CHOVANEC, Jan and Saša BABIĆ. Cartoons and memes: Images from childhood used as expressions in adulthood. In The 5th International Conferences in the series Balkan and Baltic States in United Europe: History, Religion and Culture (panel on Art in Covid-19 Humour), September 18–22, 2022, Tartu, Estonia. 2022. ISBN 978-9916-659-42-7.
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Basic information
Original name Cartoons and memes: Images from childhood used as expressions in adulthood
Authors CHOVANEC, Jan and Saša BABIĆ.
Edition The 5th International Conferences in the series Balkan and Baltic States in United Europe: History, Religion and Culture (panel on Art in Covid-19 Humour), September 18–22, 2022, Tartu, Estonia, 2022.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Presentations at conferences
Field of Study 60200 6.2 Languages and Literature
Country of publisher Estonia
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Organization unit Faculty of Arts
ISBN 978-9916-659-42-7
Keywords (in Czech) memy; humor; analýza diskurzu; covid-19; umění
Keywords in English memes; humour; discourse analysis; covid-19; art
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: prof. Mgr. Jan Chovanec, Ph.D., učo 463. Changed: 10/2/2023 15:03.
Abstract
As an established form of semiotic expression in the digital world, memes provide online users with the possibility to express diverse functions, including articulating shared norms and values. Memes function as multimodal signs, combining pre-existing visual elements with typically innovative textual components. Due to their dependence on current events, they tend to be ephemeral, serving to provide a topical – and often humorous – commentary and criticism on contemporary society. Drawing on the international database of COVID-related humor, this paper explores a hitherto overlooked area of research, specifically how memes draw on visual aspects of popular culture by incorporating well-known cartoons and animated movies in order to provide humorous social commentary on diverse aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a social semiotic perspective, the research identifies how meme creators draw on globally as well as locally known cartoons, what humorous themes they employ, and what shared and newly constructed meanings they operate with. The findings indicate that the creative re-use of established intertextual references, manifested in humorous memes through the reworking of cartoon characters and animated films, is related, on the one hand, to the ‘hypermemetic logic’ (Shifman) of replicating images, and on other, to the focus on the ‘performative self’, with users reflecting on the contrast of their pre-pandemic lives (cued by childhood reminiscences associated with cartoon imagery) and the current reality.
Links
MUNI/A/1479/2021, interní kód MUName: Paradigms, strategies and developments - English linguistics and translation II
Investor: Masaryk University
PrintDisplayed: 27/7/2024 18:08