“It’s gone viral, it’s got to the top”!

An analysis of the discursive functioning and the production of meaning effects of memes in the digital environment

Authors

  • Clóris Freire Dorow Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense - IFSul, Pelotas/RS - Brasil
  • Alexandre Kerson de Abreu Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense - IFSul, Pelotas/RS - Brasil

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15536/thema.V22.2023.58-78.2924

Keywords:

Discourse analysis, digital discourse, memes

Abstract

This paper studies the discursive functioning of memes circulating on the Internet belonging to the memetic families “expectation vs. reality” and “sarcastic Willy Wonka”. With the theoretical and methodological support of Pêcheux´s discourse analysis (DA). The aim is to analyse how this discursive functioning occur, as well as the meaning effects produced by this type of imagetic materiality and words in the digital environment. According to the analysis undertaken in this study, the results show that memes are not just a massive phenomenon of the digital age. Under the discursive view, they are materialities, which supported by the interface between verbal and nonverbal texts, play with language misconceptions and open a range of possibilities for different meaning effects.

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Author Biographies

Clóris Freire Dorow, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense - IFSul, Pelotas/RS - Brasil

Possui doutorado em Letras na área de Análise de Discurso pela UCPEL; mestrado em Letras na área de Análise de Discurso pela UCPEL; Especialização em Literatura Brasileira pela FURG. Usou como materialidade discursiva, em sua dissertação e em sua tese, o discurso jurídico. Atualmente trabalha com o discurso pedagógico, com o discurso sobre corpo e voz, com o discurso sobre histórias infantis, assim como as questões de gênero.É professora do Mestrado Profissional em Educação e Tecnologia do IFSUL- Campus Pelotas. Participa do grupo de Pesquisa e Estudos do LEAD, UFPEL. É coordenadora do Seminário de Análise de Discurso do IFSUL. É coordenadora da Pós Graduação Stricto Sensu em Linguagens Verbo/Visuais e Tecnologias, desde 2014.

Alexandre Kerson de Abreu, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Sul-rio-grandense - IFSul, Pelotas/RS - Brasil

First journalist in the history of the Instituto Federal Sul-rio-grandense (IFSul), Alexandre Kerson de Abreu is a doctoral student in Education and Technology (DPET/IFSul), Master in Education and Technology (2016) and specialist in Verb/Visual Languages and Technologies. (2012). He holds a degree in Social Communication-Advertising and Propaganda from the University of Ribeirão Preto (1998) and in Journalism from the Catholic University of Pelotas (2006). He has experience in the areas of Press Relations and Marketing. Currently, he has dedicated his studies to French Discourse Analysis, with research aimed at pedagogical discourse and the discursive practice of reading, observing the different gestures of reading and interpretation, as well as the effects of meaning produced in this discursive work, especially in relation to between subject-teacher and subject-student.

Published

2023-03-13

How to Cite

DOROW, C. F.; ABREU, A. K. de. “It’s gone viral, it’s got to the top”! An analysis of the discursive functioning and the production of meaning effects of memes in the digital environment. Revista Thema, Pelotas, v. 22, n. 1, p. 58–78, 2023. DOI: 10.15536/thema.V22.2023.58-78.2924. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ifsul.edu.br/index.php/thema/article/view/2924. Acesso em: 23 dec. 2024.

Issue

Section

Linguística, Letras e Artes