask 'What kind of image do you have when imagining that child’s body?' and try sharing each other’s imagination.
- The mechanism for perceiving 'body' through voice alone (voice quality, breathing, pauses, etc.)
- Why the strength of body image differs between 3D lives and 2D streams
- How the 'death' or graduation of an avatar is experienced as the 'death' of a bodiless existence
- How body image is projected onto AI-generated voices or images
- The influence of attachment to bodiless existences on real human relationships