De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment

Humour has a unique way of delineating social boundaries, and comedy can function as a double-edged sword; it can strengthen bonds and bring people together, or divide through provocation and violation of social norms. As a consequence, humour controversies are telling events that contain the possi...

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Autor principal: Sara Ödmark
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/6c0515ef614e4b7290d416f043bfa0b5
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:6c0515ef614e4b7290d416f043bfa0b52021-11-05T08:50:24ZDe-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment10.7592/EJHR2021.9.3.5232307-700Xhttps://doaj.org/article/6c0515ef614e4b7290d416f043bfa0b52021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://europeanjournalofhumour.org/ejhr/article/view/523https://doaj.org/toc/2307-700X Humour has a unique way of delineating social boundaries, and comedy can function as a double-edged sword; it can strengthen bonds and bring people together, or divide through provocation and violation of social norms. As a consequence, humour controversies are telling events that contain the possibility of highlighting cultural and political sensibilities – even more in the current political landscape, with increasing media fragmentation. This study analysed four humour functions through the theoretical lens of media framing, via three cases of humorous content that caused controversies in the Swedish news media. These cases were one divisive radio roast of a politician, one TV satire segment that was received as racist, and one audio podcast with young women who challenged a Swedish political consensus climate. Framing is the power of media to select and highlight certain aspects of issues, and by extension, shape public opinion. By subjecting the media coverage of these three controversies to a qualitative content analysis, the framing was examined and discussed in the light of four humour functions: identification, clarification, enforcement, and differentiation (Meyer 2000). Furthermore, the study examined the media context and the role it played in the framing of the controversies. One main finding was that the most uniting humour function of identification could be transformed into the most dividing humour function of differentiation through a shift in media context. Sara ÖdmarkCracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studiesarticlepolitical comedyhumour functionsframinghumour scandalscontextualisationLanguage and LiteraturePENThe European Journal of Humour Research, Vol 9, Iss 3 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic political comedy
humour functions
framing
humour scandals
contextualisation
Language and Literature
P
spellingShingle political comedy
humour functions
framing
humour scandals
contextualisation
Language and Literature
P
Sara Ödmark
De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
description Humour has a unique way of delineating social boundaries, and comedy can function as a double-edged sword; it can strengthen bonds and bring people together, or divide through provocation and violation of social norms. As a consequence, humour controversies are telling events that contain the possibility of highlighting cultural and political sensibilities – even more in the current political landscape, with increasing media fragmentation. This study analysed four humour functions through the theoretical lens of media framing, via three cases of humorous content that caused controversies in the Swedish news media. These cases were one divisive radio roast of a politician, one TV satire segment that was received as racist, and one audio podcast with young women who challenged a Swedish political consensus climate. Framing is the power of media to select and highlight certain aspects of issues, and by extension, shape public opinion. By subjecting the media coverage of these three controversies to a qualitative content analysis, the framing was examined and discussed in the light of four humour functions: identification, clarification, enforcement, and differentiation (Meyer 2000). Furthermore, the study examined the media context and the role it played in the framing of the controversies. One main finding was that the most uniting humour function of identification could be transformed into the most dividing humour function of differentiation through a shift in media context.
format article
author Sara Ödmark
author_facet Sara Ödmark
author_sort Sara Ödmark
title De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
title_short De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
title_full De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
title_fullStr De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
title_full_unstemmed De-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
title_sort de-contextualisation fuels controversy: the double-edged sword of humour in a hybrid media environment
publisher Cracow Tertium Society for the Promotion of Language Studies
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/6c0515ef614e4b7290d416f043bfa0b5
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