Toward a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Internet Memes Associated with Russian and American Leading Political Figures

• Main Authors: Yana Kabalina, 柯美凰
• Other Authors: Tseng, Ming-yu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8yu2be

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 外國語文學系研究所 === 106 === This study discusses how Internet memes associated with the leading Russian and American political figures can be analyzed from the perspective of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. The data consisting of 200 Internet memes, which address the issues in relation to such political figures as Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, was collected from the 9gag web community (www.9gag.com) and further approached through O’Halloran, Tan, Smith and Podlasov (2011) model of multi-layered analytical framework that connects the micro level analysis of relations between various multimodal elements to the macro level analysis in the wider socio cultural context. Findings revealed that political Internet memes are highly referential to sub cultural canons and pop cultural realities, which implies that a certain level of literacy is required from the participants of Internet memes’ communities. Furthermore, it was suggested that even highly ambivalent and shallow Internet memes still have value in political discourse as they not only attract viewers’ attention but also sparkle diverse political discussions. Finally, it was demonstrated that political Internet memes may also reflect socio cultural realities of iGeneration and the generation of Millenials, who are growing fast into the leading political voters and activists. Consequently, it was suggested that Internet memes platforms, such as 9gag, may serve as fruitful source of a modern political discourse.