‘Our Sofa was the Front’- Ontological Insecurity and the German Government’s Humourous Heroification of Couch Potatoes During COVID-19

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to an understanding of humour in political communication, particularly in official institutional communication. Specifically, it analyses the ‘special heroes’ campaign, which the German government published on its social media channels in November 2020. The campaign spoofed the COVID-19-specific heroification of certain groups of society by creating a humorous ‘special hero’ discourse of the ongoing pandemic. This humour is highly political, as it tries to influence the personal life and behaviour of citizens. Furthermore, it makes citizens responsible, and turns those affected by the pandemic into heroes. This article will adopt a method inspired by the Discourse Historical Approach which, along with context, focuses on the three elements of content, strategies, and linguistic means of realisation. It shows how humour in the form of parody can be favourable when done professionally by using the ambiguity of sensitive topics like war. It also shows how parodic forms can motivate users to create further parodies of the original content, thereby cementing the message of the government.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

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

Notes

1 These subtitles are used in this paper.

2 https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1105052/umfrage/taegliche-fallzahlen-des-coronavirus-covid-19-in-ausgewaehlten-laendern/

3 ‘A fascinating tale of comradeship that is, in the end, a tale of ordinary men who did extraordinary things’ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/

4 https://www.dwdl.de/interviews/74972/wir_wollen_die_marke_florida_auf_andere_genres_uebertragen/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Beck

Daniel Beck is a research fellow and lecturer at the chair of International Relations, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany. He holds a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Magdeburg University and a bachelor’s in History and Political Science. His research focus is on political humour, post-structuralist approaches and visuality. His most recent publication, titled ‘Just a bit of fun: the camouflaging and defending functions of humour in recruitment videos of the British and Swedish armed forces’, was published in the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.