Volume index - Journal index - Article index - Map ---- Back


Comunicar Journal 67: Cyber convivencia as a social scenario: Ethics and emotions (Vol. 29 - 2021)

Internet memes in Covid-19 lockdown times in Poland

https://doi.org/10.3916/C67-2021-06

Roza Norstrom

Pawel Sarna

Abstract

Poland was one of the countries that was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and its government imposed restrictions to combat the spreading of the virus. The Internet and social media became outlets for people’s reactions to the events that unfolded, including the lockdown. A part of this reaction came in the form of creating and sharing memes – an expression of digital participatory culture. This paper aims to analyze how Covid-19 was communicated and narrated through Internet memes and how they presented the pandemic and actors responsible for fighting it. 1,763 memes from six media platforms were analyzed using content analysis with framing elements and a comparative narrative analysis. The results show that the memes provided a form of commentary on the situation experienced by Poles. The most common category of memes was “bans and orders”, involving restrictions that were often criticized and ridiculed as pointless. The main characters within the memes were ordinary citizens, often portrayed in a comedic way as careless in regards to the virus and violating the restrictions. They were also presented as victims of the police and the government. Furthermore, the people responsible for fighting the pandemic were portrayed as incompetent and imposing needlessly severe restrictions and penalties for not abiding by them.

Keywords

Covid-19, memes, participatory culture, protests, lockdown, satire

PDF file in Spanish

PDF file in English

References

Brown, R. (2009). Public relations and the social web: How to use social media and web 2.0 in communications. Kogan Page Publishers. https://bit.ly/2FAgf5q

Cybulska, A. (2020). Zaufanie do polityków na prze?omie maja i czerwca. [Trust in politicians at the turn of May and June]. Public Opinion Research Center. https://bit.ly/3aWp31e

Czy?ewski, M. (2010). Analiza ramowa, czyli “co tu si? dzieje? [Frame analysis, meaning “what’s going on here?”]. In E. Goffman (Ed.), Analiza ramowa. Esej z organizacji do?wiadczenia [Frame analysis. An essay on the organization of experience] (pp. 7-47). Nomos. https://bit.ly/32CNooZ

Denisova, A. (2019). Internet memes and society. Social, cultural, and political contexts. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429469404

Entman, R.M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x

Feliksiak, M. (2020). Opinie o epidemii koronawirusa i zwi?zanych z ni? restrykcjach. [Opinions on the coronavirus epidemic and related restrictions]. Public Opinion Research Center. https://bit.ly/3b2j9M0

Frye, N. (1957). Anatomy of criticism: Four essays. Princeton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400866908

Galtung, J. (2006). Peace journalism as an ethical challenge. GMJ: Mediterranean Edition, 1(2), 1-5. https://bit.ly/2EsLGOt

Goffman, E. (1986). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Northeastern University Press. https://bit.ly/2E2gaXw

Guenther, L., Ruhrmann, G., Bischoff, J., Penzel, T., & Weber, A. (2020). Strategic framing: Analyzing memes posted by the german identitarian movement on Facebook. Social Media + Society, 6(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305119898777

Harlow, S. (2013). It was a “Facebook revolution”: Exploring the meme-like spread of narratives during the Egyptian protests. Revista de Comunicación, 12, 59-82. https://bit.ly/30Mpesg

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide. New York University Press. https://bit.ly/320rsne

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotoma, R., Robinson, A.J., & Weigel, M. (2007). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st Century. The MacArthur Foundation. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/8435.001.0001

Jenkins, H., Ito, M., & boyd, D. (2016). Participatory culture in a networked era: A Conversation on youth, learning, commerce, and politics. Polity Press. https://bit.ly/2E0xcpd

Kligler-Vilenchik, N., & Thorson, K. (2016). Good citizenship as a frame contest: Kony2012, memes, and critiques of the networked citizen. New Media & Society, 18(9), 1993-2011. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444815575311

Koronawirus memy (Ed.) (2020, March 4). Oficjalne powitanie nast?pi?o dzisiaj. [The official welcome was today] [Status Update]. Facebook. https://bit.ly/32p8abu

Kozhamkulova, S., & Foster, B. (2019). Ironic mirrors of public discourse: Framing analysis of kazakhstani popular Internet memes [Conference]. 2019 Central Eurasian Studies Society, Washington, DC, United States. https://bit.ly/2DY94DF

MacDonald, S. (2020). What do you (really) meme? Pandemic memes as social political repositories. Leisure Sciences, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1773995

Msugheter, A.E. (2020). Internet meme as a campaign tool to the fight against Covid-19 in Nigeria. Global Journal of Human-Social Science: A Arts & Humanities – Psychology, 20(6), 27-39. https://bit.ly/33S4W2s

Mularska-Kucharek, M. (2011). Zaufanie jako fundament ?ycia spo?ecznego na przyk?adzie bada? w województwie ?ódzkim. [Truth as the foundation of social life on the example of a study in the Lodz Province]. Studia Regionalne i Lokalne, 2(44), 76-91. https://bit.ly/3aSO794

Nowak, J. (2016). Internet meme as a meaningful discourse: Towards a theory of multiparticipant popular online content. Central European Journal of Communication, 9(1), 73-89. https://doi.org/10.19195/1899-5101.9.1(16).5

Nowakowski, K. (2008). Wymiary zaufania i problem zaufania negatywnego w Polsce. [Dimensions of trust and the problem of negative trust in Poland]. Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny, 70(1), 213-233. https://bit.ly/34swBYh

Pachelska, K. (2020, April 14). Koronawirus: ?mieszne memy. Zwierzaki komentuj? epidemi? i zachowania ludzi. Teraz ju? b?dziecie wiedzie?, sk?d si? wzi??a pandemia. [Coronavirus: Funny memes. Pets comment on the epidemic and human behavior. Now you will know where the pandemic came from]. Dziennik Zachodni. https://bit.ly/2Emkamg

Pacula, P. (2020, March 31). Poland: Coronavirus and the media. European Journalism Observatory. https://bit.ly/30P1OTi

Pauliks, K. (2020). Memes of the virus: Social criticism of the corona pandemic on the Internet. TelevIZIon, 33, 46-49. https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/13875

Piskorz, K. (2015). Internet nie ?pi, Internet reaguje. Memy internetowe jako forma komentarza do bie??cych wydarze? spo?ecznych i politycznych. [The Internet never sleeps: the Internet reacts. The Internet meme as a form of the current political and social commentary]. Zeszyty Prasoznawcze, 3(233), 650-658. https://doi.org/10.4467/2299-6362PZ.15.043.4245

Polska Times (Ed.) (2020a, May 12). Memy o koronawirusie i kwarantannie obna?aj? prawdziwe uczucia, ale ucz? te? profilaktyki przed Covid-19. [Memes about the coronavirus and quarantine reveal true feelings and also teach prevention against Covid-19]. https://bit.ly/3hKnDZW

Polska Times (Ed.) (2020b, April 14). Policjanci w czasie epidemii koronawirusa wlepiaj? setki mandatów – zobacz najlepsze memy i demotywatory. [During the coronavirus epidemic policemen issue hundreds of tickets – see the best memes and demotivators]. https://bit.ly/2Qvfm00

Polska Times (Ed.) (2020c, May 21). Sportowcy wracaj? z kwarantanny na boiska. MEMY, jak szybko nadrobi? zaleg?o?ci i wróci? do formy?. [Athletes return from quarantine to the fields. MEMES, how to quickly catch up and get back in shape?]. https://bit.ly/3hzZNjN

Roguska, E. (2020). Ocena dzia?a? rz?du w okresie epidemii. [Assessment of the government’s actions during the epidemic]. Public Opinion Research Center. https://bit.ly/3jbDEbN

Ross, A.S., & Rivers, D.J. (2017a). Digital cultures of political participation: Internet memes and the discursive delegitimization of the 2016 U.S. Presidential candidates. Discourse, Context and Media, 16, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2017.01.001

Ross, A.S., & Rivers, D.J. (2017b). Internet memes as polyvocal political participation. In D. Schill, & J.A. Hendricks (Eds.), The Presidency and social media: Discourse, disruption and digital democracy in the 2016 Presidential election (pp. 285-308). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315112824-15

Ross, A.S., & Rivers, D.J. (2019). Internet memes, media frames, and the conflicting logics of climate change discourse. Environmental Communication, 13(7), 975-994. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2018.1560347

Sarna, P. (2016). Memy w perspektywie retorycznej. [Memes from a rhetorical perspective]. In P. Sarna, & M. S?k-Iwanek (Eds.), Dyskursy widzialno?ci: S?owa a obrazy. [Visibility discourses: Words and images] (pp. 123-147). University of Silesia Press. https://bit.ly/3aA68Jb

Shifman, L. (2013). Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18(3), 362-377. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12013

Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in digital culture. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9429.001.0001

Sroka, J. (2019). Obrazkowe memy internetowe. [Pictorial Internet memes]. CeDeWu. https://bit.ly/2E5nUb4

Wanta, W., & Ghanem, S. (2006). Effects of agenda-setting. In R.W. Preiss, B.M. Gayle, N. Burrell, M. Allen, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Mass media effects research: Advances through media-analysis (pp. 37-51). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. https://bit.ly/2CtSVVI

Wasilewski, J. (2012). Opowie?ci o Polsce. Retoryka narracji. [Tales about Poland. Rhetoric of narratives]. Studio Headmade. https://bit.ly/3kQDKYd

Website of the Republic of Poland (Ed.) (2020). Coronavirus: Information and recommendation. https://bit.ly/2Qpug8e

Wiggins, B.E. (2019). The discursive power of memes in digital culture ideology, semiotics, and intertextuality. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429492303