Mémek: a világjárvány médiarítusai
Memes: media rituals of the pandemic

Summary/Abstract: Certain accompanying phenomena of the pandemic caused by Covid-19 virus are related memes spreading viral on social networking sites. Although memes have been considered as a popular media genre for entertainment, they seem to have a crucial role in public discourses on the pandemic. Focusing on the symbolic function of media, the neo-Durkheimian theory based on the concept of rituals provide an appropriate framework to investigate why people tend to make jokes out of or to have fun at serious problems amid the global threat of the pandemic. Based on the analysis of memes spread on Hungarian social media sites during the first wave of the pandemic, this study points out their ritual and therapeutic function.

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