SOCIAL SATIRE IN COVID-19 MEDIA CARTOONS IN CÔTE D'IVOIRE: A MULTIMODAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
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Published:
Dec 6, 2024
Keywords:
semiotic modes, satire, COVID-19 cartoons, power dynamics, ideology, Ivorian citizens
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach involving satire, multimodality, and critical discourse to investigate the interplay of semiotic modes used in Gbich! COVID-19 cartoons. It examines how these cartoons depict the socioeconomic and political realities of Ivorian citizens during the pandemic and how they served as tools to raise public awareness, critique governmental and global (in)actions, and challenge existing traditional structures and practices. The study is based on 6 purposively selected COVID-19 front-page cartoons of Gbich!, a prominent satirical and humorous newspaper in Côte d'Ivoire. The data were analysed using Kuiper's Perceptual Theory of Satire and Machin and Mayr's Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. The findings reveal that the newspaper satirised issues reflecting domestic, local, and global discourses during the pandemic. It highlighted power dynamics within family structures during crises, as well as between the virus, citizens and global entities. The paper concludes that the newspaper elicited discussions on gender roles and expectations, information management, crisis management and prioritisation of responses during emergencies. Moreover, it impressed its ideological stance on solidarity, power and marriage to its audience.
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Abodunrin Osunniran, Tajudeen. 2024. “SOCIAL SATIRE IN COVID-19 MEDIA CARTOONS IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE: A MULTIMODAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS”. Journal of Contemporary Philology 7 (2), 131-50. https://journals.ukim.mk/index.php/jcp/article/view/2753.
Section
Culture
Copyright © 2014 Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, Skopje
Journal of Contemporary Philology (JCP)
Современа филологија
References
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[Accessed: September 10th, 2020]
Zhang, Y., Tan, R., Marissa, K. L. E. and Tan, S. (2023). Defamiliarise to engage the public. A multimodal study of a science video about COVID-19 on Chinese social media. In S. Tan & K. L. E. Marissa (eds.). Discourses, modes, media and meaning in an era of pandemic. A multimodal discourse analysis approach, 160–177. New York: Routledge.
Alabi, O. S. (2020). Crisis communication and coping strategies during COVID-19 pandemic: A content analysis of coronavirus cartoons and comics (CCC). SSRN Electronic Journal, 1–16.
Alkhresheh, M. M. (2020). Semiological discourse analysis of the editorial cartoons of international newspapers on COVID-19. [Online] Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 14 (4): 6169–6179. Available from https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v14i4.12564 [Accessed: September 12th, 2023]
Asiru, H. T. and Bello, S. (2021). A linguistic and literary analyses study of selected cartoons on the novel Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. [Online] African Identities. 679– 702. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2021.1963671 [Accessed: November 13th, 2023]
Cucinotta, D. and Vanelli, M. (2020). WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic. [Online] Acta Biomed, 91 (1): 157–160. Available from https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397 [Accessed: September 10th, 2023]
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge.
Gbich! Newspaper, Nos. 1062, 1065, 1066, 1068, 1095. https://gbich.net/ [Accessed:
September 24th, 2022]
Gill, K. A. and Lennon, H. (2022). Conformity through fear: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of COVID-19 information adverts. CADAAD, Journal of Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines, 14 (1): 22–44.
Glez, Damien. 2012. Gbich!, un éclat de rire ivoirien. http://www.slateafrique.com/1823/journal-gbich-coup-de-poing-mediatique. [Accessed: September 24h, 2022]
Hameed, A. and Afzal, N. (2021). Visualising pandemic issues: A semiotic study of contemporary Arab media cartoons on COVID-19. [Online] Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7 (2): 84–102. Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.32601/ejal.911507 [Accessed: September 10th, 2023]
Hussein, A. T. and Aljamili, L. N. (2020). COVID-19 humor in Jordanian social media: A socio-semiotic approach. [Online] Heliyon, 6 (12) : 1–12. Available from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05696. [Accessed: September 10th, 2023]
Imperial, D. (2020). Constructing myths via art of controversy: A semiotic analysis on political cartoons. [Online] International journal of linguistics and translation studies,
1 (3): 81– 99. Available from https://doi.org/10.36892/ijlts.v1i3.53 [Accessed:
September 10th, 2023]
Jeune Afrique 2010. Média : Un coup de Gbich!, https://www.jeuneafrique.com/196733/societe/m-dias-un-coup-de-gbich/, [Accessed: September 24th, 2022]
Joubert, M. and Wasserman, H. (2020). Spikey blobs with evil grins: Understanding portrayals of the coronavirus in South African newspaper cartoons in relation to the public communication of science. [Online] Journal of Science Communication 19 (07):
A08, 1-26. Available from https://doi.org/10.22323/2.19070208 [Accessed: August 30th, 2023]
Kuiper, K. (1984). The Nature of Satire. Poetics, 13 (6): 459–473. [Online] Available from https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-422X(84)90018-4 [Accessed] July 3rd, 2022]
Le Petit Robert, dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française. (2020).
Paris : Dictionnaire Le Robert.
Machin, D. and Mayr, A. (2012). How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Marissa, K. L. E. and Tan, S. (2023). Communication as 'graphic medicine'. A multimodal social semiotic approach. In S. Tan and K. L. E. Marissa (eds.). Discourses, modes, media and meaning in an era of pandemic. A multimodal discourse analysis approach, 42–66. New York: Routledge.
Ogbodo, Jude. N., Emmanuel C. O., Blessing E., and Emem, O. (2024). Mainstreaming and Weaponizing Satire in Nigerian Journalism Practice. Journalism and Media 5: 219–232. https://doi.org/10.3390/ journalmedia5010015 [Accessed: 03rd November, 2024]
Robingah, R. (2020). Pierce's semiotics analysis on Benny's cartoons related to Covid 19 issues. [Online] Journal of Language and Literature 8 (1). 86–95. Available from https://doi.org/10.35760/jll.2020.v8i1.2564 [Accessed: November 11th, 2023]
Sani, K. A., Budiarsa, M., Laksana, I. K. D. and Simpen, I. W. (2021). Discourse structure of Covid 19 edition cartoon: Critical discourse analysis. [Online] The International Journal of Social Sciences World TIJOSSW, 3 (1): 51–64. Available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4474803. [Accessed: September 25th, 2022]
Singh, R. K. (2012). Humour, irony and satire in literature. International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL), 3 (4): 65–72.
Trisnayanti, Ni M. D., Pratiwi, D. P. E. and Candra, K. D. P. (2021). Discovering hidden messages in COVID-19 advertisement "Stay Home Save Lives": A semiotic analysis. [Online] RETORIKA: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa, 7 (1) : 25–31. Available from https://doi.org/10.22225/jr.7.1.3137.25-31 [Accessed: September 10th, 2023]
Van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. [Online] Discourse & Society, 4 (2). 249–83. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006 [Accessed: November 11th, 2023]
Wang, Y. (2021). The metaphors and its critical analysis in COVID-19-related cartoons. [Online] Open Journal of Modern Linguistics 11 (4): 539–554. Available from 10.4236/ojml.2021.114041 [Accessed: September 10th, 2023]
Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (2009). Critical discourse analysis: History, agenda, theory and methodology. In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (eds.). Methods of critical discourse analysis, 1– 33. London: Sage.
Wong, K., Man, S. and Chan, A. H. S. (2022). Subjective wellbeing and work performance among teachers in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic: Does autonomy support moderate their relationship? [Online] Sustainability, 14 (19) 12092: 1–14. Available from https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912092 [Accessed: November 16th, 2023]
World Health Organization. 2019. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.
[Accessed: September 10th, 2020]
Zhang, Y., Tan, R., Marissa, K. L. E. and Tan, S. (2023). Defamiliarise to engage the public. A multimodal study of a science video about COVID-19 on Chinese social media. In S. Tan & K. L. E. Marissa (eds.). Discourses, modes, media and meaning in an era of pandemic. A multimodal discourse analysis approach, 160–177. New York: Routledge.