Affect and Performance in Politainment: Reading Dato’ Seri Haji Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s TikTok Contents

Abstract

This article explores the digital persona of Kedah Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor on Tiktok to understand the convergence of politics and entertainment, i.e. politainment, on the platform. It focuses on four videos posted on his TikTok account between September and December 2023 that received the highest number of “likes” from audiences. Using multimodal discourse analysis to examine the content and qualitative content analysis to examine audience responses via the top user comments, this study offers and understating on how meaning is both performed and co-constructed on TikTok by the politician as content producer and the audiences as active recipients. Each video is treated as a multimodal performance that strategically combines visuals, sound, language, and cultural symbol to construct a political identity that resonates with audiences and, ultimately, generates digital engagement. The analysis highlights the ways in which Sanusi draws on platform vernaculars such as memes, viral soundtracks and clips, as well as specific cultural identifiers to produce digital visibility. On the other hand, audience comments indicate emotional affinity with his persona, while also reflecting forms of affirmation and contestation towards the messages conveyed in the videos. Rather than treating these videos as mere populist content, this study argues that they are strategic performances aimed at creating digital political presence through affective and aesthetic cues, made available by TikTok’s vernacular. This research contributes to current discussions on digital politics by situating politainment within the affective and participatory culture of TikTok in Malaysia.