Beers, Bros, and Brett: memes and the visual ideograph of the <Angry White Man>

ABSTRACT

Following Brett Kavanaugh’s controversial testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, memes containing his image during his statement and questioning emerged across social media platforms. We examine these memes as a collective visual ideograph of the <Angry White Man>. They display a shared visual representation while enacting competing ideological frameworks. Through an analysis of 71 memes, two prominent themes emerged. First, there was competition over representing Kavanaugh’s anger; those demonstrating support for Kavanaugh argued that anger was a justified response to a “witch hunt,” while those in opposition to his confirmation defined his anger as inappropriate rage. Second, there was competition over the connections between Kavanaugh and alcohol. Supporters used Kavanaugh’s repeated mention of beer to tie beer drinking to appropriate masculinity as a Real Man, while opponents reference his love of beer and fraternity membership as evidence of both his unfitness for the court and the allegations against him. The synchronic and diachronic deployment of this ideograph of the <Angry White Man> open opportunities for understanding how these linkages among emotion, sex, and ethnicity create fertile ground for ideological competition.

KEYWORDS:

• Kavanaugh, Brett
• ideograph
• memes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heather M. Stassen

Heather M. Stassen (Ph.D., Ohio University, 2010) is Associate Professor and Director of the Communication Studies Program at Cazenovia College.

Benjamin R. Bates

Benjamin R. Bates (Ph.D., University of Georgia, 2003) is the Barbara Geralds Schoonover Professor of Health Communication at Ohio University.