From Propaganda to Memes: Resignification of Political Discourse Through Memes on the Chinese Internet

Abstract

With increasing integration of culture and politics in the digital age, memes tend to be politicized in academic research. Moving beyond the perspective of politicization, this study examines the depoliticizing potential of meme usage. Drawing on sassy socialist memes on the Chinese internet repackaging propaganda posters and slogans for online conversations, we conducted discourse analysis of these memes and interviews with meme users. We find that memes reappropriating political discourse are not necessarily used for political implications. Rather, their meanings vary in usage contexts that are mostly non-political daily conversations—political discourse in China has been gradually resignified to incorporate diverse non-political meanings in the memetic process of cultural reappropriation. Furthermore, the depoliticizing potential of memes is precisely built upon the politicization of propaganda discourse for mass persuasion. The discursive construction of propaganda and its indoctrination in Chinese society are potentially leading to its own deconstruction in the digital age.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ruichen Zhang

Ruichen Zhang is a lecturer from the School of Sociology and Population Studies at Renmin University of China. She received her PhD in Sociology at the University of Cambridge (UK). Her research focuses on the cultural reconstruction of political discourse on the Chinese internet.

Bo Kang

Bo Kang is a PhD candidate from the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge (UK). Her research studies the interaction design and user experience of augmented/virtual realities, focusing on the reduction of cognitive load for complex tasks such as product development.