Binders and Bayonets
Irony, Comedy, and Social Media in the 2012 Presidential Campaign
Abstract
This article focuses on the 2012 U.S. Presidential campaign and its impact on popular culture, with specific reference to online SNS practices as a form of grass-root appropriation of political discourse. Moving from the shift that has occurred in the online cultural practices around campaigns and candidates since the 2008 Presidential election, the article analyzes the role of memes as a form of popular (that is, un-authorized by the establishment) culture which by now constitutes a form of political speech act informed both by the tradition of humor and satire and by the Web 2.0 specific laws of production and circulation of user-generated content.
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