Communicating Political Humor in the Media: How Culture Influences Satire and Irony (The Language of Politics)

This anthology of studies is a follow-up to Political Humor Worldwide: The Cultural Context of Political Comedy, Satire, and Parody . It further examines political humor as a distinct sub-discipline of political communication, influenced and shaped by a country’s culture. The book’s contributors, experts drawn from the academic fields of political science, communication, linguistics, sociology, culture studies, political psychology, and others, offer an assortment of studies from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Focusing on political humor in the media, the authors offer a panorama of political humor―including political satire, parody, and cartooning―in Spain, Poland, Montenegro, Turkey, Japan, Australia, Iran, Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, and Indonesia, among others. They detail political humor’s multifaceted and versatile nature, suggesting that national culture and political humor expressed in the news media are intertwined; thus, understanding political humor requires looking at the cultural landscape of a given country or society. The book helps readers to better understand the factors that shape political humor across the globe in a variety of political and media systems. Preface Contents Contributors 1 Humor and Politics in the Media: A Conceptual Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Theoretical Considerations 1.2.1 Superiority Theory 1.2.2 Incongruity Theory 1.2.3 Relief/Release Theory 1.2.4 Comprehensive Theories 1.3 Comparison and Stereotyping Aspects in Humor 1.3.1 Good and Bad Purposes 1.3.2 Stereotyping Groups and Ethnic Communities 1.3.3 Comparing National Groups 1.4 Creating and Exploiting Political Humor 1.5 Overview of the Volume References Part I Humor in Political Cartoons 2 The Relationship Between Culture and Political Humor in Japanese Manga 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The Postwar Rise of Graphic Political Expression: Tezuka’s Shôri no Hi Made 2.3 Sophisticated Everyday Contemporary Humor in Joshiraku 2.4 Mocking Domesticity: Ôno Kôsuke’s the Way of the Househusband 2.5 By Way of Conclusion References 3 A Tale of Two Presidents: Indonesian Humor as Depicted in Political Cartoons 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Background and Significance of Political Cartoons in Indonesia 3.1.2 Overview of the Two Presidents Under Analysis 3.1.3 Purpose of the Chapter and the Use of Critical Discourse Analysis 3.2 The Power of Political Cartoons in Indonesian Society 3.2.1 Historical Context and Cultural Significance of Political Cartoons 3.2.2 Role of Humor and Satire in Social Commentary 3.3 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: Caricatures and Criticism 3.3.1 Introduction to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and His Tenure 3.3.2 Analysis of Prominent Political Cartoons Depicting SBY 3.3.3 Examination of the Critical Discourse Embedded in the Cartoons 3.4 President Joko Widodo: Portrayals and Satire 3.4.1 Introduction to Jokowi’s Leadership Period 3.4.2 Analysis of Notable Political Cartoons Featuring Jokowi 3.4.3 Unpacking Critical Discourse in the Cartoons 3.5 Conclusion References 4 Mocking the Inept: Brazilian Cartoons and Criticism of the Jair Bolsonaro Government 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 Situating the Cartoon in Brazil’s Humor Culture 4.2 Cartoon Denunciations and Resistance to the Jair Bolsonaro Government’s Destructive Agenda 4.2.1 Neoliberalism as the Orientation of Economic Policy 4.2.2 An Agenda of Environmental Destruction 4.2.3 Irresponsibility and Denialism in the Face of the Pandemic 4.2.4 The Government’s Political Orientation: Authoritarianism 4.2.5 Within the “Moral Agenda,” Interest in Attacking Rights 4.3 Conclusions References 5 How Political Cartoons Reveal Türkiye’s Cultural Dynamics: An Analysis of Three Satirical Magazines 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Politics and Humor in Türkiye: An Overview 5.3 Methodology 5.3.1 Mapping Political Culture Through Misvak, Uykusuz and Bayan Yanı 5.4 Conclusion References 6 Spanish Humor and Political Culture Through Cartoons: Multimodal Discursive Analysis of Forges’s Socio-political, Graphic Universe 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Graphic Humor in Spain: Forges as the Dominant Figure 6.3 Political Cartoons as Powerful, Multimodal, Humorous-Vindictive Texts 6.4 Research Methodology 6.4.1 Relevance Theory 6.5 Analysis of the Cartoons 6.5.1 On the Political Administrative System and State Bureaucracy 6.5.2 On the Spanish Labor System: Employers, Scholars, and Labor Precariousness 6.5.3 On Political Corruption 6.5.4 On Social Policy and the Rule of Law in Spain 6.5.5 On Hate Speech and the Hardening of Political Discourse 6.5.6 Overview of Politics by Politicians and Citizens 6.6 Conclusions References 7 Far-Right Political Humor in Australia: Culture, Coloniality, and Exclusion 7.1 Introduction 7.2 ‘Australian Culture’ and the Colonial Fantasy 7.3 Far-Right Political Humor 7.4 Research Approach, Data, and Methods 7.5 Findings and Analysis 7.5.1 Political Cartoons 7.5.2 Internet Memes 7.6 Discussion and Conclusion References Part II Political Humor in the Broadcast Media 8 Televised Political Satire in Poland: Historical Roots and Social Implications of Stereotypical Representations of Politicians and Politics 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Polish Political Humor 8.3 Case Studies 8.3.1 “Polish Zoo”—Musical Cabaret on TV 8.3.2 The Cabaret of Moral Anxiety and “Government in Session” Sketches 8.3.3 “the Chairman’s Ear” Comedy Series 8.4 Conclusion: Functions of Satirical Humor and Implications for Citizenship References 9 Sexist Humor in Public Facebook Comments Delegitimizing Female Politicians Within Montenegro’s Patriarchal Culture 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Theoretical Background and Literature Review 9.2.1 Montenegrin Patriarchal Culture 9.2.2 Sexist Humor as a Type of Disparaging Humor 9.2.3 Delegitimization and Disparaging Humor 9.3 Research Aim and Questions 9.4 Corpus and Analytical Steps 9.5 Analysis 9.5.1 Political Sexist Humor Frequency in Montenegrin Facebook Comments 9.5.2 Identifying Prominent Categories of Sexist Humor in Montenegrin Facebook Political Commentary 9.5.3 How Are Montenegrin Female Politicians Delegitimized in Sexist Humorous Facebook Comments? 9.5.4 Montenegrin Patriarchal Culture and the Frequency of Sexist Humor in Online Facebook Commentary 9.5.5 Montenegrin Patriarchal Culture and Sexist Humor Category Prominence in Online Facebook Commentary? 9.6 Conclusion References 10 Exploring Attitudinal Meaning in Iranian Political Humor Targets as Distributed Through Social Networks 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Iran’s Socio-Political Context 10.2.1 Freedom of Speech in the Iranian Constitution 10.2.2 The Sociological Model (Openness Model) 10.3 The Study 10.3.1 The Appraisal Model 10.3.2 Methodology 10.3.3 Findings and Discussion 10.4 Conclusion References 11 Mocking the Powers that Be: The Case of Culture and Political Humor in Malaysia 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The Politics of Humor 11.2.1 No Laughing Matter 11.2.2 Safe Comedy 11.2.3 The Local Temperament 11.2.4 Of Virtue and “Saving Face” 11.2.5 This One Not Funny Lah 11.2.6 Fodder for Comedy 11.3 Research Approach 11.4 Analysis and Discussion 11.4.1 Case A: Douglas Lim (2021) 11.4.2 Case B: Jason Leong (2021) 11.5 Conclusions References Part III Political Humor in the Print Media 12 Politically Related Senryû Verses in Daily Newspapers as a Manifestation of Humor in Japan 12.1 Introduction 12.2 On Humor in Japanese Society 12.2.1 “Regional Distinction” and Shared Style of Humor 12.3 Senryû Verses in the Dailies 12.3.1 Methodology 12.4 Results and Discussion 12.4.1 Policy Issues 12.4.2 Russia-Ukraine War (Invasion of the Ukraine) 12.4.3 Prime Minister Abe Shinzô’s Assassination 12.4.4 The Prime Minister 12.4.5 China 12.4.6 Government Bureaucracy 12.5 Conclusions References 13 Depicting “La Grieta”: The Role of Political Satire and Humor in Argentinean Polarization 13.1 Introduction 13.2 La Grieta as a Metaphor of Argentine’s National Division 13.3 La Grieta as Cultural Polarization 13.4 La Grieta and the Role of Political Satire in Three Argentinian Newspapers 13.4.1 “Life Begins at 30: The Beautiful Página,” by Marcelo Rudaeff (Rudy) 13.4.2 “Cristina versus Alberto: Call the Firefighters!” by Carlos M. Reymundo Roberts 13.4.3 “Let the Rift not Wane” by Alejandro Borensztein 13.5 Conclusions References Part IV Conclusion 14 The Complexity of Media Political Humor: Research Considerations 14.1 Introduction: The Question of “Balance” 14.1.1 Why Satirical Balance is not Always Present 14.2 How Effective is Political Humor? Methodological Complications 14.2.1 Variables Influencing the Influence of Political Humor 14.2.2 Further Complexity: Two Types of Addressees; Cross-Cutting Variables 14.3 Concluding Thought: Political Humor and Veracity—The “Fake News” Conundrum References Index