Humour and ideology: Stylistic and Strategic Analysis of PTI and PML-N Memes in the Pakistan Elections 2024

Abstract

This paper focuses on analysing political memes, specifically PTI and PML-N memes during Pakistan’s election period of 2024 and the ideologies implied through those memes. The study tends to combine humour (a stylistic component) with ideology (a strategic element) to analyse political memes. Despite social media’s growing influence, the stylistic and strategic use of memes in the 2024 elections remains underexplored. Therefore, the research objectives are to explore how humour is used stylistically in memes to attract viewers’ attention and the political ideologies reflected in those memes, thereby affecting public perception. Qualitative methodology is used in this research study. In total, five political memes targeting PTI and PML-N are collected from social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These memes are collected for the study, which is a stylistic and strategic analysis of political memes during the 2024 elections that convey ideology and are visually humorous. The memes are analysed using multimodal critical discourse analysis theory by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, which focuses on four primary levels of meaning: representational, interactional, compositional, and social and cultural context. The memes create sarcasm, mockery, and humour, directed towards the institutions, politicians, and the government. The practical implications of this study are that memes use humour to convey hidden ideologies and critique political opponents, helping viewers decode and critically analyse their content.