tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/parody-14294/articlesParody – The Conversation2022-11-15T20:11:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1945032022-11-15T20:11:08Z2022-11-15T20:11:08ZImpersonation and parody: Shitposters satirically mock Elon Musk’s chaotic Twitter takeover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495170/original/file-20221114-22-1p6e2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C41%2C6979%2C4610&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Twitter users have been shitposting on the social media site to challenge Elon Musk's takeover of the platform.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Posting on Twitter has changed since Elon Musk <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/technology/elon-musk-twitter-deal-complete.html">finalized his $44 billion takeover</a> of the micro-blogging platform. </p>
<p>One of Musk’s first orders as CEO: Adding <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/managing-your-account/about-twitter-verified-accounts">opt-in paid verification</a> to the social networking platform’s Twitter Blue program. Previously, account verification was used to credibly identify people or organizations of public interest and did not require payment. </p>
<p>Musk’s changes allowed anyone on Twitter to get a blue check on their account for a monthly fee. Musk claimed the change would <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/11/how-many-twitter-blue-subscribers-elon-musk-needs-to-make-up-losses.html">support Twitter’s revenue</a>. </p>
<p>However, the <a href="https://mashable.com/article/twitter-blue-elon-musk-subscriber-numbers">opposite appears to have taken place</a>. Within weeks of Musk’s takeover, verified users from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/gustavlundbergtoresson/2022/11/14/as-twitters-changes-shakes-creators-and-brands-balenciaga-just-left-the-group-chat/?sh=418c9e0b2d15">luxury fashion house Balenciaga</a> to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/whoopi-goldberg-quits-twitter-elon-musk-1235256829/">Whoopi Goldberg</a>, <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/11/stephen-fry-leaves-twitter-2022-goodbye-scrabble-1235167470/">Stephen Fry</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/shondarhimes/status/1586399694896390147">showrunner Shonda Rhimes</a> announced their departures. Meanwhile, several <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/11/10/advertisers-unconvinced-after-musk-tries-to-reassure-them-that-twitter-chaos-wont-hurt-them/">major brands have paused advertising on the platform</a>. Their reasoning? Concerns around Musk permitting a “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/leaving-elon-musk-twitter-star-trek-1758710">cesspool of hate speech</a>” to proliferate on the platform.</p>
<h2>Parody chaos</h2>
<p>Shortly after Musk introduced the new blue check program, a tweet purporting to be from American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/14/twitter-fake-eli-lilly/">announced that insulin would be free</a>. Several users rejoiced in the comments, excited for the promise of accessible health care. But the tweet was never sent out by Eli Lilly, <a href="https://twitter.com/lillypad/status/1590813806275469333">whose official account is @LillyPad</a>. Instead, the tweet came from an account that registered with Twitter Blue’s paid verification program. </p>
<p>Though the fake Eli Lilly account was removed, the pharmaceutical company lost billions in value and the company’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2022/11/12/fake-eli-lilly-twitter-account-claims-insulin-is-free-stock-falls-43/">stock fell 4.37 per cent</a> within days.</p>
<p>Musk’s companies Tesla and SpaceX were also parodied, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/fake-spacex-tweets-troll-elon-musk-over-government-subsidies-penis-size-1759117">with numerous tweets directly mocking Musk</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1590813806275469333"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/11/11/kari-lake-lockheed-martin-and-eli-lilly-here-are-the-companies-celebrities-and-politicians-impersonated-in-twitter-blue-chaos/?sh=3d90aac83871">Banana producer Chiquita</a>, <a href="https://mashable.com/article/twitter-fake-verified-posts-worse-elon-musk">American Girl</a>, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/billions-of-dollars-lost-how-twitter-blue-troubled-investors-on-wall-street/articleshow/95474009.cms">Lockheed Martin</a> and other corporations also found themselves satirized by Twitter Blue accounts.</p>
<p>In response to the impersonations, Musk <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/11/twitter-blue-subscription-disappears-from-app.html">paused the paid verification program</a>. Musk has also <a href="https://mashable.com/article/twitter-gray-check-back">been inconsistent about the new gray “official” check verification</a>. The new check was also brought in to deal with the impersonations, but Musk soon tweeted that he’d “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1590383366213611522">killed it</a>” after the announcement instigated more trolling. The gray check has since returned to some verified accounts.</p>
<h2>What is shitposting?</h2>
<p>These playful impersonations aren’t coincidental: they are a dissent against Musk’s leadership. In response to Musk becoming CEO, users used the platform to challenge dominant ideas about capitalism and power. </p>
<p>The fake verified accounts are <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Shitposting">forms of shitposting</a>, or crass, provocative digital communication styles. Relying on parody and mocking, shitposting <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/23/papa-whats-a-shitpost/">attempts to disturb and derail</a> typical ways of posting on social media platforms.</p>
<p>Shitposting traces its roots to <a href="https://medium.com/swlh/a-brief-history-of-internet-culture-and-how-everything-became-absurd-6af862e71c94">early 2000s internet cultures</a>. It’s often associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2786">trolling and other forms of hate speech</a> circulating on message board platforms like 8chan. </p>
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<p>However, shitposting can also be a form of digital protest. Communication scholar <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10462930500382708">Josh Gunn</a> explains that “shitTexts” are rhetorical practices that use irony and detraction to catalyze conversations about power and capitalism. Similarly, shitposts can help us blow off steam about political events we have little control over.</p>
<p>Likened to <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/17/18142124/shitposting-memes-dada-art-history">the Dadaist art movement</a>, shitposts also use play, absurdity and irony to challenge grand narratives about art and economic life. </p>
<h2>Digital public square</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Book cover showing a cartoon drawing on a young Black person with purple hair looking at a virtual red screen in their hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495219/original/file-20221114-24-87a1zb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Distributed Blackness, African American Cybercultures by André Brock, Jr.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nyupress.org/9781479829965/distributed-blackness/">(NYU Press)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has been a <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/11/1063162/twitters-imminent-collapse-could-wipe-out-vast-records-of-recent-human-history/">digital public square</a> for its <a href="https://financesonline.com/number-of-twitter-users/">330 million monthly users</a>. Users build community in different <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2015.1083373">enclaves</a>, groups organized around shared identities or common interests.</p>
<p>In his groundbreaking work on Black Twitter, media scholar <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479829965/distributed-blackness/">André Brock, Jr.</a> explains how the platform’s longevity is sustained by ordinary users whose playful use of Twitter gives them power and agency in ways offline spaces can’t. </p>
<p>Twitter, host to digital movements like <a href="https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2017/01/23/dvp-interview-gregg-beratan-andrew-pulrang-alice-wong/">#CripTheVote</a>, amplifies important conversations that don’t always get attention in mainstream media. </p>
<h2>A chaotic takeover and the many Musks</h2>
<p>Many dramatic changes accompanied Musk’s arrival. The self-proclaimed “<a href="https://mashable.com/article/chief-twit-elon-musk-twitter-layoffs">Chief Twit</a>” dismissed nearly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/chief-twit-elon-musk-makesa-mostly-disastrous-start/2022/10/31/2b32490a-5943-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html">half of Twitter’s employees</a>. Content moderation and harassment issues quickly rose, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/11/12/musk-chaos-raises-serious-rights-concerns-over-twitter">threatening safety and security</a> for marginalized users. </p>
<p>But Twitter users are not always concerned with reproducing offline hierarchies of power — even public-facing personas regularly interact with everyday users.</p>
<p>The limited character count of a tweet means all users rely on creative strategies to communicate their messages. For instance, on a pre-Musk Twitter, verified users had the option to edit their display names. The name section is a playful space: used to creatively conceal an identity or temporarily partake in a viral platform trend (<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/5/16430496/twitter-halloween-names-best-memes">like spooky Halloween names</a>).</p>
<p>In response to Musk’s verification changes, many users including <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/elon-musk-twitter-impersonations-1.6648071">cartoonist Jeph Jacques</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/07/twitter-will-ban-permanently-suspend-impersonator-accounts-elon-musk-says-as-users-take-his-name">comedian Kathy Griffin</a> changed their display names to “Elon Musk,” tweeting out provocative and offensive statements impersonating the CEO. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/7/23446171/screen-name-twitter-musk-parody-whoops">Many other users joined them</a>. Jacques and Griffin’s accounts have both been suspended. </p>
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<p>After assuming leadership, Musk, a self-proclaimed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/14/how-free-speech-absolutist-elon-musk-would-transform-twitter">free-speech absolutist</a>, publicly announced that “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586104694421659648?lang=en">comedy is now legal on Twitter</a>.” </p>
<p>But his desire for the platform to be a space for free speech was short lived. On Nov. 6, Musk, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1590884973535711232">who previously warned users against parodying</a> his likeness, announced <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589401231545741312">verified users would lose their blue checks</a> if they attempted to change their display name. Verified users are now <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/social-media/twitter-disables-ability-to-change-account-names-remove-blue-checkmarks/">unable to change their display names</a>.</p>
<p>Singer Doja Cat, <a href="https://www.insider.com/doja-cat-begs-elon-musk-change-twitter-name-back-2022-11">whose name was stuck as “Christmas,”</a> publicly tweeted at Musk for assistance. When he permitted the change, Doja Cat, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/doja-cat-stuck-as-christmas-twitter-elon-muck-1234628574/">changed her display name to “fart”</a> and thanked Musk.</p>
<h2>Twitter’s future</h2>
<p>The platform’s future remains uncertain. Some claim Musk is <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/twitter-faces-uncertain-future-after-tumultuous-start-to-elon-musks-ownership">driving Twitter into the ground</a>, while others fear it will become <a href="https://www.revolt.tv/article/2022-10-28/248845/black-twitter-is-stunned-by-racist-tweets-taking-over-app-after-elon-musk-purchase/">yet another space for white supremacist hate</a>. </p>
<p>Things aren’t just chaotic online. Musk’s warning about <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/12/1136205315/musk-twitter-bankruptcy-how-likely">Twitter’s looming bankruptcy</a> complicates the flows of impersonation and hate speech that followed his takeover. </p>
<p>Is shitposting the most pragmatic way to engage in public dissent? Probably not. However, through small acts of play, satire and parody, Twitter shitposters demonstrate the platform’s unique potential to spark cultural conversations about power — with a twist of provocation. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/social-media-and-society-125586" target="_blank"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479539/original/file-20220817-20-g5jxhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Rauchberg previously received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).</span></em></p>Elon Musk’s new paid verification program resulted in the widespread use of parody accounts by shitposters on the social media platform.Jess Rauchberg, Doctoral Candidate, Communication Studies and Media Arts, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927302022-10-19T21:08:01Z2022-10-19T21:08:01Z4.3 trillion readers can’t be wrong – why The Onion’s defence of satire should be heard by the US Supreme Court<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490564/original/file-20221019-14-eamm7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C6048%2C3992&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve read, watched and enjoyed the work of America’s best-known satirical publication <a href="https://www.theonion.com/">The Onion</a>, you might be surprised by how serious it suddenly became earlier this month. So serious, in fact, that it might end up before the US Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Each year approximately 7,000 appellants petition to have their cases heard before the Supreme Court, but <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/about">only 100 to 150</a> of these petitions are reviewed. What are known as <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/amicus_curiae#:%7E:text=Generally%2C%20it%20is%20referencing%20a,are%20called%20%22amicus%20briefs.%22"><em>amicus curiae</em> briefs</a> can be filed by interested third parties to strengthen the need for a petition to be seen by the court. </p>
<p>Little wonder, then, that it caught the eye of the media when such a brief was <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-293/242292/20221003125252896_35295545_1-22.10.03%20-%20Novak-Parma%20-%20Onion%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf">filed by The Onion</a>. Despite the publication’s typically absurd claim to a daily readership of 4.3 trillion, the intent of the brief is far from ridiculous. Because The Onion believes the right to use satire is under threat.</p>
<p>The brief was filed to support an appellant named Anthony Novak, who in 2015 was arrested and charged with <a href="https://codes.findlaw.com/oh/title-xxix-crimes-procedure/oh-rev-code-sect-2909-04.html">using a computer to disrupt police operations</a>. The disruption was said to arise from Novak’s decision to create a satirical Facebook page identical in appearance to that of the police department in the city of Parma, Ohio. </p>
<p>At trial, Novak was found not guilty and then sued the city for violation of his civil rights. The city sought qualified immunity for its officers, which shields them from civil litigation unless they had been shown to violate someone’s civil rights – exactly the claim raised by Novak. </p>
<p>A state judge agreed with Novak and rejected the city’s qualified immunity, indicating Novak could sue. The city appealed and the case moved to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Sixth Circuit reversed the lower court’s rejection and ruled the officers should be granted qualified immunity because Novak’s actions were not protected speech.</p>
<p>This barred Novak from seeking any damages for his arrest. His last chance for appeal is now in the hands of the Supreme Court.</p>
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<h2>Satire and protected speech</h2>
<p>The purpose of The Onion’s brief is to provide additional information about the nature of satire, and to urge the Supreme Court to hear Novak’s case and reconsider the decision handed down by the Sixth Circuit. </p>
<p>It’s written with humorous and satirical flair, and is indeed a very good read. True to form, though, the playful aspects of The Onion’s brief contain a serious message: if the Supreme Court were not to hear Novak’s case, future satirists (including the writers at The Onion) may face legal prosecution for creating satire. </p>
<p>Therefore, it argues, the Supreme Court must hear Novak’s case to ensure the preservation of satire as a legitimate means of free speech.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ninety-years-on-what-can-we-learn-from-reading-evelyn-waughs-troubling-satire-black-mischief-190441">Ninety years on, what can we learn from reading Evelyn Waugh's troubling satire Black Mischief?</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Yet more than 30 years ago, the Supreme Court decided in <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/about-this-exhibition/significant-and-landmark-cases/satire-is-protected-free-speech/">Hustler v. Falwell</a> that satire and parody are protected speech under the <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/">First Amendment</a> of the US Constitution. Why then did the Sixth Circuit rule in favour of the city if Novak’s page was a form of protected speech? </p>
<p>The reason is simple: the Sixth Circuit limited the boundaries of what it considered to be satire. <a href="https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/22a0090p-06.pdf">In its decision</a>, the Sixth Circuit noted that while the Facebook site was satire and thus protected, Novak also deleted spoiler comments from his page and copied a warning from the real page to his own. </p>
<p>The Sixth ruled the police officers could not be expected to extend first amendment protection to these actions and thus granted them qualified immunity, squashing Novak’s civil suit.</p>
<p>The court’s decision presents a quandary: how can the creation of a satirical work be protected speech when the maintenance of the work is not? The seemingly contradictory logic behind the Sixth Circuit’s decision is why The Onion’s brief is so important – it provides a definition of satire from a position of experience and expertise.</p>
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<h2>Defining how satire works</h2>
<p>So, what is satire and how does it work? While there is a tradition of defining it as a literary genre, satire is much more than a category on a bookshelf. Satire can occur in any medium, such as Novak’s Facebook page. </p>
<p>This is because satire is “parasitic” – a satirist appropriates formal features of an existing genre, person or event to create a pretence of authenticity and sincerity. By pretending to be something it is not – such as a news story or a police Facebook page – a satirical work arouses expectations and stereotypes associated with that genre. </p>
<p>At the same time, the satirist provides indirect and subtle clues which, when interpreted correctly, belie the satirical pretence and pull back the curtain to expose the ruse, which distinguishes the satire from the real thing. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-a-good-literary-hoax-a-political-point-for-starters-170538">What makes a good literary hoax? A political point, for starters</a>
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</em>
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<p>The second step must be indirect for satire to work, and it cannot work if the satirical object is labelled “satire” in advance. This point is strongly emphasised in The Onion’s brief: killing the satirical pretence kills the satire. If Novak’s efforts to maintain a satirical pretence are an arrestable offense, then satire is no longer protected speech.</p>
<p>Whether Novak’s case goes to the Supreme Court is still uncertain, and the details of his case are more nuanced than asking whether someone can be jailed for making satire. Instead, the Supreme Court would need to draw new lines defining what satire is and how it works. Agreeing on a universal definition of satire is far from easy. </p>
<p>Fortunately, “<a href="https://www.theonion.com/about">America’s Finest News Source</a>” has provided the court with an excellent explanation, demonstrating just how serious satire can be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Skalicky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘America’s finest news source’ The Onion wants the US Supreme Court to answer some difficult questions: is satire protected speech, and if so, how do we define it?Stephen Skalicky, Senior Lecturer in the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1779652022-03-02T16:48:11Z2022-03-02T16:48:11ZThe Batman: same old hypermasculine heroes, sexualised women and disfigured baddies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449588/original/file-20220302-25-26i6jm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1569%2C879&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Robert Pattinson is the latest Batman.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/the-batman">DC Comics/Warner Bros</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Who needs one <a href="https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/the-batman">Batman</a> when you can have three? Possibly no one, but that’s what Hollywood is giving us in 2022. On March 4, Robert Pattinson – the Twilight guy – takes his first trip to Gotham City in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Then on November 4, it’s the return of veteran caped crusaders Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton, as they appear set to share the Batman role in the big screen adaptation of fellow justice League member <a href="https://youtu.be/drQWopZDEEY">The Flash</a>. </p>
<p>That’s a lot of Batmans – and that’s just the big screen. There are some more hanging around in the comic, animation and video game belfries too. Factor in some of the live-action Batmans of old, like the late Adam West, Val Kilmer and Christian Bale (to name but a few), and maybe even the fun-poking <a href="http://www.legobatman.co.uk">Lego movies</a> while we’re at it, and we’ve got quite the colony on our hands. </p>
<p>What this shows us is that Batman is a versatile fellow, constantly being reimagined. For almost 80 years, the film and television portrayals of DC Comics’ Dark Knight have shifted with the times, but that’s not always been a good thing.</p>
<h2>A history of Batman</h2>
<p>In 1943 Lewis Wilson gave us an often forgotten <a href="https://youtu.be/acf9QXFO3Js">second world war era Batman</a>. Crusading against the “villainous” Japanese on behalf of Uncle Sam, this version of Batman is an openly racist work of propaganda fuelled by the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation#:%7E:text=Japanese%20internment%20camps%20were%20established,be%20incarcerated%20in%20isolated%20camps.">forced internment</a> of Japanese Americans after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour. </p>
<p>By the 1960s it was Adam West’s turn to don the cowl in Leslie H. Martinson’s Batman: The Movie and the related ABC television series Batman. Once more battling traditional enemies like The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin and Catwoman, the overt racism was mostly toned down in the television version. Instead, the show was packed full of bright colours, slapstick violence, sexualisation of its female characters and a not-so-subtle homoerotic subtext, openly poking fun at itself in a camp parody of the Dark Knight.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The 1960s cartoon versions of Batman and Robin against a dark green background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449520/original/file-20220302-25-u2517y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Batman and Robin opening credits from the 1960s television series.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK4H-LkrQjQ">20th Century Fox</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Around 20 years later, when Michael Keaton arrived in Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns, it was time to exorcise the camp from the Batman. Now loaded with a heavy gothic look and feel, Keaton and Burton’s Batman returned the franchise to a dark and gloomy tone that paved the way for the much bleaker Batman narratives to come. Still with us was the overt sexualisation of female characters, especially in the guise of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman.</p>
<p>Particularly noticeable was physical disfigurement as a marker of villainy in Jack Nicholson’s The Joker and Danny DeVito’s The Penguin. But gone was Batman’s spandex suit and cape, replaced with militaristic body armour and violence to match – although this was nearly derailed by Joel Schumacher’s more flamboyant tongue-in-cheek family-friendly interpretations Batman Forever, starring Val Kilmer, and its commercial and critical disaster follow-up, Batman Returns, with George Clooney. </p>
<p>At the turn of the 21st century, it was over to Christopher Nolan and his Dark Knight Trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) to reset the franchise once more. Christian Bale’s Batman was perhaps the first to go “fully” hypermasculine, where Bruce Wayne was almost as tough and chiselled as the batsuit he wore.</p>
<p>The violence too was more realistic and gritty, as were the motives of the villains. While still facially disfigured, they now preferred to engage in domestic acts of terrorism, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/mar/16/mark-hamill-jack-nicholson-heath-ledger-joker-batman-best">Heath Ledger’s iconic performance</a> transforming the Joker into a mass-murdering psychopath. </p>
<p>This brooding hypermasculinity spilled over into Ben Affleck’s contemporary portrayal of Batman in Zach Snyder’s 2016 box office hit Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and box office bomb from 2017, Justice League. So it was no surprise that the announcement of equally brooding Twilight star Robert Pattinson as the next Batman set the DC fandom a flutter.</p>
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<h2>More of the same?</h2>
<p>Further fuel was added to the fire when Pattinson revealed in 2020 that he did not want to contribute to problematic masculine body images by working out for his new role. Yet, as the promotional campaign for The Batman began to ramp up in 2022, Pattinson declared that he’d been joking about not working out, now telling us that it was crucial if an actor wanted to play Batman.</p>
<p>At a time when many Hollywood franchises are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43219531">abandoning</a> the controversial tropes of their past, it seems that The Batman is not. From what we can glean from the trailers, Pattinson’s Batman appears set to remain a spectacle of hypermasculinity, with his body buffed and augmented by heavy armour.</p>
<p>The adrenaline rush of fast cars and physical violence is front and centre too. As is the sexualised presentation of Catwoman, portrayed by Zoe Kravitz, whose body is not armoured like Batman, but augmented by her sexuality.</p>
<p>The use of facial disfigurements seems to have been expanded, with scars as markers of trauma etched across the face of Andy Serkis’s Alfred (Batman’s butler) and the body of Pattinson’s Batman, and more substantial deformity marking the villainy of Colin Farrell’s Penguin. In the end, it seems it’s easy to change Batman, but a lot harder to leave behind his baggage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177965/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Quinn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite seismic cultural shifts since the last movie, the 2022 version of Batman seems to be trotting out the same old tropes. John Quinn, Lecturer in Screen & Performance, School of Business and Creative Industries, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593452021-05-05T06:44:47Z2021-05-05T06:44:47ZNSW deputy premier threatens to sue FriendlyJordies, reminding us that parody hits in a way traditional media can’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398849/original/file-20210505-23-t7x76q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C1439%2C943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot/YouTube</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro is reportedly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUhNFSyHGyE">threatening legal action</a> against YouTuber and political satirist Jordan Shanks, better known as friendlyjordies, over allegedly defamatory and “racist” comments. Shanks’s parodying of Barilaro has included imitating him with a strong Italian accent. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1389196711248076805"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2019, Shanks received a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49820738">similar legal threat</a> from then-politician Clive Palmer after labelling him a “dense humpty dumpty”, among other profanities. Shanks’s video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJ7CSRRCDM">responding</a> to Palmer’s lawsuit has been viewed more than one million times, with a likes-to-dislikes ratio indicating overwhelming support from viewers. </p>
<p>The latest threat against Shanks reminds us of the key role parody and satirisation now play in the nation’s political discourse. This type of humour provides a way to discuss issues in a way traditional media outlets can’t risk doing. Perhaps this is because parody, by its very nature, is expected to be cheeky (and even offensive). </p>
<p>Add to this contemporary Western society’s desire for <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/rights-and-freedoms/freedom-information-opinion-and-expression#">freedom of speech</a> — coupled with our increasing connectedness afforded by the internet — and one could argue it has never been easier to create and consume political satire. </p>
<p>But where does the value of this content lie? And is there evidence to suggest it can influence people’s personal politics? </p>
<h2>Necessary provocation?</h2>
<p>Effective political satire will often <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/download/6158/2098">cause outrage</a>. Anger may be directed at the satirist or the issue being discussed; in either case, a strong emotional response indicates the audience is tuned in.</p>
<p>Take Shanks, who has been criticised repeatedly for his <a href="https://law.anu.edu.au/news-and-events/news/explainer-five-things-know-about-palmer-v-shanks-defamation-suit">offensive</a> brand of comedy. And despite being quite open about his political <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kznT8Sa6RjY">allegiance to the Labor Party</a>, he has offended people <a href="https://au.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jordan-shanks-friendly-game-17138/">right across the political spectrum</a>. </p>
<p>But regardless of anyone’s personal views on him, one could argue Shanks’s brashness and crudity, combined with scathing wit, are what make him relatable to Australians. As former Curtin University academic <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ea65d5f97297049a869ba34/t/5eb0ed425884e3671a6ad41f/1588653413805/RHiggie+PhD.pdf">Rebecca Higgie</a> explains in her research, Australians’ unique sense of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/larrikin">larrikinism</a> popularises this particular brand of political discourse. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397725/original/file-20210429-15-1sgp01h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=778&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Shanks joined YouTube in 2013 and his videos have since amassed more than 127 million views.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot/Youtube</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/17/australians-trust-in-governments-surges-to-extraordinary-high-amid-covid">Prior to</a> the pandemic, <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/trust-in-government-hits-all-time-low">a major study</a> of the 2019 federal election found trust in government was at its lowest since the 1970s. In such a landscape, where there is widespread concern regarding how democracy is performing, it becomes easier to understand why some people may trust satirists over politicians and/or mainstream media. </p>
<p>The former, at least, are more willing to put their brand on the line and embrace vitriol from the public. </p>
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<p>At last count, Shanks had more than 480,000 subscribers on YouTube. As a crude comparison, the Australian government’s official channel had just over <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl3Ct-tKvArdNyhgMbe-E8Q">600</a>, while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCupDOc54HJbIPtgLjhABOZw">SBS Australia</a> had about 42,000. (The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/NewsOnABC">ABC</a> and SkyNews both had many more.)</p>
<h2>Sick of old formats</h2>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.21484">Research</a> published in March confirmed that “user-generated parodies”, such as those made by Shanks, are far better received by audiences than parodies produced through mainstream or commercial media outlets. </p>
<p>This is in keeping with the general trend towards the fracturing of legacy media institutions, as well as increasing calls for media diversity — manifested in ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN1938">bid for a royal commission</a> into News Corp’s ideological domination of Australia’s media landscape.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1389444024860217344"}"></div></p>
<p>Myriad studies and surveys carried out in a marketing context have also found user-generated content, as opposed to “professional” or “traditional” content, is more likely to <a href="https://info.photoslurp.com/hubfs/Converting%20Customers%20-%20Photoslurp%20Research.pdf">resonate</a>, <a href="https://www.business2community.com/infographics/millennials-love-user-generated-content-infographic-01497502">be trusted</a>, <a href="https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/citi/sites/citi/files/McDonald.pdf">be remembered</a> and <a href="https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/citi/sites/citi/files/McDonald.pdf">influence</a> consumers.</p>
<p>This is particularly illuminating in light of the federal government’s recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-only-are-some-of-the-governments-consent-videos-bizarre-and-confusing-many-reinforce-harmful-gender-stereotypes-159220">problematic “consent” videos</a>, attempting to teach sexual consent by using tacos and milkshakes as metaphors for sex. The videos were heavily criticised by the media and public.</p>
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<h2>How social media changed the game</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102215-100148">According to research</a>, the explosion of social media has unsurprisingly generated an increase in political parodies. And these have certainly become difficult to ignore for anyone engaged in Australia’s broader political conversation. </p>
<p>Apart from friendlyjordies, major satirists leading on this front include the fake news publication <a href="https://www.betootaadvocate.com/">The Betoota Advocate</a>, satirical comedy group <a href="https://chaser.com.au/">The Chaser</a> and YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKRw8GAAtm27q4R3Q0kst_g">The Juice Media</a>, which gave us “Honest Government Ads”. </p>
<p>That said, there’s still contention as to whether political parodies can “change people’s minds” on political issues. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532673X05280074">One 2006 study</a> found the political comedy of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart led to audiences having a more negative view of the politicians being parodied, as well as a more cynical view of the overall US electoral system.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.21484">researchers</a> from Paris’s Sorbonne Business School claim funny YouTube videos had a real stake in negatively impacting Donald Trump’s “Build a Wall” policy. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVN17U3Vg34">YouTube video</a> “Do You Wanna Build a Wall? Donald Trump (Frozen Parody)” received more than 37 million views and 467,000 interactions, while a similar Peppa Pig-themed parody was viewed more than 49 million times.</p>
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<p>Then again, there is research that suggests otherwise. In <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1940161208330904?casa_token=Fs4aZh-mynQAAAAA:L-qtDGa28F8wf26xuWqdVKrbiWnacIoB3iJG8p4Van_lHVSxZRzDlnjE67tD9iIKlOm0yqFuW3h2">one study</a> focusing on US television presenter Stephen Colbert’s brand of political satire, researchers analysed how the show was received by both liberal and conservative audiences. They found</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] there was no significant difference between the groups in thinking Colbert was funny, but conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only <em>pretends</em> to be joking. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This suggests while viewers from all ends of the political spectrum can “enjoy” Colbert’s political satire, conservatives didn’t necessarily receive the satirical jokes <em>as</em> satire. That is, they didn’t always sense Colbert was being sarcastic.</p>
<p>The researchers suggest this may be because of Colbert’s deadpan delivery style, which could leave ambiguity for some viewers. According to them, conservative viewers found a way to make Colbert’s liberal humour agreeable to their own ideology. They liked the show, but not for the same reason as liberal viewers.</p>
<h2>Healthy democracy</h2>
<p>Sometimes parody can help all of us see the lighter side of things. For example, the Twitter account “<a href="https://twitter.com/GovGoogles">Aus Gov Just Googled</a>” probably gives most people a laugh, except maybe members of the actual government. A recent tweet mocking the government’s misguided sexual consent videos could be enjoyed by both ends of the political spectrum:</p>
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<p>It remains to be seen how Barilaro’s legal threats against Shanks will play out. But Australia has a legacy of political satire that connects to our sense of larrikinism and our egalitarian brand of “taking the piss”. Shanks is an example of how, in the age of the internet, anyone can extend and champion this legacy.</p>
<p>And while some online parodies might be absolute shockers — especially if you’re on the receiving end — they remain a sign of a healthy democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Glitsos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Effective political satire will often cause outrage. But is there evidence to suggest it can influence people’s personal politics?Laura Glitsos, Lecturer in Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1357632020-05-18T11:12:57Z2020-05-18T11:12:57ZCOVID-19 parody songs are the spoonful of sugar we need right now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335197/original/file-20200514-77255-ii78kv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C2071%2C1126&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Randy Rainbow's 'A Spoonful of Clorox' is a savage attack on U.S. President Trump, with a full spoon of saccharine.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">YouTube/Randy Rainbow</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If Donald Trump’s election <a href="https://youtu.be/SL3Wuit6HZ4">revived satire</a>, our current affliction has produced parody. </p>
<p>What’s the difference? Satire is usually vicious, what’s called “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Juvenalian-satire">Juvenalian</a>,” in reference to the
<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juvenal">Roman poet Juvenal</a>. But parody, which refers to updating something for your own purposes and the times, is more likely to be affectionate — a bit silly and self-mocking. In literary lingo, parody is “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Horatian-satire">Horatian</a>,” named for the Roman <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Horace-Roman-poet">poet Horace</a>. </p>
<p>Some of the best COVID-19 cultural responses have come in song parody. Here are 15 of my favourites.</p>
<h2>Sugar makes the medicine go down</h2>
<p>American singer <a href="https://www.today.com/parents/chris-mann-old-town-road-daycare-parody-goes-viral-t179473">Chris Mann, once a finalist on <em>The Voice</em></a>, has emerged a master of parody. Mann borrows some of the great torch songs of the last few decades and turns them into campy angst about COVID-19 confinement. Mann’s parody of the singer Adele is pitch perfect: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Hello from the inside/it’s just me and myself and I.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He’s racked up more than 12 million views. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Chris Mann’s parody of Adele’s ‘Hello.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of my absolute favourite parodies is the dead-pan <a href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/mitch-benn-on-scotlands-brexit-stance-1-6205343">Scottish English</a> <a href="https://mitchbenn.com/about/">comic Mitch Benn</a> and his stirring call to inaction “Fuck All.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Comic Mitch Benn and his ‘Fuck All’ call to action.</span></figcaption>
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<p>YouTuber Bob E. Kelly’s musical rendition of “Stay the Fuck at Home,” sounds like down-home advice <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/stay-the-f-at-home-social-distancing-isolation-song-coronavirus_n_5e826380c5b603fbdf47d6b6?ri18n=true">based on the poem by</a> YouTuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP40WX-nRcU">Chris Franklin</a>. The absurdity of the genre is that it delivers satire and socially correct behaviour at the same time. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">YouTuber Bob E. Kelly’s musical rendition of ‘Stay the Fuck at Home.’</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Ironic silliness</h2>
<p>Hosts of amateurs on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube are producing public performances of ironic silliness. Family units have become natural incubators for musical theatre. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Family Lockdown Boogie on YouTube.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The <a href="https://youtu.be/G-ugfNXYcDg">Family Lockdown Boogie</a> is an upbeat confinement dance routine (sort of). And 5.5 million people have seen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/mar/31/kent-family-coronavirus-lockdown-adaptation-les-miserables-song-goes-viral-video">Ben and Danielle Marsh</a> and their four children sing their COVID-19 version of <a href="https://youtu.be/wdcS0Nbo7Ng">“One Day More” from <em>Les Misérables</em></a>. One user commented that they are “the von TRAPPED family singers.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Danielle and Ben Marsh and family singing their version of ‘One Day More.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clever rewrites work well with instantly recognizable titles. Some examples are: “<a href="https://youtu.be/kWlxWZ3ofTI">Fifty Ways to Catch Corona</a>,” “Don’t Stand so Close to Me,” and “<a href="https://youtu.be/a3lwL0qF-mg">You Can’t Touch This</a>.” </p>
<h2>Sing-alongs</h2>
<p>Coordinated sing-alongs are fun, such as <a href="https://youtu.be/nmUXntGlqFI">“Staying Inside” sung to the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive”</a> or the multiplication of a single voice to a chorus of YouTuber Raúl Irabién singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a <a href="https://youtu.be/9Eo9M4-BrJA">COVID-19 cleanliness aria</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Staying Inside’ to the tune of the Bee Gees’ ‘Staying Alive.’</span></figcaption>
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<p>Some of the voices are truly exceptional, like the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/the-catchy-tune-on-coronavirus-set-to-camila-cabellos-havana-tune-goes-viral/article31288806.ece">viral video of a young woman</a> singing a <a href="https://youtu.be/P1HjVKJd4LQ">parody of Camila Cabello’s “Havana”</a>: “All of my mind is on Corona, na, na, na.” Listeners may feel like they have uncovered a gem, a voice that could deliver anything. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Some listeners may feel they have discovered a new voice.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Songs of innocence sometimes make the most effective songs of irony.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/120933864/coronavirus-kiwi-womans-covid19-sound-of-music-parody-goes-worldwide">Shirley Serban’s</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/6RNc4Ijlzyc">post as Julie Andrews</a> singing “Super Nasty Cataclysmic COVID-19 Virus” to the music of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” has that same combination of sweetness and absurdity. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Shirley Serban: a mix of absurdity and sweetness.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Serban’s collection borrows the best from <em>The Wizard of Oz</em>, <em>Mary Poppins</em>, <em>The Sound of Music</em> and well-loved singers like Dolly Parton. She’s racked up <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/ShirleySerban">nearly 10 million views</a>. </p>
<h2>Cringy delight</h2>
<p>One of the sweetest satires was captured from a slip of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tongue, when he cautioned the nation to avoid “<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6792967/coronavirus-trudeau-speaking-moistly">speaking moistly</a>” on April 7. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/2020/04/09/hes-the-edmonton-musician-behind-justin-trudeaus-viral-music-video.html">Edmonton musician Brock Tyler’s</a> “<a href="https://youtu.be/eySDeBdqxGY">Justin Trudeau Sings ‘Speaking Moistly’</a>” is an absolute gem. “You know, you have to hand it to Justin Trudeau,” <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/justin-trudeau-speaking-moistly-youtube-1.5529347.">Tyler told CBC</a>. “He just immediately owned the moment as something that was just really ridiculous and fun.” That’s Horatian satire at it’s sweetest.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Brock Tyler’s satire on Justin Trudeau.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Highest honours</h2>
<p>The highest Juvenalian honours goes to comedian <a href="https://www.randyrainbow.com/">Randy Rainbow</a>. Having already <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/broadway/8495616/randy-rainbow-donald-trump-parody-videos">developed his brand of syrupy bite</a>, his recent parody “A Spoonful of Clorox,” is a savage attack on <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/aaronkwittken/2020/04/27/disinfecting-disinformation-how-clorox-and-lysol-took-the-white-house-to-the-cleaners-and-likely-saved-lives/#5524c92852b5">U.S. President Trump</a>, with a full spoon of saccharine. </p>
<p>The president suggested <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/the-white-house-spins-trumps-disinfectant-remarks/">on April 23</a> that an injection of disinfectant could help combat COVID-19 — something that prompted emergency management officials to issue a statement warning that “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/aaronkwittken/2020/04/27/disinfecting-disinformation-how-clorox-and-lysol-took-the-white-house-to-the-cleaners-and-likely-saved-lives/#5524c92852b5">under no circumstances should any disinfectant be taken to treat the virus</a>,” as well as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/trump-coronavirus-treatment-disinfectant">widespread outrage</a>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Randy Rainbow’s ‘A Spoonful of Clorox.’</span></figcaption>
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<p>But perhaps the best things to come out of the COVID-19 lockdown creativity — with no obvious references to the pandemic, which makes it even better, is <a href="https://youtu.be/hqIbEHNqbPs">cultural producer Wes Tank rapping Dr. Seuss over Dr. Dre beats</a>. This cultural mash up is brilliant. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Wes Tank rapping Dr. Seuss’s ‘Fox in Sox’ over Dr. Dre beats.</span></figcaption>
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<p>We all need reassurance and humour especially right now. The parodies are even better if we are lured back into childhood with our favourite rhymes. It’s both funny and frightening listening to them again. </p>
<p>Dr. Seuss was filled with anxious calamity, absurd situations, characters doing capricious and malevolent things: the rhythm, the rhymes, the tongue-twisters, the changes of heart. Wes Tank does it all with precision and plausible naiveté, with musicality and orality, never stumbling over words or falling out of beat. He’s working his way through all the Dr. Seuss books. </p>
<p>Watch every day and you will feel so much better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Creet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We all need reassurance and humour in the coronavirus pandemic. A best-of list of both biting satire and silly parody to beat the quarantine blahs.Julia Creet, Professor of English, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1356972020-05-07T19:50:39Z2020-05-07T19:50:39ZFriday essay: coughs on film and the fine but deadly art of foreshadowing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332233/original/file-20200504-83775-344s2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C6%2C1394%2C797&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Contagion/IMDB</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Movie characters – like Greek heroes – are typically faster, stronger, braver and better looking than those of us in the audience who stare on in admiration. We watch as obstacles are overcome and goals achieved, attracted by the <a href="https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/f/Bazzini_Doris_1999_Are_the_Beautiful_Good_in_Hollywood.pdf">beauty and goodness</a> in the cinematic story world. </p>
<p>But, should movie characters cough as they go about their extraordinary business, you can just about guarantee they will be dead before the end of the film. The screen cough, it seems, is fatal. </p>
<p>In the time of COVID-19, the screen cough takes on new significance. A low budget Canadian film <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-52232382/coronavirus-seven-people-stuck-in-a-lift-then-one-coughs">made early this year</a> is thought to be the first movie about coronavirus. It features a woman getting into a lift with others and the confrontations that ensue when she starts coughing. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scary-red-or-icky-green-we-cant-say-what-colour-coronavirus-is-and-dressing-it-up-might-feed-fears-134380">Scary red or icky green? We can't say what colour coronavirus is and dressing it up might feed fears</a>
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<h2>More than a tickle</h2>
<p>From Marguerite Gauthier (played by Greta Garbo) in the 1936 movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028683/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Camille</a>, to Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgard) in the HBO series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7366338/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Chernobyl</a> (2019), coughing on screen has deadly significance. </p>
<p>In the dramatic opening moments of the first episode of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4786824/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Crown</a> (2016), there is only darkness and silence … until we hear the sound of a dreadful hacking cough. Fade in to reveal King George V (Jared Harris, who also coughed in Chernobyl) in his bathroom, looking concerned. He coughs some more. Terribly sorry, your Majesty, but you’ll be dead before the end of Episode 2.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Satine (Nicole Kidman) coughs in Moulin Rouge (2000)</span></figcaption>
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<p>Nicole Kidman, as Satine in Baz Luhrmann’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203009/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Moulin Rouge</a> (2001) coughs on page 35 of the screenplay. Well, she has been singing and dancing vigorously in front of Christian (Ewen McGregor) in a steamy Parisian nightclub, so perhaps it’s just a question of fitness. </p>
<p>“Oh, these silly costumes” she says to those gathered around her, in an attempt to explain her breathlessness. But it’s neither the clothes nor the exertion: the screen cough means she is doomed to die 83 pages later, in her lover’s arms, afflicted like Garbo’s Marguerite with tuberculosis.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/great-time-to-try-5-ways-to-make-movie-masterpieces-at-home-134907">Great time to try: 5½ ways to make movie masterpieces at home</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mijaVWfKhKU">sound of a cough opens</a> Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1598778/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Contagion</a>, currently one of the world’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/06/contagion-streaming/">top streaming titles</a>. </p>
<p>That cough belongs to Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) and, sure enough, she doesn’t make it very far into the movie. The virus that takes her to an early screen grave also infects Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) who coughs while on the phone to her boss (Laurence Fishbourne). His look is enough to confirm our fears and within a few scenes her lifeless form is being zipped into a body bag. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) coughs in Contagion (2011).</span></figcaption>
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<p>Many others have succumbed to the <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IncurableCoughOfDeath">incurable screen cough of death</a>, including even Yoda in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Return of the Jedi</a> (1983). To be fair, Yoda is 900 years old and knows he’s about to die. “Soon,” he splutters to Luke Skywalker, “I will rest. Yes, forever sleep” and promptly becomes one with the Force. </p>
<h2>Selling it</h2>
<p>The screen cough is a phenomenon so well known by screenwriters that it’s become the subject of parody. Mitchell & Webb played with the trope in a BBC sketch named The Man Who Has A Cough And It’s Just A Cough And He’s Fine in 2008. </p>
<p>Alec Baldwin went one step further on Saturday Night Live in 2009 with an actors studio-style breakdown on how to sell your impending death effectively, starting with the fateful cough. The <a href="https://snltranscripts.jt.org/08/08pcoughs.phtml">sketch</a> – First Coughs: Mastering the Art of Foreshadowing Your Character’s Death – starts with step one: say “it’s only a cold”. Sometime later, the actor should emphatically state, “I don’t need any damn doctors!”. The final step is complex but mightily effective: “cough into a handkerchief, notice that there’s blood on it, look around nervously, then quickly shove it back in your pocket and hurry on your way”. </p>
<p>When I see these send-ups, of course I laugh, but with a tinge of resentment: parody is both celebration and humiliation. I can’t help but think that I’ll never again be able to see the beautiful & dramatic subtlety of a well placed screen cough without a snigger. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Man Who Has A Cough And It’s Just A Cough And He’s Fine (2008)</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Smoke signals</h2>
<p>The art of signalling a future event in narration is a literary device apparent in the earliest ancient stories. It comes in many forms, from prophesy, dreams and omens to portents and apprehensions. </p>
<p>In the 4000-year-old poetic work, <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Epic of Gilgamesh</a>, dreams predict the hero’s victorious battle with a great bull as well as his friend’s tragic death. Early in Sophocles’s play <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Rex-play-by-Sophocles">Oedipus Rex</a>, a blind prophet riddles the truth of the story to come. The Bible is full of prophecy, none more memorable than Jesus’s prediction in The Gospel of John that one of his disciples would betray him. </p>
<p>Driven by our need for certainty, we value knowing what may lie ahead. Facing open time, with all its possibilities, takes courage and – from budgets to prayers – we seek to gain a sense of control over our future. It’s unsurprising that we find pleasure in stories where foreshadowing signals what will happen, from storytellers who sneak the future into the present. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332920/original/file-20200506-49579-rjq7x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Gotta hanky Greta? Since Garbo in Camille (1936) the onscreen cough has been a bad omen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzUzYWRhYmEtMWU4NS00ZWQyLTg0YzQtOGI4NTA1ZTQ1YTA0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTcyODY2NDQ@._V1_SY1000_SX1250_AL_.jpg">IMDB</a></span>
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<p>The ability to manipulate the direction of time is fundamental to sophisticated narration. Merely explaining what happens next – the way time works in real life – is not enough when it comes to entertainment. There’s nothing more tedious than a story that proceeds along the lines of “this happens, then this, then this” and so on. Novelist E. M. Forster – who wrote A Room with a View, Howard’s End and A Passage to India – famously <a href="http://publications.anveshanaindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/NARRATIVE-TECHNIQUE-IN-LITERATURE-WITH-REFERENCE-TO-E-M-FORSTER%E2%80%99S-WORKS.pdf">decreed</a> that this kind of primitive narration causes listeners to fall asleep or rise up to kill the storyteller. </p>
<p>To avoid such a fate, skilled narrators use foreshadowing to create tension, build anticipation and hook the audience into a belief that there’s something of interest to follow. We instinctively know that everything in a story has been planned and the author has determined the destiny of each character, so we intuitively look for the signs and the structures that will take us towards closure, including moments of foreshadowing. </p>
<p>They can be subtle and poetic (a storm or a shooting star), psychological (a character worrying about something that has yet to be revealed) or concrete, like the appearance of a deadly weapon. But common to all these forms of foreshadowing is that we see them as the future pointing backwards. The grief to come has caused the present storm; bad news the anxiety; the body at the end of the film requires the gun at the start.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPFsuc_M_3E">Alfred Hitchcock</a> knew only too well the importance of being able to play with time. Imagine four people seated at a table having a conversation about football for five minutes, when suddenly a bomb goes off. That’s five minutes of boredom followed by a surprise. What’s in it for the audience, says Hitchcock, is only “ten seconds of shock”. But take the same scene and show the audience the bomb at the beginning, and the conversation about football becomes an exercise in suspense and high anxiety. </p>
<p>Orson Welles plays out this idea in the famous opening scene of Touch of Evil (1958), showing us a bomb set to go off in three minutes. It’s then hidden in the boot of a car that moves erratically through a busy crowd. We hold our breath wondering where the car will be when the time is up. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Opening Scene of Touch of Evil (1958)</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The cough is a timebomb</h2>
<p>The screen cough is also the ticking of a bomb, leaving both character and audience unsure when it will go off. One of the most dramatic screen coughs occurs in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5027774/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri</a> (2017). It’s revealed early in the movie that police chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) has terminal pancreatic cancer, but it’s a brutal shock when he violently coughs blood over Mildred Hayes (Francis McDormand). </p>
<p>In a strangely poignant sequence, writer/director Martin McDonagh opts for Willoughby to take his own life rather than let the disease run its course: he knows what lies ahead after that dreadful coughing incident.</p>
<p>Storytellers have a delicate balancing act to maintain when it comes to foreshadowing. Too oblique or poetic and the audience struggles to see the connection between the signalling moment and the signalled event, or perhaps only recognises it retrospectively. Because the screen cough is linked to both a specific individual (the sufferer) and a specific outcome (death), it’s necessary to be subtle when using it as a narrative device. </p>
<p>Perhaps we are now beyond subtlety. The combination of our current hyper-vigilance of respiratory symptoms and the increasing awareness of the function of the screen cough, risks it becoming a dreadful cliche, a trope in need of a innovative makeover. Like the good guys wearing white hats in Westerns, and detectives smoking excessively in <em>film noir</em>, it may just be time to give the screen cough a breather.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Weaving does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From Greta Garbo to Gwyneth Paltrow, the screen cough is reliably fatal. But this film and television favourite walks a fine line between suspense and comedy.Simon Weaving, Senior Lecturer, School of Creative Industries, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1287792019-12-17T19:03:41Z2019-12-17T19:03:41ZBaby Yoda: the meme child making it a very Disney+ Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306740/original/file-20191213-85428-14l5cpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C7%2C1713%2C712&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bay Yoda: the Child in the Star Wars television series was designed to appeal to our cuteness receptors. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8111088/mediaviewer/rm3361377281">IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now the high of <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/04/229944/game-of-thrones-viewership-ratings-season-8">Game of Thrones</a> has faded, another pop culture <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-is-Shakespeare-a-cultural-token">token</a> has arrived. It takes the form of a <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Child">green alien baby</a> from the Star Wars television series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8111088/?ref_=vi_close">The Mandalorian</a> – a key offering from Disney+ when it launched last month.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/arts/television/baby-yoda-mandalorian.html#click=https://t.co/XVZiKB9bYh">Baby Yoda</a>” (he is officially called The Child), we are introduced to a new version of someone we already love. The tiny, revered elder of the films has been further miniaturised and transformed. No longer a wizened oracle, he is presented as a vulnerable infant. </p>
<p>Imbued with traits we are <a href="https://news.psu.edu/story/141179/2005/11/21/research/probing-question-why-are-babies-cute">biologically driven</a> to find appealing – a large, symmetrical head, large eyes, a small mouth and a small nose – viewers have taken to this precious bundle and given him the online status he deserves: <a href="https://mashable.com/article/baby-yoda-memes/">the internet meme</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1200830714176065537"}"></div></p>
<p>There are online gifs, images and videos of Baby Yoda <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/the-new-baby-yoda-sipping-soup-meme-has-so-many-uses/">sipping soup</a>, <a href="https://www.netbase.com/blog/disney-baby-yoda/">sharing a 50th birthday with celebrities</a>, embodying extreme cuteness and – most importantly – inspiring Disney+ subscriptions. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">All the Baby Yoda memes in one video.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Baby Yoda is shrouded in the mystery of uncharted territory. Unlike our first encounter with Yoda in 1980’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/">The Empire Strikes Back</a>, this time we get to journey with him, as he and The Mandalorian explore a universe after the fall of the Empire. </p>
<p>The unlikely caretaker – one of the few remaining Mandalorian bounty hunters, who also made their debut in The Empire Strikes Back – discovers “the kid” towards the end of the first episode. The audience looks on with delight as the Mandalorian creates the unlikely kinship we all wish we could have with our own Baby Yoda. </p>
<p>Although recent Star Wars instalments didn’t hit home <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2018/09/20/disney-still-doesnt-understand-why-solo-a-star-wars-story-failed/#1ac51d0b5cf0">as strongly</a>, we forgive all when we stare into those dark, pleading eyes.</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/817/giphy-2.gif" width="100%"></p>
<h2>The power of nostalgia</h2>
<p><a href="https://deadline.com/2019/08/walt-disney-company-documentary-one-day-at-disney-book-documentary-series-1202702385/">Disney</a> has always marketed to the whole family, with a deep understanding of how <a href="https://www.emotivebrand.com/nostalgic-brands/">nostalgia brands</a> work. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/10610421111107978/full/html">Generations hand their cultural icons down</a> with more effectiveness than any material heirloom. And yet companies need to constantly <a href="https://ew.com/movie-reviews/2019/05/22/aladdin-review/">reinvent</a> the <a href="http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v39/acr_v39_9951.pdf">nostalgia brand</a> to keep it current without compromising its essential elements. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307008/original/file-20191216-124036-1h6mu47.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The original Yoda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucasfilm</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To the generation who grew up with Star Wars, Older Yoda represents an elder. His key quotes from the series are <a href="http://www.yodaquotes.net">repeated</a>, referenced, and revered. He’s a voice we’ve trusted since we were as tall as he supposedly is. </p>
<p>Yoda was designed by George Lucas in keeping with <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-05-27-0505270034-story.html">religious and cultural traditions</a>, with ties to Buddhist principles of mindfulness, the universal life force of Taoism, and the Christian parables of Jesus. He was designed to inspire trust - and has now been designed again to inspire wonder and affection.</p>
<p>For viewers without access to their own elders, Older Yoda was the <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-does-Yoda-represent">grandfather</a> we always wanted: there to guide and tell us, “Do or do not. There is no try.”</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/813/yoda_boomer.gif?1576199247" width="100%"></p>
<h2>Do life-long fans become life-long subscribers?</h2>
<p>Disney is not in the movie business, nor in the cartoon business. It is in the “cultural icon” business – perhaps better described as the “clout” business.</p>
<p>Clout is an academic term for the power a brand or a product has to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019850110001215">shape markets</a>. Getting clout is challenging. Maintaining it just as challenging, if not harder. </p>
<p>Real clout doesn’t just sell us stuff. It redefines how we think through <a href="https://talkabouttalk.com/17-what-our-possessions-say-with-russell-belk/">authentically tapping</a> into who we are, what we believe, how we consume and – most ambitiously – how we feel. And how markets form and reform.</p>
<p>This is what Disney is after through Baby Yoda: in inspiring love and attachment that will capture share of heart, and then share of wallet. Baby Yoda is the perfect figure to convince customers Disney+ is not just another video streaming service: it is the streaming service you have to have. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1200522618597605376"}"></div></p>
<p>Gathering around the water cooler for a chat doesn’t happen much these days. Work teams are often virtual and families are dispersed in all directions. The ideological chasms that divide us seem to be getting wider and deeper.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dNMKseii_w">Baby Yoda is something we can all relate to</a>, co-creating messages and sharing a laugh – no matter where we are. Here, or in a galaxy far, far away.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As his Star Wars television character enjoys a social media moment, Baby Yoda is creating massive marketing clout that will benefit his Disney masters.Nathalie Collins, Academic Director (National Programs), Edith Cowan UniversityJeff Volkheimer, Director, Collaborative Services, Duke Health, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1273142019-11-20T19:16:46Z2019-11-20T19:16:46ZHow Hitler memes made their way around the world and into the Fair Work Commission courtroom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302590/original/file-20191120-474-2oun6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C99%2C1121%2C792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some argue that a parody of a fictional scene is not the same thing as comparing someone to the real historical figure. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/mediaviewer/rm1906358272">IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September, the Fair Work commission <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/05/oil-refinery-worker-fired-over-downfall-parody-video-loses-unfair-dismissal-claim">rejected</a> an unfair dismissal claim by a BP worker who made a Downfall video meme about his boss. Fair Work called it “inappropriate and offensive”.</p>
<p>Last week, the worker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/15/bp-worker-fired-over-downfall-video-appeals-saying-fair-work-did-not-understand-meme">appealed</a> Fair Work’s decision, saying the commission did not understand “the broader genre of Downfall video”. </p>
<p><a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hitlers-downfall-parodies">Downfall video memes</a> are online parodies of a bunker scene from a 2004 German film where a furious Hitler learns that his generals have let him down and the war is lost. Hitler loses it. He calls his soldiers “cowards, traitors and failures”, his veins popping with rage and spittle flying. </p>
<p>In the 15 years since the film’s release, the scene has taken on a life of its own. Downfall memes show “Hitler” raging about everything from cancelled exams to Twitter outages to election results, thanks to doctored subtitles. </p>
<p>In a robust online video culture that always hungers for the next <a href="https://mashable.com/2010/06/03/star-wars-kid/">Star Wars Kid</a> how did an angry Hitler and this scene go viral – and stay viral – for so long? </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qM5f_gZT06c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Hitler finds out he didn’t get into Hogwarts.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The bunker</h2>
<p>The original <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/">Downfall</a> (2004; <em>Der Untergang</em> in German) is a historical war film about Hitler’s final days, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. </p>
<p>When it was released, a good number of German film critics and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,4267,1449213,00.html">reviewers</a> thought the humanising of Hitler’s sieg-heiling rants in a bunker filled with SS rank-and-file goons was tasteless. </p>
<p>Some dismissed the bunker scene in particular as unnecessary in a film premiering 60 years after WWII ended. After all, <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/der-untergang-die-unerzaehlbare-geschichte-a-318031.html">they said</a>: we already knew Hitler was a madman and that humans can be monsters.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/htvYfe6wz_8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This is where the internet went to work. A legion of keyboard warriors around the globe lifted the scene from the original film at the time studios and film festivals were using it widely to promote Downfall.</p>
<p>The parodies – and our reactions – show what happens when cultural items move from one context to another. It’s a tricky leap when it comes to a figure like Hitler. When you add the move from drama to comedy , it gets a whole lot trickier. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-memes-20789">Explainer: what are memes?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Generation phenomenon</h2>
<p>Creative minds adapted Hitler’s German outrage. They copied and pasted, cut and inserted, and most importantly, they re-subtitled. </p>
<p>This readaptation is what makes video memes such a <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hitlers-downfall-parodies">generative phenomenon</a>. </p>
<p>A YouTube search for “Hitler Finds Out” or “Hitler Reacts To” yields thousands of videos. You’ll see how Hitler freaks out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTGLpqFGyYM">over global warming</a>. He erupts when he hears about Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK-I_LYbOcY">presidential bid</a> and complains about the popularity of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXYplIafjrE">Pokemon Go</a>. In one favourite he expresses fury that Christians are sending <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdPNT5he1rs">solar-powered bibles</a> to Haiti. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KSD0Mjt64LQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Where the hell is my pizza?!’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Downfall video meme has turned into a productive avenue for sociocultural commentary in each country and language it appears in, whether Chinese, Japanese or Spanish. Mostly, it gives voice to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtA5YZ-cOKs">youth trends</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgvpJHGnodc">blue-collar</a> issues such as industrial action.</p>
<p>In the Fair Work unfair dismissal case, the scene was the medium via which an employee and his wife vented about his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/05/oil-refinery-worker-fired-over-downfall-parody-video-loses-unfair-dismissal-claim">BP bosses</a> during a drawn-out pay dispute. </p>
<p>Some international versions have packed political bite. One <a href="http://youtu.be/_7XCRpRwz1s">Malaysian parody</a> refers to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who served as the Malaysian prime minister from 2003-2009. It has Hitler question Badawi’s turn to martial law and suppression of press freedom. </p>
<p>All this goes straight to the heart of the genre of Downfall video memes. Some are highly political while the vast majority turn on regional events, local slang and very limited in-group jokes. Taken together, they make a larger point about pop culture fads and stick-it-to-the-man sentiments. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WHkxp4cxRjU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Hitler wants a PS3 for Christmas but gets a Wii instead.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A meme that stuck</h2>
<p>Some might argue that because the Downfall video memes appropriate a representation of a filmmaker’s Hitler instead of authentic archival footage, it’s acceptable to reuse the scene for comedy. </p>
<p>Others feel it is highly problematic to hide the real Nazi monster who orchestrated the systematic death of millions under layers of pixels and captions for laughs. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZrHmcpRAZNs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘I’ll tell you what Chuck Norris is! If Chuck Norris gets shot today, tomorrow will be the bullet’s funeral!’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We need to have more conversations about what happens when cultures get adapted and sensitive topics in a nation’s history go viral.</p>
<p>The Downfall parodies have maintained cultural relevance for more than a decade, enduring far longer than most fleeting memes like <a href="https://www.eonline.com/au/news/794328/the-oral-history-of-memes-where-did-hey-girl-come-from">Hey Girl</a> or <a href="https://barkpost.com/humor/ultimate-dogshaming/">Dog Shaming</a> posts. This is because they have become a fill-in form of sorts – an empty vessel for rageful rants. One may also argue that the original film was a dark-humoured parody of Hitler to begin with. </p>
<p>Lawyers for the sacked BP worker are not just <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/sacked-bp-worker-argues-fair-work-failed-to-get-his-hitler-downfall-joke-20191113-p53acu.html">arguing</a> his bosses didn’t get the joke. They are saying Downfall memes do more than simply equate someone with Hitler. Rather, they connect to the hundreds of memes which came before to poke fun at something or to vent. </p>
<p>Whether it was appropriate for him to share the joke with colleagues will be up to the full bench that hears his appeal. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QSYk8ofhYFY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A very meta parody: Hitler finds out about the Downfall parodies.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The original film’s director approves of the meme by the way. Hirschbiegel said in a <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2010/01/the_director_of_downfall_on_al.html">2010 interview</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think I’ve seen about 145 of them! Of course, I have to put the sound down when I watch. Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I’m laughing about the scene that I staged myself! You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Nickl does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Online videos of Hitler getting angry at things, based on a 2004 film scene, have found enduring appeal and recently featured in a Fair Work Commission case. Why the furor?Benjamin Nickl, Lecturer in International Comparative Literature and Translation Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1105452019-01-27T14:53:16Z2019-01-27T14:53:16Z‘Bye Bye 45:’ Activists create news hoax with President’s resignation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255652/original/file-20190126-108367-mnzvrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 'Washington Post' parody demands a better future and explains that civic action like the Jan. 19 Women’s March can help us get there. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Jan. 16, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/womens-march-2019/index.html">three days before the Women’s March</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/16/activists-fake-copies-washington-post/2596014002/">approximately 10,000 copies</a> of a <a href="http://www.democracyawakensinaction.org/static/img/unpresidented-washington-post.pdf">fake <em>Washington Post</em></a> print edition were distributed at select locations in Washington, including Union Station and the White House. With the headline, <a href="http://www.democracyawakensinaction.org/unpresidented-trump-hastily-departs-white-house-ending-crisis/">“Unpresidented,”</a> the paper, post-dated May 1, 2019, announced the departure of the embattled president. The report, <a href="http://www.democracyawakensinaction.org/">also online</a>, said Trump fled the White House and left his resignation on a napkin in the Oval Office. </p>
<p>The fake eight-page newspaper depicts the rise of political support for progressive legislation. The media activist group, the Yes Men, as well as writers Onnesha Roychoudhuri and L.A. Kauffman, took credit for the action hours after the paper surfaced. </p>
<p>Roychoudhuri and Kauffman say they are channelling a growing collective resistance and desire to move beyond the harmful and regressive policies enacted by the Trump administration. Kauffman said: “This paper offers a blueprint to help us reclaim our democracy.” </p>
<p>Official accounts from the Yes Men say that Trump’s imagined resignation is the result of a “women-led, multi-racial grassroots resistance.” </p>
<h2>A new creative resistance</h2>
<p>The protest parody of the <em>Post</em> is part of a recent wave of creative activism. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=371&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255655/original/file-20190126-108361-4p220j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bye Bye 45 was the name given to the project to create the fake ‘Washington Post’ announcing President Trump’s resignation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yes Men</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Far from wanting to occupy the spotlight alone, the Yes Men have increasingly worked as a facilitator for various groups already creating inroads to bring about change. When planning for their fake <em>Washington Post</em> issue, <a href="http://democracyawakensinaction.org/static/img/unpresidented-action-guide.pdf">“Bye Bye 45: A Guide to Bringing Him Down,”</a> they extended a wide invitation to anyone wanting to participate in Trump’s removal from office. </p>
<p>Although the news is fake, the paper includes an action guide that highlights proven tactics from real events of non-violent protest, modelling best practices for civic engagement. </p>
<p>Some of the imagined efforts to remove Trump from office include large-scale actions, such as a “sippy-cup sit-in” (where mothers with young children occupy elected officials’ offices until they agree to stop cooperating with Trump); others mirror recent publicized actions, such as a government building <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/19/538112799/with-speeches-and-bright-dresses-quincea-eras-protest-texas-sanctuary-city-ban">blockade in Austin, Tex., by young women wearing <em>quinceañera</em> gowns</a> to create a spellbinding <a href="http://www.democracyawakensinaction.org/static/img/unpresidented-washington-post.pdf">“wall of floof.”</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255614/original/file-20190125-108361-1ez12i0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Quinceañera at the Capitol’ celebrated the resistance against SB4. In Latino culture, Quinceañeras are an important tradition that highlight the bonds of family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jolttx.org/en/quinceanera-at-the-capitol/">Jolt.org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The general idea is for activist groups to create attention-getting or “media-genic” actions to attract news media coverage on important civic issues. The use of a hook or spectacular arc is usually enough to set the ball in motion. </p>
<h2>Networks of change</h2>
<p>The Yes Men have refined this approach over the past 20 years,
creating opportunities to entice journalists to report on marginalized causes and generate attention for pressing contemporary issues like climate change. They have impersonated powerful entities and people like former president George W. Bush, the World Trade Organization, Dow Chemical and Environment Canada, among others. </p>
<p>Since 2012, the group has inspired <a href="http://www.yeslab.org/projects">more than 43 mediated campaigns</a> by mentoring and collaborating with a wide range of activist organizations, including Greenpeace, Occupy and Idle No More. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humour-and-media-hoaxes-put-social-justice-ideas-on-the-map-107350">Humour and media hoaxes put social justice ideas on the map</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This isn’t the first time the Yes Men and their collaborators have published a fake newspaper. Almost 10 years ago, they circulated <a href="https://vimeo.com/129322969">a fake <em>New York Times</em> (2008)</a> and a fake <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/22/new.york.fake.newspaper/index.html"><em>New York Post</em> (2009).</a> The spirit of the critique levelled in each iteration remains both timely and relevant. </p>
<p>Their parody of the <em>New York Times</em> announced the end of the Iraq War and the beginnings of universal health care — all just after Barack Obama’s historic presidential win. Their <em>New York Post</em> delivered sober warnings on the impacts of climate change in New York City and globally. </p>
<p>What ties these three projects together is the desire to move past the regressive politics of the present to create and implement new policies and legislation that will benefit citizens and deepen democracy. </p>
<h2>Imagining a better future</h2>
<p>The writers and editors of the May 1, 2019 fake <em>Post</em> don’t stop at merely critiquing Trump’s actions, rhetoric or policies. They create an alternative vision of life in the United States after Trump, with a breakdown of progressive legislation already in the works. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255653/original/file-20190126-108348-3z4a6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bye Bye 45 was also online.</span>
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<p>Possible ideas include: “The Bundle,” a cluster of 64 bills centring on the Green New Deal, “Medicare for All,” and “H.R. 1” election reform. These are ideals to shape a new political agenda that will rival <a href="http://time.com/4280457/new-deal-great-society-excerpt/">the Great Society and the New Deal.</a></p>
<p>In a political moment characterized by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/prisoner-of-his-own-impulse-inside-trumps-cave-to-end-shutdown-without-wall/2019/01/25/e4a4789a-20d5-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html?utm_term=.395ca9b7c889">government dysfunction</a> and propelled by polarization and division, the fake <em>Post</em> offers a brief reprieve from the escalating chaos. It envisions new directions for activist protest, civic engagement and political leadership. </p>
<p>In the past, the Yes Men have called this practice <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=FE1jDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=Media%20Hoaxing%3A%20The%20Yes%20Men%20and%20Utopian%20Politics&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=Media%20Hoaxing:%20The%20Yes%20Men%20and%20Utopian%20Politics&f=false">“creating headlines we’d like to see.”</a></p>
<h2>It only takes 3.5 per cent of the population</h2>
<p>Trump has been openly hostile towards what he has called “the fake news media.” It is a term he uses to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/about-80-percent-of-the-media-are-the-enemy-of-the-people-trump-says/2018/08/22/d7d5710c-a635-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf_story.html?utm_term=.507e273dc53f">disparage all journalists and news organizations that are critical of him</a>. </p>
<p>This, coupled with the actual circulation of fake news to manipulate public opinion, creates an erosion of credibility and trust in news media. </p>
<p>But activist media hoaxes should not be so readily dismissed. A cursory glance of the Yes Men paper quickly reveals that it is designed to be a parody and not to trick audiences. The Yes Men have patented a “fool and reveal” method to announce their hoaxes with <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/anti-trump-activists-fake-washington-post-stunt/">the greatest degree of transparency possible.</a> </p>
<p>The <em>Washington Post</em> hoax was created to express a public desire for Trump to be held accountable, and ultimately for him to be impeached or removed. The ultimate success of this hoax may lie in its ability to place women as the central actors in activist and social movements today. </p>
<p>In this regard, the hoax is intimately connected to the political stakes tied to the recent <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/10/womens-march-on-washington-2019.html">Women’s March.</a> The Yes Men explain that none of the projects in “Bye Bye 45” are possible without meaningful action by everyday citizens. Recall the false lead story reported that Trump’s departure was prompted by “massive women-led protests” around the country.</p>
<p>“Bye Bye 45” alludes to the findings of political scientist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/01/worried-american-democracy-study-activist-techniques">Erica Chenoweth, who found it may take only 3.5 per cent of the population to topple a dictator with civil resistance.</a></p>
<p>Globally, more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/02/07/this-is-what-we-learned-by-counting-the-womens-marches/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.aba7da74cf3e">four million people attended the first Women’s March in 2017</a>, soon after Trump’s inauguration. If women (alongside their numerous allies) are able to continue to lead, organize, protest, mobilize and pressure political decision-makers, the political and legislative changes described in “Bye Bye 45” may come to fruition.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255654/original/file-20190126-108364-1uw55z2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People listen to a speech during the Women’s March at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, Calif., on Jan. 19, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Yalonda M James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)</span></span>
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</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110545/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Reilly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A parody of ‘the Washington Post’ announcing that Donald Trump had resigned was recently handed out in Washington, D.C.Ian Reilly, Assistant Professor, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/980492018-06-11T21:21:17Z2018-06-11T21:21:17ZDebate: The legal fight against ‘fake news’ must not veer into censorship<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222406/original/file-20180608-191981-yzu5nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C1%2C1107%2C594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The French National Assembly, which is debating a law that would allow "fake news" to be banned in the pre-election period.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Panorama_de_l%27h%C3%A9micyle_de_l%27assembl%C3%A9e_nationale.jpg/1280px-Panorama_de_l%27h%C3%A9micyle_de_l%27assembl%C3%A9e_nationale.jpg">Richard Ying et Tangui Morlier/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>France’s parliament is debating a law that would give the state the power to censor “fake news”. If the law is passed, the French state will have the powers to ban, through a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/world/europe/macron-france-fake%20news.html">court order</a>, the publication of any news considered false in run-up period before elections.</p>
<p>French MPs are <a href="https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/07/france-macron-fake-news-law-criticised-parliament">sharply divided</a> over this proposed law, and French media <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2018/06/07/01002-20180607ARTFIG00236-inquietudes-de-tous-bords-sur-la-loi-anti-fakenews.php">squarely oppose it</a>. But it has a powerful supporter: President Emmanuel Macron. He has spoken out publicly against the toxic influence of “fake news” (the English term is used in France). During the presidential election campaign last year, Macron was angered by attacks that targeted him personally, notably <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/world/europe/macron-hacking-attack-france.html">stories alleging offshore bank accounts</a>. He also accused Russia of spreading <a href="http://en.rfi.fr/europe/20180104-france-fake-news-law-macron-russia-angry-deny-sputnik-rt">“deceitful propaganda”</a> through the Kremlin-controlled <a href="https://francais.rt.com/">Russia Today</a> (RT) and <a href="https://fr.sputniknews.com/">Sputnik</a> sites. Macron believes a law is needed to “protect our democracy from these false stories”.</p>
<p>Muzzling the media is a touchy subject in a country with a long history of press censorship. Under Napoleon III’s Second Empire, hostile newspapers were shut down and the press was tightly controlled. In 1881, the Third Republic passed a law – in the name, ironically, of liberty of the press – that gave the state the power to repress “false news”. That law, later amended, made it illegal to “offend” the President of the Republic.</p>
<p>In the early days of the current Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle took a similar attitude towards offence. He controlled French television news – all TV networks were owned by the state – by vetoing any story that displeased him. Ever since, the French media have lived with the lingering stigma of the Gaullist “high fidelity” media culture that, compared with the fiercely aggressive Anglo-American press, makes French political news coverage, especially on television news, seem indulgent, complicit, and supine.</p>
<p>In rebellion to this perceived media docility, political satire flourishes in France on the radio, in print, and now online. Every Wednesday, the cheeky <a href="https://www.lecanardenchaine.fr/"><em>Canard Enchainé</em> newspaper</a> newspaper irritates top French government officials and powerful corporations with embarrassing leaks. On the Internet, the investigative news site <a href="https://www.mediapart.fr/">Mediapart</a> has become the terror of all government ministers, and the undoing of more than a few. The Internet has unleashed voices of criticism that politicians can no longer control. The old reflex of suing for defamation is today little more than a defensive legal tactic that does little to change public opinion.</p>
<h2>Fake according to who?</h2>
<p>The debate about “fake news” didn’t start in France. It has a long and colourful history in Anglo-American journalism stretching back to the outlandish newspaper hoaxes and yellow press in the 19th century. The term “fake news” was dusted off and repurposed during the American presidential election when Donald Trump astounded the media with his alarming disregard for facts. The media also blamed the Internet in general as a cauldron of lies and falsehoods. The Marxists in the academy were quick to add their own ideological spin: fake news proved that market forces (i.e., the digital giants such as Facebook and Google) were undermining democracy in an “attention economy” driven by clicks and likes. Fake news became the new bogeyman in the era of social media and digital disruptions.</p>
<p>The debate took an unexpected turn when Donald Trump, now installed in the White House, turned the tables on the media by railing against them as “fake news”. Trump’s tirades on Twitter have polarised opinion in America: by railing against the mainstream media, he galvanises his support base hostile to elites; and, not surprisingly, it alienates media elites who have become hardened in their conviction that Trump is totally unhinged. Outside of America, there has been another, unintended, consequence. Trump’s fulminations against “fake news” have given foreign despots a cynical pretext to censor press criticism at home. In Syria, Bashar Al-Assad declared, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/02/10/assad_amnesty_torture_report_part_of_fake_news_era.html">“We are living in a fake news era”</a>. The governments of Russia, China, Turkey, Burma, Venezuela, Philippines, Angola, Singapore, Cambodia – none of them paragons of democracy – are chanting <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/9/17335306/trump-tweet-twitter-latest-fake%20news-credentials">Trump’s “fake news” mantra</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"832708293516632065"}"></div></p>
<p>Now France, a Western democracy founded on Enlightenment values, is taking legislative measures to repress “fake news”. The outcome of France’s parliamentary vote is uncertain, but the precedent is dangerous.</p>
<p>That is not to say that “fake news” is not a problem. Falsehoods and lies contaminate public debate. But what exactly is “fake news”? Some attempts have been made to classify its meaning, including the Huffington Post’s Orwellian assertion that <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-john-johnson/the-five-types-of-fake-ne_b_13609562.html">“some news is more fake than others”</a>. Still, there is no clear agreement on what the term means – doubtless because it has been exploited for so many different purposes.</p>
<p>When Donald Trump unleashes a tweet storm blasting the “fake news” media, he targets major news organisations such as the <em>New York Times</em> and CNN. When these established news outlets refer to “fake news”, they mean false news stories circulating on social media that have not been produced, and fact-checked, by professionals like themselves. This mutual blame game renders “fake news” devoid of precise meaning. <a href="https://firstdraftnews.org/fake%20news-complicated/">Fake news is complicated</a>.</p>
<h2>A typology of fake news</h2>
<p>Let’s attempt to cut through the name-calling and attempt to establish a definition of “fake news”. First, the term has no single meaning. It’s is a hydra-headed monsters with several gargoyle faces.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Reports that are knowingly, and mischievously, false</strong>. For example, the story about the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pope-francis-donald-trump-endorsement/">Pope endorsing Donald Trump for president</a>. False. Another story claimed Trump had once <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rupaul-claims-trump-touched-him/">“groped” drag queen RuPaul at a party </a> – and was furious when he reached up his skirt to discover his male genitals. False. Yet the story, pure fabrication, attracted more than 300,000 engagements on Facebook.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Reports in the mainstream media that are false</strong>. ABC News, for example, apologised for a false report claiming that Donald Trump had instructed a top adviser to make contact with Russian officials. It’s this kind of false story that provides Trump with ammunition for his tweetstorms railing against the “fake news” media. It could be argued, however, that these stories are not “fake” because they are not knowingly false. As a <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/not-fake%20news-just-plain-wrong-top-media-corrections-2017">Poynter story</a> put it, they are “just plain wrong”.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Manipulated news reports</strong>, stories twisted out of context, or phoney photos and videos posted online to create misleading impressions. A <em>Washington Post</em> reporter tweeted a phoney photo of a near-empty arena with the ironic comment “packed to the rafters” to create the impression that a Trump rally had attracted an embarrassingly small crowd. The photo was phoney. Trump angrily called for the <em>Post</em> reporter to be fired.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>State propaganda</strong> inserted into the news cycle by foreign states. For example, claims that Russia manipulated the American presidential election outcome through Kremlin-backed agents spreading fake news and buy advertising on Facebook. These disinformation practices, widespread during the Cold War, continue in the digital age.</p></li>
<li><p>Stories that are “spun” by <strong>PR firms and advertisers</strong> using pseudo news and events to attract publicity and advertising revenues. Like state propaganda, PR and advertising-spun news has been widespread in the mainstream media for the past century. In the digital era, it can be seen on news sites in the form of native advertising and branded content – in short, advertising wrapped in editorial packaging. Some newspapers like to call it “brand storytelling”. It’s not news, it’s advertising.</p></li>
<li><p>And finally, <strong>parody content</strong> that is churned out by sites such as <a href="https://www.theonion.com/">The Onion</a> in the United States and <a href="http://www.legorafi.fr/">Le Gorafi</a> in France. Parody sites use outlandish satire to mock the news cycle. Readers are supposed to know that stories are farcical, yet even serious news organisations routinely get tricked by satirical news. While it’s difficult to believe that a headline like <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-to-split-time-between-trump-tower-and-kremlin">“Trump to Split Time Between Trump Tower and the Kremlin”</a> could be interpreted as true, there are always credulous and gullible members of the public.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Can “fake news” be banned?</h2>
<p>The simple classification above demonstrates that “fake news” comes in many forms. Given the complexity of interpretation, how will the French state judge what is “fake” and what is “real” news? France’s proposed “fake news” law exempts satire and parody. Also, the draft law takes aim at the mischievous manipulation of online information -or disinformation - by foreign states. This concern is legitimate. Still, the proposed law’s definition of “fake news” is broad and gives the French state a troubling degree of latitude in seeking a court injunction to censor news on the pretext that it is false.</p>
<p>That is the real issue at stake: the role of politicians in determining what is true and false. When the state arbitrarily establishes itself as the official guardian of the truth, we must ask the question raised by Plato: Who guards the guardians? In a democratic society, surely the arbiter of truth and falsehood must never be the state. When the state arrogates the powers to decide what is “true” and “false”, truth itself is threatened. As French journalist Pierre Haski put it: “The state must not become a Ministry of Truth”.</p>
<p>It should be hoped that the French parliament will vote against this proposed law, not only to uphold fundamental principles of liberal democracy, but also to ensure that the world’s despots and authoritarian regimes do not cite the French example to justify their more sinister purposes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98049/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Fraser ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>France’s parliament is debating a law that would allow “fake news” to be censored. While the outcome is uncertain, the precedent is dangerous.Matthew Fraser, Associate Professor, Global Communications and International Politics, American University of Paris (AUP)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/875192017-11-29T19:10:44Z2017-11-29T19:10:44ZPermission to laugh? Humour without risk of danger and offence would be an emaciated thing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196830/original/file-20171128-28856-ivrixo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When does parody spill into insensitive cultural appropriation? While Chris LIlley is probably OK to appropriate the upper North Shore culture of Ja’mie (pictured), he's on dodgier ground with Jonah from Tonga. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Princess Pictures, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Home Box Office (HBO)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in an age of rising gelotophobia; not, in case you are wondering, a fear of ice-cream, but a fear of laughter. It can, it seems, be terribly destructive to laugh at anyone for a range of reasons, and one of the hottest of those is cultural appropriation. The agelasts (those who never laugh; in old Australian “wowsers”) often seem keen to use the wonders of social media to howl down anyone who dares to laugh at other cultures. </p>
<p>The wowsers have a point, at least some of the time. Blackface inscribes (as we say in humanities departments) unequal and oppressive racial power relations. It does so even if entered into innocently as “just a joke”. Humour polices taboos and deploys stereotypes, including those of cultural difference. So perhaps it should be banned or at least strictly licensed.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t sound right to you, it is probably because you also sense that laughter can be a source of pleasure, understanding, and human connection. The following was not said by Plato, or Seneca, or Cicero, or some other pompous, serious classical git:</p>
<p><em>Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.</em></p>
<p>It was written by a comic playwright, Terence, more than 2,000 years ago, near the start of his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heauton_Timorumenos">Heauton Timorumenos</a> (The Self-Tormentor) and it means something like (“puto” remains hard to translate): “I am a man: I consider nothing human alien to me.” </p>
<p>How’s that for cultural appropriation? Did he check with the Han Dynasty Chinese, of whom he may have been vaguely aware, or the contemporary Indigenous Australians, of whom he’d have known nothing? It looks like a rash call. I can certainly imagine the more sanctimonious of my students writing it off with the critique from which there can be no return: “It’s not OK.”</p>
<p>Humour is one of the most durable ways of bringing people together, through the intimacy of shared laughter and understanding. Laughter is a distinctive feature of humans and it has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-evolutionary-origins-of-laughter-are-rooted-more-in-survival-than-enjoyment-57750">evolutionary as well as social</a> origins.</p>
<p>It is a human pleasure and a social glue, but it has also, for a very long time, thrived on cultural appropriation and distortion. We laugh with, but in doing so we often also laugh at. The Athenian comedian Aristophanes makes fun of the Spartans and their funny accents in several of his 5th century BC plays. While records do not go back any further, he is unlikely to have invented the technique.</p>
<p>Satire uses cultural stereotypes to ridicule its targets, and I’m not inclined to accept that only wealthy, ageing east coast American men are allowed to appropriate the verbal and cultural trappings of Trump (though Alec Baldwin does it with a certain furious intimacy). Parody, one of the most ubiquitous comic and satirical techniques, functions by imitation with comic distortion. It appropriates accents, gaits, wardrobes, words, and anything else it can think of, almost always in a judgmental way. </p>
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<p>When we agree with the judgment, we are amused, and join in the apt anger or disgust for the person or group parodied. Nine times out of ten, “That is just not funny” does not mean “That is a badly-executed joke” so much as “I don’t agree that you should be laughing at that”. Then the equally lame response comes back: “Can’t you take a joke?” The result is more Punch and Judy than Socratic dialogue.</p>
<p>A fairly clear way to bring some order to this confusion is to distinguish between laughing up and laughing down. In modern Australia and other Western nations, we are generally OK with laughing up at people or groups who are relatively more powerful. When it comes to politicians, this licence to ridicule the powerful becomes an almost universal civic duty.</p>
<p>Laughing down is generally thought to be “not OK” these days, though it’s a fairly recent and not universally accepted attitude. Con the Fruiterer (played by the not-very-Greek Mark Mitchell) has been on screens <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/con-the-fruiterer-is-back-for-a-new-health-campaign/news-story/896f6456725e16a5b7b9b8b8117547de">advertising the virtues of fruit</a> as recently as 2010. </p>
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<p>The late, great John Clarke always set his sights on the rich and powerful, but his equally great contemporary Barry Humphries has mostly been kicking down since middle-class Melbourne housewife Edna Everage blustered on stage during the Melbourne Olympics.</p>
<p>More recent “hard cases” are Sasha Baron Cohen and <a href="http://junkee.com/chris-lilley-blackface-jonah/110989">Chris Lilley</a>. Both are talented private schoolboys who make fun of the social and moral ineptitudes of those below them in the class system. They often do this in racialised and culturally insensitive ways. </p>
<p>Context always matters, and Cohen is a little outside my field to comment on cogently. I don’t feel I can judge precisely whether Borat works for his various audiences more as celebration or defamation of Kazakh culture, though I have my suspicions. </p>
<p>On Lilley I’m prepared to be more definitive. He is probably OK on this ethical test to appropriate the upper North Shore culture of Ja’mie, because she is an upper caste hypocrite, though the gender politics set one’s nerves jangling. He’s on decidedly dodgier ground with Jonah from Tonga because it is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jul/02/chris-lilleys-jonah-from-tonga-withdrawn-by-new-zealands-maori-television">clearly kicking down</a> from Barker College to a troubled, migrant child in a troubled Western Sydney high school.</p>
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<p>Of course, making these sorts of distinctions doesn’t stop Lilley from being funny in both roles. The trouble with humour is that you “get” it at the emotional end of cognition. You don’t assimilate it rationally to a carefully adumbrated ethical framework.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you can and should disagree ethically with some jokes, but it’s a big step further to insist that they simply are not funny, and a very big step beyond that to deny them a right to exist.</p>
<p>Humour without the risk of danger and offence would be a very emaciated thing. Humour helps build the robustness it requires of its victims, and when that occurs short of belittling brutality that is often a very good thing.</p>
<p>In our pursuit of a world that is safely and entirely OK, must humour be cleansed of its original sin of cultural appropriation and insensitivity? Are comedians welcome to make us laugh, as long as they don’t make us laugh at anything that doesn’t belong to them? Can an Englishman, an Irishman and a Frenchman never walk into a bar again unless complex multiple-citizenship conditions apply?</p>
<p>Is that fair? </p>
<p>It would certainly be laughable.</p>
<p><em>Tomorrow: Mitch Goodwin explores popular music and appropriation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Phiddian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In our pursuit of a world that is safely and entirely OK, must humour be cleansed of its original sin of cultural appropriation and insensitivity? It depends whether we are ‘laughing up’ or ‘laughing down’.Robert Phiddian, Professor of English, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631592016-07-29T10:25:27Z2016-07-29T10:25:27ZWhy Niantic didn’t need marketing to make Pokémon Go viral<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132342/original/image-20160728-12097-dp7c51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gotta catch 'em all</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberbird/14259367088/">Nicole Ciaramella</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not hard to see why Pokémon Go has become so popular. Its <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pokemon-go-became-an-instant-phenomenon-62412">simple gameplay and social element</a> have made the augmented reality game an instant hit, eclipsing the <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/blog/pokemon-go">daily active user figures</a> of giants such as Candy Crush Saga and Tinder. Yet the company behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, has done very little to promote the game since it launched. Beyond a handful of release notifications from the <a href="https://twitter.com/PokemonGoApp">official Pokémon Go Twitter account</a>, no TV commercials have been commissioned and in-app advertising is minimal. </p>
<p>Niantic has instead relied on word-of-mouth to promote its take on Pokémon, particularly in the form of unofficial viral pictures, videos and social media posts shared online (internet memes) that reference or parody the game. This user-generated content ensures the title is on the lips of the masses, even if many of them haven’t even played it yet.</p>
<p>The term “meme”, coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-selfish-gene-9780198788607?q=selfish%20gene&lang=en&cc=gb">The Selfish Gene</a>, refers to an idea, behaviour or style that propagates across culture, just as a successful gene spreads through a population. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1304.1712">Internet memes</a> pervade the web in a similar way. Carried via text, images or videos, the idea (often a quip or funny observation) is replicated by being shared and reposted, transforming over time to spawn hundreds of thematic variants. </p>
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<p>Memes are a staple of social media, loved by some, but a nuisance to others. Log into Facebook, and you’ll likely find people sharing images of <a href="http://www.celebuzz.com/2016-04-29/20-views-album-covers-more-canadian/">“Drake sitting on things”</a> or video remixes of <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sad-affleck">“Sad” Ben Affleck</a> silently contemplating lukewarm reviews of Batman vs Superman. Occasionally, meme replication hits a critical mass. Borrowing again from biological terminology, they go “viral”. </p>
<p>Internet memes can certainly be entertaining. Yet these snapshots of pop culture have a deeper use. They provide the kind of pervasive promotion that can catapult films, games, and literature into craze status. Today we see this phenomenon in play with Pokémon Go, and not just with memes that celebrate the franchise. Social media sites are awash with comedic posts that poke fun at the game, and its players, from all angles.</p>
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<p>The marketing force behind Pokémon Go understand that the franchise’s consumers are their biggest, and most active marketing tool. Video parodies and image macros (pictures with humorous captions) targeting Pokémon have been circling the web <a href="http://www.memecenter.com/search/pokemon">for years</a>. Pokémon is a well established cultural icon, and this kind of user-generated content ensures it remains visible even without the addition of a popular new game to the franchise. Appreciating this, Niantic side-stepped any major marketing blitz for Pokémon Go, safe in the knowledge that nostalgia would amply feed the meme. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132249/original/image-20160727-21591-syl2gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=628&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>The profile-raising power of the Internet meme is significant. Memes such as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0">Rick-rolling</a>” (where seemingly unrelated weblinks point users to a video of 80s pop star Rick Astley) demonstrate how user-generated content can revitalise bygone stars, and in some cases breathe life into commercial flops. Take the film Vampire’s Kiss, which grossed only <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098577/">32% of its $2m budget</a> in 1989. Nicolas Cage’s unrestrained (and borderline frantic) performance fuelled the highly popular “You Don’t Say” meme, sparking renewed interest in the title. Vampire’s Kiss is now considered by some to be a <a href="http://www.thesaint-online.com/2013/10/cult-film-of-the-week-vampires-kiss/">cult film.</a></p>
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<p>The viral potential of memes is naturally attractive in marketing, but their unpredictability is problematic. Who knew that a fist-pumping baby (<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/success-kid-i-hate-sandcastles">Success Kid</a>) or ivory-tinkling feline (<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/keyboard-cat">Keyboard Cat</a>) would make such an impact on social media?</p>
<p>To negate risk, brands tend to piggyback off trending memes. This approach, called “memejacking”, is bold and brash, but can work wonders – as Sesame Street marketers will tell you. The TV show surfed a wave of parodies of Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2011 single, Call Me Maybe, with its own video featuring the Cookie Monster sharing treats with office workers. The parody, “Share It Maybe”, proved very popular for the franchise, racking up over 20m views to date on its official YouTube Channel. </p>
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<p>To a network of ardent Pokémon fans, add one (rather aggrandising) game trailer. Throw then into the mix the screen capture capabilities of smartphone and tablet devices, and you have all the fuel needed to get the meme-train rolling. </p>
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<p>And rolling it is. Two weeks after US release, Pokemon Go regularly secures the number 1 slot in Know Your Meme’s <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/trending">“top image gallery” chart</a> and parody versions of the game pervade social media. The nuances of Pokemon Go – from the “seek and collect” gameplay mechanic, through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/16/pokemon-go-server-crash-niantic-europe-us">endless server crashes</a> to Pokemon hunting placing <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3688528/How-Pokemon-ruining-relationships.html">strain on relationships</a> – continue to infect YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, replicating and mutating into new (and largely funny) media content each passing day.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Scott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The spontaneous success of Pokémon Go shows how powerful internet memes can be.Lee Scott, Subject Leader in Creative Computing, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/354102015-01-07T13:52:01Z2015-01-07T13:52:01ZThe dispute over humour that reached the EU’s highest court<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68351/original/image-20150107-2005-tt8i5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We can now know whether this rendition of Miley Cyrus is (legally) parody.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tehchix0r/12763020704/in/photolist-">tehchix0r</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You probably don’t tend to consider any legal issues while watching <a href="http://www.capitalfm.com/artists/rita-ora/news/beyonce-7-11-video-parody/">Rita Ora’s recent parody of Beyonce’s 7/11</a> or the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6DmHGYy_xk">Chatroulette version</a> of Miley Cyrus’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8">Wrecking Ball</a>.</p>
<p>But there are limits to the extent of these gleefully wicked remakes and remixes, and these limits are also constantly changing as the legal world strains to keep up with all the new ways modern technology allows us to mock others.</p>
<p>Parody involves the re-use of someone else’s work and more often than not, the latter is a work protected by copyright. This means that authors have the exclusive right to reproduce their works (in whole or in part) and do so by any means and in any form. The author also has the exclusive rights to make their works available to the public, and distribute them.</p>
<p>But if it was as simple as that, then there would be no <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wqfcwgT0Ds">Flight of the Conchords doing the Pet Shop Boys</a>, and most of South Park would be nonexistent. So there are of course exceptions to copyright protection that allow third parties to use someone’s work without having to ask for permission first. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:167:0010:0019:EN:PDF">InfoSoc Directive</a> allows member states of the European Union (EU) to introduce into their own copyright laws an exception “for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche”. This for instance was the legal basis that allowed the UK to introduce – <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-copyright-law">among others</a> – a new <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111116029/pdfs/ukdsi_9780111116029_en.pdf?page=2">exception</a> along these lines last year.</p>
<p>But what are the limits of parody? Come to that, what is parody? Defining this tricky cultural phenomenon was the job of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) a few months ago over a dispute about the estate of the late comic book creator Willy Vandersteen and the members of Flemish nationalist political party <a href="http://www.flemishrepublic.org/4/">Vlaams Belang</a>.</p>
<h2>What is parody?</h2>
<p>During a public event in early 2011, Vlaams Belang distributed a calendar. Its cover was a modified version of a comic book cover of Vandersteen’s popular <a href="http://suskeenwiske.ophetwww.net/">Suske en Wiske</a> series: <a href="http://kluwercopyrightblog.com/files/2014/09/Wilde-Weldoener.jpg">The Compulsive Benefactor</a> (De Wilde Weldoener). Vandersteen’s original drawing featured one of the comic book’s main characters wearing a white tunic and throwing coins to people who are trying to pick them up. In the drawing used by Vlaams Belang, this character was replaced by the mayor of the city of Ghent and the people picking up the coins were replaced by people wearing veils and people of colour.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/68353/original/image-20150107-1974-1gpe70n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The original work (left) and the spoof (right).</span>
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<p>The Vandersteen estate and the holders of the rights to this particular comic brought proceedings against Vlaams Belang. They argued successfully that the drawing that the political party had used on the calendar cover amounted to a copyright infringement of Vandersteen’s original drawing. The party appealed this decision on the grounds that – among other things – the calendar cover fell within the scope of Belgian exception for parody, caricature and pastiche. </p>
<p>The Belgian Court of Appeal was somewhat flummoxed by this case, which rested entirely on what parody actually was. So they reverted to the European Court of Justice for guidance as to what a parody is and what characteristics a work must possess to be considered a parody.</p>
<h2>Laugh out loud</h2>
<p>As usual, it took a few months for the CJEU to work this out. But finally, it came to its <a href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=157281&pageIndex=0&doclang=en&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=11925">decision</a> in September 2014. </p>
<p>For the first time under EU copyright law, parody received a legal definition. According to the CJEU, a parody has just two essential characteristics: to evoke an existing work while being noticeably different from it and that it constitutes an expression of humour or mockery.</p>
<p>It is worth highlighting that the CJEU did not clarify whether a parody is also required to actually be funny, but it is probably fair to assume that humorous intent is enough. Of course, parody is protected within freedom of expression. It would be unduly restrictive if only actually funny people were able to enjoy the right to parody as part of their freedom of expression, with those who just are not very witty ineligible for protection.</p>
<p>So the court acknowledged that the right to parody is protected within freedom of expression, but also held that such freedom is not unlimited. So a parody that conveys a message that is discriminatory or racist probably would not fly. The original author of the parodied work has a legitimate interest in ensuring that their work protected by copyright is not associated with the message conveyed by its parody. </p>
<p>So despite all its efforts, the Flemish nationalist political party is not safe yet. Its case has gone all the way to the EU courts, it has even got the word “parody” a legal definition for the first time, but it may fall at the last hurdle … for being racist.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35410/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleonora Rosati does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>You probably don’t tend to consider any legal issues while watching Rita Ora’s recent parody of Beyonce’s 7/11 or the Chatroulette version of Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball. But there are limits to the extent…Eleonora Rosati, Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.