Crime and Punishment: Prigoshin’s Mutiny and Putin’s Revenge in Ukrainian and Russian Cartoons and Memes
Crime and Punishment: Prigoshin’s Mutiny and Putin’s Revenge in Ukrainian and Russian Cartoons and Memes

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the discursive dimension of two episodes of the Russo–Ukrainian war: Therebellion of Yevgeny Prigoshin (founder of the Wagner private military company) on 23 June 2023,and his death in an airplane crash on 23 August 2023. This dimension is implemented in Ukrainianand Russian political humor. Political satire, as a form of Humorous Media Political Discourse,can be described by its target, focus and setting. Political cartoons and memes, as genres ofHumorous Media Political Discourse, can be defined by their goals, frame of reference and means.These corresponding parameters (goal–target, frame of reference–focus, means–setting), as wellas the correlation between the discursive dimension and social context, provide the analyticalframework for the paper. The methodology is based on the discourse and multimodality theories.Special attention is paid to the interaction of verbal and nonverbal elements in cartoons andmemes, as well to similarities and differences in Ukrainian and Russian cartoons and memesdepicting Yevgeny Prigoshin’s rebellion and his death.

• Details
• Contents