Article published In: The Pragmatics of Internet Memes
Edited by Chaoqun Xie
[Internet Pragmatics 3:2] 2020
► pp. 260–282
Exploring local meaning-making resources
A case study of a popular Chinese internet meme (biaoqingbao)
Published online: 19 November 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00042.jia
https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00042.jia
Abstract
This study examines various combinations of visual and textual meaning-making resources in a popular Chinese meme.
The meme features an exogenous image – the grinning facial expression of a U.S. wrestler, D’Angelo Dinero – that has been
recontextualized into numerous other visual texts, to create semiotic ensembles with local meanings, which are then distributed
across Chinese social media platforms. We analyzed 60 of these image macros, and our findings show that local meanings are created
when Dinero’s facial expression is blended with visual references to Chinese digital culture, Chinese popular culture, Chinese
social class issues, Chinese politics, and Chinese institutions. The majority of textual elements in the image macros are Chinese;
however, the handful of examples that also include other languages typically involve multilingual wordplay and carnivalesque
themes. We argue that although the multivalency of the wrestlers’ facial expression invites interpretations of a wide range of
affective meanings, an overarching rebellious or transgressive stance is consistent across individual texts.
Keywords: multimodality, humor, image macros, Chinese social media, resemiotization
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Humor in internet memes
- 3.Meme localization, resemiotization and multimodality
- 4.Chinese memes? Biaoqingbao
- 5.The data
- 6.Data analysis
- 6.1“Diaosi”
- 6.2Digital culture
- 6.3Popular culture
- 6.4Politics
- 6.5Chinese institutional contexts
- 7.Discussion and conclusions
- Notes
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