Brexit Memes Brexit: Exploring discourses of the Brexit negotiations through social media visuals

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Brexit Memes Brexit: Exploring discourses

of the Brexit negotiations through social

media visuals

Joanne Findlay

Malmö University

Media and Communications Studies

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Abstract

This thesis seeks to analyse a critical juncture in the aftermath of the Brexit vote; Theresa May’s Brexit negotiations. This was a highly contentious time for politics in the UK, eventually leading to an extension on the initial deadline being granted and May’s resignation from the post of Prime

Minister. By examining these negotiations through the lens of user-generated memes, the researcher finds a contemporary way to understand the interactive role citizens play in contributing to political discourse.

This thesis asks how such discourses are playing out over social media visuals, and in turn, which symbols are being utilized to reflect these discourses. After a thorough investigation of the symbolism at play, ranging from flags to diversity, the researcher concludes that memes make a valuable and creative contribution to political discourse, and should not be disregarded as facetious; indeed their humour allows a fresh take on a serious issue.

This thesis takes inspiration from a Research Methodology assignment written as a pilot for this study, entitled,“Exploring discourses of the Brexit negotiations through social media visuals: A visual analysis and discussion of research methods”.

1. Introduction

The British public voted to leave the European Union on the 23rd June 2016, by 52% to 48%, in a referendum with a relatively high turnout of 72%. This sparked a period of political turmoil wherein the Prime Minister of the time resigned. Successor Theresa May then triggered article 50 in 2017, beginning the countdown of a two year negotiation period, with a deadline of 29th March 2019 to leave the European Union. This thesis focusses on what could be considered a ‘crunch’ period – the so-called ‘final’ negotiations leading up to the initial ‘Brexit’ (or British exit from the European Union) date and then the week immediately following this date. During this period, possible options for Brexit were debated; including the so-called ‘customs union’ approach where Britain remains in the European trading arena; a ‘hard’ Brexit where Britain leaves the EU without a deal and a ‘People’s Vote’ wherein the electorate are given the opportunity to vote again on whether they want to remain in or leave the EU. In spite of the deadline, Theresa May failed to negotiate a deal that was acceptable to parliament, and instead another extension was granted from the European Union, giving the British government until 31st October 2019 to negotiate a deal (BBC News, 2019).

Characterised by political instability, a divided public and general chaos, the decision from the UK electorate to leave the European Union has dominated every form of communication, from print journalism to conversations between neighbours, since long before the referendum took place. Although many angles are yet to be explored on this all-encompassing topic, this thesis will concern itself with the portrayal of the discourses of the Brexit negotiations. A time period has been selected

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4 of between January and April 2019, to reflect the initial deadline for Brexit. User-generated visuals will be examined from unofficial social media pages and groups, to share insight as to public discourses. The content of social media visuals or ‘memes’ will be explored to uncover which themes and symbolism are being utilized and how memes are used to reflect the discourses of Brexit. The findings will be categorized into three over-arching themes; firstly ideas surrounding identities as I examine Britishness and Europeanness defined in contrast. The second finding is related to usage of characters of the Brexit negotiations, and how images of politicians are used to signify different political stances. The third finding gives overarching reflections on a discourse of whiteness and a male-dominated viewpoint. My fourth finding relates to commentary on the perspectives of the Brexit negotiations. These findings allow me to conclude that symbols including flags, personas and militaristic themes are used to reflect ideas around Britain as a nation state and the European Union. I will also conclude that the discourses of social media visuals are as divided and complex as the real life discourses around Brexit, making them a creative and reflective topic for study.

2. Research Questions

The research questions for this study are as follows:

How are discourses of the Brexit negotiations portrayed on social media through images?

A secondary element of this question is therefore

Which symbols are utilized to reflect the discourses of the Brexit negotiations?

3. Literature Review

My project sits within several theoretical areas. Firstly, by examining social media and participatory culture, this thesis will set the backdrop for examining user-generated content. I will then move on to specifically examining meme studies to gain an understanding of the key features of social media visuals, with a more in-depth look at the features of a meme. This will lead to a discussion of discourse theory, symbolism and iconography, to assist in analysing visuals. I will then move on to analysing the Discourses of Brexit, giving focus to Euroscepticism, the nation state, a public divided, populism and Brexit as a crisis. These themes will shape and contextualise my research at the data analysis stage.

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3.1 Social Media and Participatory Culture

In this section, I will seek to explain how social media enables public discourses to play out by looking specifically at the affordances of social media and how it differs from traditional media. I will then examine ideas around ‘participatory culture’ in relation to political discourses.

Social media has distinct affordances that make it different from traditional media, categorized by Hodkinson into four areas. Firstly, the convergence of different types of media into one platform; secondly, interactivity leading to a mass conversation, thirdly, diversification giving users control over which content they receive and finally, mobility, as content can be accessed anywhere, at any time on a mobile phone (Hodkinson, 2017, p28-29).

Interactivity is of particular focus for this study, and this affordance has led to a societal shift that has been coined ‘participatory culture’ (Jenkins, 2006).Traditional media forms such as the newspaper have only limited opportunities for the citizen to interact, for example by writing in to the ‘letters to the editor’ page. Compare this to a platform such as Facebook, where a citizen can comment beneath a news article, engaging in a dialogue with strangers; express an emotion with a single click or use the ‘share’ facility to broadcast an article of significance to them with their own peers. This gives optimism for what social media entails for the citizen operating in a democratic state. According to Jenkins “Audiences, empowered by these new technologies, occupying a space at the intersection between old and new media, are demanding the right to participate within culture.” (2006, p24). Calderaro also describes the ‘diffusing’ of power” (2014, p5) and scholars such as Chen describe a new public arena, which is “(a) more directly interactive and conversational [and] (b) more likely to be outside of the control of mass-media gatekeepers” (Chen, 2013, p73).

As well as interacting with content that already exists, for example through a ‘like’ or a ‘share’, social media also gives individuals an opportunity to create and distribute content. Miller describes an accelerated “shift away from producer hegemony to audience or consumer power[..], thus eroding the producer-consumer distinction" (2011, p87). This new role of the audience as ‘prosumer’ challenges the notion that media is created by an elite group and fed to a passive consumer. Instead, the consumer is also a producer, allowing a myriad of opportunities for grassroots participation and creation of political content.

These ideas inspired this study to particularly concern itself with unofficial content; instead of examining content from large political bodies such as Vote Leave or The Labour Party, I felt the study of content being circulated on unofficial accounts would give insight to the discourses of Brexit from a citizen’s perspective.

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3.2 Meme Studies

There are many different ways in which the discourses of Brexit are playing out in social media, for example through the sharing of news articles or videos. However, this study will concern itself only with user-generated visual content, otherwise known as ‘memes’. This section will therefore explain the term ‘meme’ and make a case for the decision to limit this study specifically to social media visuals. As referenced above, an affordance of social media is the convergence of multimedia into one forum. Yet the theory behind memes is not contemporary in its origins. According to Shifman, “‘meme’ was originally coined by Dawkins in 1976 to describe small units of culture that spread from person to person by copying or imitation” (2014, p2). Dawkins examples of memes include “tunes, good ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or building arches” (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007, p211). This gives us an indication of key features of modern internet memes; firstly a connection with ‘culture’ which holds relevance for this study as we are concerned with how a current political conversation is being reflected in memes. Dawkins also indicated a virality; rapid circulation between individuals.

Developing on Dawkins conceptualization of a meme as a ‘unit of culture’, Shifman instead sees modern internet memes as “groups of content units” (Shifman, 2014), making clear that a meme does not independently exist as a single unit; it’s meaning is drawn from the context around it, and as such, the audience experiences memes with an awareness of their groupings. Literat & van der Berg describe memes as “transformative reappropriations of pre-existing artefacts and thus bridge individual expressions and collective aesthetics.” (2019, p234), demonstrating the connection a meme has to past and future discourses.

Shifman builds on Dawkins original definition, describing memes as “(a) A group of digital items sharing common characteristics of content, form, and/or stance, which (b) were created with awareness of each other, and (c) were circulated, imitated, and/or transformed via the Internet by many users” (p 41, Shifman, 2014). It is the third of these points, wide circulation, within the new public arena that social media is particularly adept for. However, ‘virality’ is not sufficient a concept to describe a meme, since it suggests the rapid sharing of an item unchanged. Instead, a meme “lures extensive creative user engagement” (p190, Shifman, 2011). Shifman describes society as having a “hypermemetic logic” (p4, Shifman, 2014), by which he means that memes are now crucially ingrained in every event of significance. Thus, whilst a meme may initially appear to be facsimile or humorous, in fact it plays a vital role in contributing to public discourse.

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7 Meme studies is a relatively understudied field; indeed Dean describes a ‘squeamishness’ from political scientists in studying digital media which makes this study all the more pertinent (p1, Dean, 2018). Tay argues it is the ‘transient and idiosyncratic’ nature of memes that leads to their undervaluing (2012) – they change quickly and do not fit neatly into any traditional form of research. Tay describes how users approach political memes “treating [them] as an open text, reinterpret[ing] it in a language that one can make sense of and experiment[ing] with it’s meanings” (p48, 2014). This meaning-making process is key to this research study, which will go on to examine the meanings given to visuals to evoke discourses.

3.3 Features of Memes

In explaining the significance of memes, it is vital to identify their key features. Burgess (2008: 6), when studying memetic videos, identifies that a meme holds “textual hooks or key signifiers, which cannot be identified in advance [..] but only after the fact, when they have been become prominent”. Thus it is only after wide circulation that the signifier becomes identifiable, and within part of the “cultural repertoire of vernacular video” (Burgess, 2008) in a sense therefore contributing to something much greater than the sum of its parts. It has become part of a shared language for an online community. Identifying such signifiers helps us to understand the ‘purpose’ of memes. This gives memes a “prospective-orientation” (Shifman, 2014), as their creation occupies a temporal space that both imitates and builds open what has gone before but also opens a dialogue for future reworkings. Indeed, the creator welcomes reworkings as these indicate the lifespan and as such, success of a meme. The timeliness of the content is important to ensure the meme gains wide circulation. Shifman also describes ‘you-ness’ as a feature of memes; the audience must relate to the meme and gain a sense of authenticity from the creator which creates an inclination for engagement and circulation (2011).

Another key feature of memes is their “intertexuality’, such as “wry cross-references to different everyday and popular culture events, icons or phenomena” (Knobel & Layder, 2012, p209). This can be viewed as an extension of the “hypersignification” (Shifman, 2011) that has been predominant in advertising for decades. Hypersignification refers to a visual where the creator has made no attempt to conceal that the image has been altered; indeed the alteration or ‘coding’ is in itself the significance of the image. Thus the meaning in a meme does not come purely from the image it presents, but from the way in which the original image has been reworked, and how this is then interpreted by it’s audience.

Milner highlights the huge level of imitation and influence apparent in memes; whereas the internet offers an arena for an infinitude of memes, instead it there is a relatively limited stock of prototype

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8 memes that creators rework (Milner, 2012). Another feature identified by Knobel & Layder (2012), is the occurrence of ‘anomalous juxtaposition’ within memes, that is a use of surprising contrasting themes, symbols or images to make an impact on the viewer. This element of surprise also prevents the viewer from becoming desensitized to the same prototype image being used over and over again – it’s repurposing gives it a freshness.

Shifman attempts to uncover the purpose of memes when related to political discourse, surmising that they can be explained in three distinct ways – as a way to persuade; as a form of “grassroots action”, and as a means for the public to express and discuss their opinions on the political situation (Shifman, 2014, p123). Both offline and online worlds impact on human minds and behaviour (Shields, 2003). ‘Slippage’ is the term used to describe the relationship between these two worlds – what happens online is both reflective of and constituted by the ‘real’ world, yet simultaneously influences it (Shields, 2003). As Shields (2003) argues, the virtual should not be discounted as fake, or secondary to corporeal reality. It is equally significant, and can shape actions in corporeal reality, even as it is influenced by circumstances offline. It is in this context that we must also consider humour as a key feature prevalent in memes (Shifman 2014, Knobel & Layder, 2012). Knobel & Layder separate two types of humour, firstly ‘quirky and situational’, and secondly humour used in ‘biting social commentary memes’. In understanding memes of the Brexit negotiations, we must consider humour as a gateway into this ‘biting social commentary’; an accessible and playful form of serious political engagement.

I have made reference to the affordances of user-generated memes in the new public arena where we see a democratization of political discourse. However it should not be assumed that memes present a utopia of representation and equality of participation. In fact, Shifman identifies a male dominance within the world of memes; his 2011 study finding men were not only leading characters but often the only characters within memes. He attributes this as a reflection of the creators, which in turn leads to meme genre ‘flawed masculinity’, perhaps reflecting the lived experience of the creators (Shifman, 2011). This indicates a possibility for deeper exploration of further representation gaps in memes, in terms of for example race and disability. On this, there appears to be an absence of literature at this point.

To conclude this section, social media visuals, or ‘memes’, should not be dismissed as farcical but understood as an important contribution to popular discourses. They differ from traditional political commentary in that their key signifiers are only understood after the point where they have been engaged with, making them prospective-facing. They are also characterised by their timeliness in responding to contemporary events; their authenticity or ‘you-ness’, a biting sense of humour and

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9 their aptitude for intertexuality. In a hypermemetic society, the public have the opportunity to generate content that reflects events of popular significance, which makes this area worthy of study. Yet we should not assume that all of the public are represented by, or are involved in generating social media visuals.

3.4 Discourse Theory

The concept of ‘discourse’ is also important for this study. Foucault refers to discourses as “ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them” (Weedon, 1987, p. 108). In this sense, a discourse is much more than a conversation topic; it actively reflects, reinforces or challenges societal structures and power relations. This is linked to social constructivism, the idea that how we talk about realities plays a role in their construction and that social interaction is the essence of meaning-making (Vgotsky, 1978).For example, the power a government holds is shaped by the way citizens refer to it’s power.

3.5 Discourses of Brexit

There is a breadth of studies on Brexit; some seeking to explain why Britain voted leave (see Taylor 2017), others looking in depth at identity politics in British history (Bonnachi et al, 2018) whilst others still give particular focus to the Leave campaign (Mancusco & Bobba, 2019). Many examine the content of the Leave and Remain campaigns in the lead up to the referendum on June 23rd_{2016 (Clark}

et al, 2017). We are now over three years on from this point so I felt it would fill a knowledge gap to examine user-generated content at a recent pivotal point of Brexit – the final negotiations around the initial exit date from January 2019 to April 2019. As Dean points out, social media study is often focussed on the impact on politics at election time (p3, 2018) – yet outside of this time, there are also valuable political discourses taking place. I have investigated several themes to premediate the types of discourses I may find in the research study, namely; euroscepticism, the nation state and the British Empire; a public divided, the resurgent populism and Brexit viewed as a crisis. This review is by no way extensive, however its intention is to give a flavour of the discourses utilized around Brexit.

Euroscepticism

In 1951, Winston Churchill described Britain as ‘with’, but not ‘of’ Europe (BBC News, 2012). It is important as researcher to understand the history of pervasive Euroscepticism in the UK so I can appreciate discourses related to this. ‘Euroscepticism’ can be understood as “contingent and

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10 conditional opposition to European integration as well as unconditional opposition to it” (Taggart, 1998, p362). This wide-ranging definition creates a scale of Euroscepticism, with a mild reluctance to further integration into the European Union at one end, and hardline advocacy for crashing out of the European Union at the other. It is also important to understand that Euroscepticism in itself does not convey a specific ideological stance, and that there are viewpoints from both the left and right wing of British politics who hold this viewpoint (Leconte, 2010). For example, Eurosceptic advocates of ‘Lexit’ (i.e. left-wing Brexit) see the European Union as preventing Britain from renationalising services such as the Royal Mail, whereas a neo-liberalist Brexiteer might be more interested in having greater access to international markets to allow for further outsourcing. This lack of clarity around the political position of Euroscepticism and indeed, Brexit, has been a constant dynamic in the negotiations, with ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ Brexit coined as various options for how we leave the EU.

Geddes (2013) points to many historical factors that have led to a ‘Britain on the Edge of Europe’, namely, the geography of Britain as an island-nation, secondly the inter-dependencies Britain has with the EU, and ideas around national identity and sovereignty (Geddes, 2013, p41). Geddes argues that all of these factors are at play, crucially against backdrop of the British political system which has a culture at odds with the EU (Geddes, 2013).

The nation state and the British empire

Ideas of identity are also crucial when examining discourses of the Brexit negotiations. Kumar argues that whilst the British public may have only a very superficial understanding of the history of the British empire, this history has nonetheless permeated British culture (Kumar, 2006). Furthermore, Kumar finds the time is reflected on in a positive light (Kumar, 2006). Maccaferri adds to this conversation, arguing that the British Empire still exists in the British consciousness today, ranging from a sense of nostalgia to even a hope that, outside of the EU, Britain could return to this position of power again (Maccaferri, 2019). This could be considered a specific driving force behind the decision for many to vote for Brexit.

Taylor expands on this point, arguing that “a discourse of British exceptionalism and a range of contested interpretations of ‘Britain’, ‘Britishness’ and ‘Europe’ [have] resulted in the United Kingdom being peripheral to the process of European integration and fuelled ambivalent and negative public attitudes towards European integration.” (Taylor, 2017). Thus, according to Taylor, a self-reinforcing cycle has been at– identities have stalled an integration process, which has in turn given ammunition to negative attitudes which thus reinforce the identities.

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11 A public divided

Whilst the referendum itself divided the public into two distinct categories (‘leave’ or ‘remain’), this polarisation conceals a vast and varied range of opinions. The debate did not fall clearly into traditional party voting lines, epitomized in the way the referendum was initiated by a self-proclaimed remainer Prime Minister David Cameron, as a way of appeasing the far-right of his party who identified as leavers (Menon & Fowler, 2016). As such, there are many different ways in which Brexit could be imagined and so a lack of clear political leadership is in part to blame for this divisive debate (Vasilopoulou & Talving, 2018).

For example, studies highlight the multitude of opinions on trade, opinions on if UK should stay in the single market, and whether or not this is at the expense of freedom of movement (Vasilopoulou & Talving, 2018). Furthermore, citizens also do not lineate by notions such as ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit, in fact “they tend to endorse key elements of both approaches” (Vasilopoulou & Talving, 2018, p140). Such schisms of the Brexit have led to discourses that play on antagonisms, for example representations of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘cosmopolitan’ vs. ‘rural’, ‘ordinary people’ vs. the ‘elite’, ‘Europe’ vs. ‘Britain’ and so on (Zappettini & Krzyżanowski, 2019, p385).

Populism

Populism can be described as a ‘political style’ with three key features, namely: “appeal to ‘the people’ versus ‘the elite’; ‘bad manners’; and crisis, breakdown or threat (Moffitt, 2016, p29). The first of these ideas, setting the people against the elite, links with notions of identity discussed above. Populism plays a role not only in manipulating these societal divisions, but also in creating them in the first place, and amplifying tensions that may already exist (Cox, 2017). A discourse of the ordinary citizen ‘left behind’ by forces such as globalization was utilized to gain support for the Brexit campaign (Ruzza & Pejovic, 2019).

By ‘bad manners’, Moffitt is referring to a political style that draws attention to itself by demonstrating an antithesis to the professional and composed behaviours we expect to see of politicians (p61, Moffitt, 2016). Instead, populist leaders act in casual or even contemptible ways, earning media attention and gaining public support from those who find traditional politics ‘boring’. Nigel Farage is often referred to as a populist leader and Brexit has been attributed to an extent to his role on the British political scene (Guardian, 2009).

The third theme, crisis, can be either real or imagined (Moffitt, 2016). Taggart is in agreement that a crisis is a key feature of populism, explaining how populism can be ignited by a significant event or political juncture (Taggart, 2000). Calhoun highlights the way in which globalization and

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12 Europeanisation were portrayed as responsible for social changes such as economic recession, leading to a populist resurgence in the form of Brexit (2017). The perceived crisis of immigration and it’s portrayal in the media has also been demonstrated to be one such factor in the Brexit discourses (Gavin, 2018).

Brexit as crisis

Not only is there a discourse of crises leading to Brexit, Brexit in itself is often represented as a crisis in the media, sometimes painted as one of, if not the most significant political event in Europe post-War. This representation of Brexit as a crisis could be described as a “powerful anchor around which many discourses of Brexit unfolded during the referendum in the UK and internationally” (Zappettini & Krzyżanowskia, 2019, p386).

This notion at times “amalgamates the real and the imaginary, as well as the experienced/past and the expected/future”; (Zappettini & Krzyżanowskia, 2019, p386). We are not only worried about an imagined dystopian Brexit, but we are also incorporating real ideas such as experienced financial crisis, into our understanding of Brexit. Such experiences may have precluded Brexit, however the frenzy of this representation means they are forming part of the discourse.

4. Research Paradigms

4.1 Interpretivism

Symbolism is a key consideration of this thesis and therefore lends my study to an interpretivist approach; “the view that truth is constructed through an understanding of the meanings that individuals apply to phenomena in a socially constructed world. This view collects qualitatively and uses an inductive approach to theory” (loc 1826, Collins, 2017). Interpretivism can be described as an ‘anti-positivist’ approach; that is, it is not about unearthing certain truths, instead it aims to give us an understanding of the social world in which people operate, seeing individuals as active participants in the construction of meaning.

In this sense, interpretivism is helpful to this study as it allows for fluidity in examining ideas and symbols, instead of trying to establish facts. Interpretivism is not interested in being able to generalise, instead “it is the context within which the phenomena occurs that demonstrates reality pertinent to each specific situation” (Collins, 2017, loc 1828). By collecting qualitative samples of memes around Brexit negotiations, this study does not aim therefore to provide an accurate and true reflection of every debate, or a statistical overview quantifying themes of visuals. Instead, this research aims to examine each individual image for narratives, themes and symbols evoked.

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4.2 Semiotics & Representations

"It is possible to conceive of a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life. ... We shall call it semiology. It would investigate the nature of signs and the laws governing them,” theorized Saussure in 1983, thus coining the term ‘semiotics’. This demonstrates a long history of studying visual signs, far predating the existence of internet memes. A notable semiotic scholar, Barthes, unpicked the term ‘sign’ by separating the literal from the symbolic (1964). This can be described as a separation between ‘people, places, things’ and ‘values and ideas’ (Leuwen, 2011, p2). The literal or denoted image is what Barthes describes as “the first degree of intelligibility”, that is; what is immediately and plainly recognisable. An image of a rose represents a rose in a literal sense (despite that the image itself may be composed of pixels on a computer screen, instead of petals and stem). The symbolic or connoted has a representational, so to some viewers, the rose may indicate romance. Such an image may be accompanied by text, which gives added meaning and directs the viewer (Barthes, 1964). Critics of Barthes highlight his assumption that there is a common index of cultural references that are broadly known; he does not feel the need to explore the deeply individual level on which connotation can function (Leuwen, 2011).

This research will also be grounded in Stuart Hall’s definition of representation as “the production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language. It is the link between concepts and language which enables us to refer to either the ‘real’ world of objects, people or events, or indeed to imaginary worlds of fictional objects, people and events” (Hall, 2013, p3). For Hall, representation is how we communicate and attribute meaning, so for example, a depiction of the European Union flag would be a meaningless blue rectangle decorated with stars; were the viewer not to have an understanding that the stars represent countries, and furthermore that flags are used to symbolise a territory, or even that the European Union exists at all. Clearly, the object of a European Union flag would not be meaningful in itself if it had not been designed as a representation.

Hall therefore theorizes that meanings aren’t inherent in objects; they are instead constructed and produced (Hall, 2013). Using this example, Hall would describe the flag as the ‘signifier’ or the form, and the European Union as the ‘signified’, or the idea or concept. Together they act as a ‘sign’ that can be encoded; and then decoded or understood by individuals. Decoding happens in two ways; firstly ‘denotations’ are easy to decode for example, the shape of a flag has a clear form that most would find easy to recognise (Hall, 2013). Secondly, ‘connotations’, are much more individualised, for

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14 example we could expect the use of an EU flag in a ‘Leave’ campaign post to be framed with negative connotations, whilst in a ‘Remain’ post, it could hold a more positive position.

Iconography highlights the role of icons and symbols in communicating a message or opinion to the audience. According to Ashworth, an icon can be understood as holding the feature of being ‘universally recognised’ (2006, p392), for example something already embedded in popular culture such as the golden arches of McDonald’s restaurant. This speeds up the communication process between creator and receiver, as the audience already understand the significance of the image due to their preconceived ideas. Parker agrees, describing icons as “highly significant retained images” (2012, p11).

According to Emmison and Smith, “researchers must try to ensure that they have some understanding of the representation conventions which apply to the visual materials they are studying” (p63, 2002). Therefore, an aim of this research is to take influence from representations, semiotics and iconography when unpicking symbolism in this research study.

5. Research Method

This section takes inspiration from a Research Methodology assignment written as a pilot for this study, entitled, “Exploring discourses of the Brexit negotiations through social media visuals: A visual analysis and discussion of research methods”

“Studying the visual is important, because we live in a world where the ‘visual’ is of tremendous significance” (xi, Emmison & Smith, 2002). Arguably, visual analysis is therefore the ideal way of investigating social media, with the prevalence of users sharing images and videos on the rise. Rose encouraged me to explore different approaches to visual analysis in terms of the various sites for examination (p30, Rose, 2000). I realised there are many possibilities for the project but I was most interested in the social modality sphere of compositional interpretation – meanings and symbolism on the site of the image itself. This felt a natural evolution from my research paradigms of interpretivism, semiotics, representations and iconography. Selecting to study visual meanings led my research design towards an inductive and qualitative approach – allowing the themes for analysis to be led by the data, and looking to gather in-depth individual data instead of gather a statistical overview (loc 803, Collins, 2017). By utilizing an inductive approach, I hoped to gain more insight without the restrictions of predetermined categories.

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5.1 Pilot Study

As Thomas suggests, pilot studies allow a researcher to “refine or modify research methods or to test our research techniques” (2009, p132). I built up an initial bank of images and then used mind-mapping techniques to jot down ideas around selection criteria (Collins, 2017, loc505). This was a helpful way to generate ideas and resultantly, I was able to build a selection criteria to utilize in gathering my final sample. At this point, most of the images from the pilot study were disregarded as they no longer fit the criteria.

5.2 Collecting the data

I developed the following sample selection criteria, to guide my data collection. Comments of reflection are made in italics.

Sample Selection Criteria

The selection will consist of 40 images, of which each must appear on the timeline of a social media account fitting either of the following descriptions:-

a. Social media accounts that explicitly state a political affinity with remaining in the EU, either in the account name or description

b. Social media accounts that explicitly state a political affinity with leaving the EU, either in the account name or description

This criterion led to the exclusion of many widely shared images circulated on accounts without a clear political stance, e.g. accounts existing purely for humour. This limited the scope of my research however I felt it was important for balance, since many accounts have stances yet do not state them which would subvert the data. Furthermore, using accounts with explicit stances assisted in finding images relevant to the Brexit negotiations. An opportunity for future research would be in examining the intentions and motives of political images shared from accounts without a clear political stance.

I will select 20 images from each of these to give balance. It is not necessary for the account to be responsible for producing the image, only distributing it by posting/sharing on their timeline. Social media accounts utilized can include Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Every image should:

1. Be relevant to EU negotiations/Brexit – Relevance was demonstrated by the visual itself or the accompanying text using a term related to the Brexit

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negotiations. Examples of such terms are ‘Brexit’, ‘leave’, ‘remain’ and ‘backstop’.

2. Be recent i.e. has been posted on the timeline since January 2019 (critical juncture for Brexit) – This criterion again ensured the relevance of images to the Brexit negotiations. Negotiations and their reporting in the British press intensified from January 2019, from when several crucial meetings between the UK Government and EU Ministers took place, as well as key votes preceding the initial exit date as 29 March 2019. Therefore, this made for a key juncture to analyse social media visuals.

3. Be popular, defined by at least 400 interactions (“like”, “share”, “retweet”, “comment”). 400 was reached through the pilot study as an attainable number that also indicates the popularity of an image. This ensures the images are part of the Brexit discourse – that is, they resonate with enough individuals to be relevant and fulfil the description of memes as ‘widely-shared. As the images did not have to be produced by the account, it was often the case that an account had uploaded a popular image to their followers where it had garnered 200 interactions, but this was far from the only instance this image had appeared online. This is the nature of memes; that engagement is valued above authorship. Therefore whilst 400 interactions may seem a low bar, many of the pages did not have thousands of followers. The point of the exercise was to demonstrate that enough of the page’s followers deemed the image worth interacting with such that it was worthy of analysis; not that the image is in the most popular images across the web.

4. Come from a different source i.e. no 2 images from the same account so 40 different accounts will be examined to ensure there is a good spread of themes. This, combined with the precondition that half are Remain and half are Leave, ensured a range of discourses.

5. Largely consist of visual imagery – pictures will be discounted if they are simply text on a background. However, text is permissible if accompanied by visuals. This criterion is key for this visual study.

6. Come from an ‘unofficial’ account or group, i.e. it should not purport to be run by a political party, nor the official Vote Leave or Britain Stronger in Europe campaign groups. I did however allow for pages or groups

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demonstrating an affinity with a political party or stance, so long as the account was not an official account.

A seventh criterion, that images should not be offensive, was considered but discounted on ethical grounds, as will be discussed more in the Ethical Issues section.

This criteria allowed me to collect the 40 images for analysis which are laid out in Appendix 2. Appendix 1 gives more information on each image, demonstrating it met the aforementioned criteria.

5.3 Analysing the data

Once data had been collected, I referred to literature on how best to analyse images. Emmison and Smith suggest the following toolkit for analysing images:

• Binary oppositions – e.g. pairs in opposition such as light:dark • Frames – e.g. text surrounding the image

• Genre e.g. political memes

• Identification – how viewer identifies with image • Narrative – creating a storyline

• Reading i.e. decoding – how an image is read

• Signifier/signified – evoking symbolism to represent an idea • Subject position – evoking identity e.g. mother and child

(Emmison and Smith, 2002, p67).

This toolkit gave me various lenses through which to examine the visuals. I began by looking at each image individually and jotting down all the signifiers, denotations and connotations I could see, as well as thinking about terms from the toolkit such as narrative; binary oppositions and subject position. This interesting exercise caused me to review my literature review and reflect on representations. I then decided to categorize by theme as a way of dealing with such a large number of images in an inductive fashion, as Saldana highlights: “Unlike most approaches to content analysis, which often begin with predefined categories, thematic analysis allows categories to emerge from the data.” (Saldana, 2016, p178). I returned to my notes for each image and picked out common themes, building a list of 35 items. I then sub-grouped these findings into 3 main thematic groupings to make discussion easier, yet without reducing images to their grouping nor using this grouping to draw quantitative conclusions.

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6. Ethical Issues

When dealing with online data, there are ethical considerations around consent, privacy and authorship (Thomas, 2009, p149). Since my images were all available through open pages in the public domain, I did not need to request permission to use them. I did not tamper with the images so when they had authorship built-in such as a signature or imprint, I left this present. Data related to page where each post was shared is listed in Appendix 1. Privacy is also a key consideration when using social media data (Highfield & Leaver, 2016, p55), especially when privacy settings vary from channel to channel, often leaving users confused in regards to how private their data is. To combat any individual questions of privacy, I have cropped so only the image itself is included, to ensure the personal profiles and content of any interactions is not visible. Because all images come from ‘pages’ as opposed to individual’s profiles, no individuals can be identified as associated with the posts. Using social media can also lead to grey areas concerning the national or local laws of an individual country where the content has originated from, and a recent EU law had threatened the legality of circulating memes due to their usage of popular images often from TV or film. I researched this ahead of data collection and was relieved to see that amendments had been made to Article 13 to specifically allow for the continued circulation of memes (BBC, 2019).

Another ethical consideration was whether it would be appropriate to use offensive images. Initially, my instinct was to exclude images on the grounds of extreme offensiveness e.g. racism or violent depictions. However, I concluded that in the interest of a truly reflective study, I would not exclude images on these grounds as it would be puritanical and not in the best interests of achieving a representative sample. It is probable that such images may already have been excluded by the hosting social media page, as Highfield & Leaver explain, visuals can be removed if they are “seen as problematic [..] by the platform and other users” (2016, Highfield & Leaver, p58).

I was also aware that, whilst the sixth selection criterion is that content should be from unofficial accounts, as researcher I have been forced to take the accounts at face value as it would prove challenging to guarantee the true ownership of a facebook account. Furthermore, research has uncovered the rise of fake Facebook accounts to provoke ‘platformed antagonism’ (Farkas et al, 2018). It is perfectly possible that the accounts selected in this study could be run by individuals or organisations attached to official campaign groups, or by outsider groups looking to stoke tensions. Although this would invalidate a part of my selection criterion, I would emphasise that the considerable size of my sample and that each image comes from a different account goes some way to mitigate the impact of this issue. I would also highlight that regardless of the intentions of the creator, all memes chosen had a relatively high number of interactions suggesting that the content

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19 resonated with the audience. Thus the study holds a legitimacy in that the images held significance to the audience, and it is the sphere of modality I am primarily concerned with.

6.1 Role of the Researcher

There is the likelihood that my own biases as a Researcher affected the data selection and indeed interpretation of the data. I voted for Britain to remain in the European Union so feel more affinity with some of the content shared on remain supporting pages. However, by selecting equal numbers of images from remain and leave sources, I prevented my biases overrepresenting certain types of images. Restricting my sample criteria to images with over 400 likes also meant I had to override my impulses and cast aside images I would have chosen to study, instead selecting those that fit the criteria. Collins suggests the researcher strives to be neutral and aware of their biases (2017, loc3839), so I ensured I held a heightened awareness of my political biases and cultural standpoint when collecting and analysing the data.

My lived experiences as a citizen of the UK during the Brexit negotiations also holds implications for my interpretation of the images. My own perception of Brexit has been as a time of political strife and turbulence. As BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg eloquently puts, it feels as though “ten years of politics can unfold in as many hours” (BBC, 2019). On a personal level, it is possible to swing from heightened political engagement to complete apathy. In such times, it is reassuring to find an image created or shared by a fellow citizen that resonates. As Hall highlights, it is not only the creator but also the audience who play a role in constructing the meaning of an image (Hall, 2013). Therefore this study does not aim to give a full, comprehensive and unbiased picture of the discourses of Brexit; instead I seek to find more nuanced conclusions about the role of memes in discourse and meaning-making.

7. Key Findings

Britishness/Europeanness defined in contrast

In this section, symbols of Britishness will first be explored, then symbols of Europeanness, where European is taken to be synonymous with the EU. I will explore how these are portrayed in contrast, at times using militaristic themes of evoke the oppositional forces of World Wars 1 and 2. I will also look at what I perceive to be the most dominant symbols of Britishness and Europeanness utilized in visuals – flags and maps. I will conclude that such symbols signify different values and ideas dependent on the audience. It was apparent in many of the images that symbolism had been evoked to present ‘Britishness’ and ‘Europeanness’ as signifiers to frame the Brexit negotiations. Many of the images place both these identities simultaneously in “binary opposition” (Emmison and Smith, 2002), in

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20 different ways dependant on the stance of the page the image was from. This fits with my understanding of anomalous juxtapositions as a key feature of memes, highlighted in chapter 3.3.

Many symbols of Britishness were found in the study, including references to British icons the Royal Mail postal service (image 34) and the British Highway Code (image 38). These fit the definition of icons in that they are instantly recognisable as British institutions, and are used in a ‘hypertextual’ way as outlined in chapter 3.3. Indeed, the Royal Mail can trace its history back to 1516 (European Postal Systems), whilst the Highway Code was established in 1931 (UK Government). Their established status holds a connotation of strength and history of the British state predating the EU. The Houses of Parliament is another salient icon used in the visuals (see images 12, 25, 31, 33, 35), at times joining the Royal Mail in signifying the history of Great Britain, as well as a suggestion of the supreme power placed in the British political system. However, it is also used mockingly in the images, juxtaposing the traditions of democracy with the farcical state of the Brexit negotiations. All such symbols were evocative of a British nostalgia, perhaps relating to the nation state and the British empire, as outlined in chapter 3.5.

The European Union is also symbolised in the visuals, using the iconic Eurostar train, known to the British public as the preferred transportation option for EU politicians and diplomats to travel to their workplace in Brussels (image 5). In another image, there is a characterisation of ‘Euro Bureaucrats’ in modern EU-blue suits holding various official documents and with a confused expression (image 15). They are contrasted with a traditional British gentleman in bowler hat, pinstripe trousers and umbrella. His look is complete with a stern expression. This image uses stereotypes to paint British traditions in a positive light, contrasted with the modern yet clueless EU.

Militaristic themes are used in particular from the visuals from pages with a ‘leave’ stance, again to allude to identities during war time whilst also encouraging the viewer to frame the EU as an ‘enemy’. For example, one image uses the classic meme feature of picking up on a current dialogue – that it is the time of year when British citizens must adjust the time on their clocks (N.B. this image was clearly created at a different time from when it was shared on the page, as clocks go back in Autumn, not Spring). The image is of a soldier with three British flags emblazoned upon it (image 11). The accompanying text instructs the viewer to turn their clock back to the 1940s – “when this country had some balls”. This nostalgia for wartime is also utilized in the form of reworked version of the ‘Lord Kitchener Wants You’ famous poster conscripting soldiers to war in 1911 (BBC, 2014). In one version, Lord Kitchener is replaced with Theresa May who needs ‘scaredy cats’ and their ‘exaggerated fear of

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21 no deal’ (image 1). In image 14, Brits are encouraged to ‘Buy British and protect your job’, again evoking a war time message.

There is an undertone in some visuals of the EU as being a signifier of Germany, and in turn of Nazi Germany. In image 20, a visual with a leave stance, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UKIP leader Nigel Farage are portrayed having a telephone conversation. “2 wars, 2 wins bitch”, Farage tells Merkel, as he gulps a pint of quintessentially British John Smith’s ale. The swastika is also used in pro-remain image 39, playing on acclaimed similarities between Nigel Farage and Hitler. These symbols suggest the populism referred to in chapter 3.5. In image 17, from a leave page, a photo of ‘Remain’ placards resting on a war remembrance statue is shared as a comment on the disrespect remainers have for soldiers who fought for Britain in the World Wars. In image 16, another from a leave standpoint, Theresa May is depicted as heading out on a boat as if to war in what is labelled ‘scallop war latest’. In the distance, ships ahead display British and French flags, ‘the allies’. The speech bubble from Theresa May comments ‘I think we shall surrender’. This image is contrasting the strength of Britain in world wars with the perceived ‘weakness’ of Theresa May during the Brexit negotiations. Image 40 also alludes to wartime, as a mock up of the well-known film, ‘The Sound of Music’ recreated as ‘The Sound of Brexit’. The visual alludes to the upbeat nature of the film despite the context of the annexe of Austria during WW2. The visual is thus drawing a comparison between Theresa May carrying out the Brexit negotiations and the instability Britons face.

Flags are the most recurring themes of all the images and used as icons to symbolise not only Britain and the European Union, but also to contrast leavers and remainers. For example, in image 4., ‘remoaners’ are characterised waving their EU flags. In image 2, the union jack flag is portrayed as jailed with the circle of EU stars serving as a padlock on the prison cell, stark imagery that clearly indicates a Great Britain constrained by the EU. Both flags are superimposed on top of other images to make the intent of the visual very clear (see images 10, 11, 12, 15, 18, 32). Again, the flag is used to evoke war time notions of British solidarity, for example in image 19 where the union jack cupcakes are evocative of Great British tea parties in the 1940s. In some visuals from a remain stance, there is an awareness of the use of flags by leavers, and this is satirised. For example, in image 22, a badly painted image of a door with the England flag painted on it is used to mock English nationalism and thus the leave campaign. Satire is also used in image 26, a diagram shows various trading zones with the British flag outside the zones with the tag ‘fukwits’.

Maps are also used to symbolise a contrast of Britishness and Europeanness, alluding to the characterisation of Britain as ‘on the edge of Europe’ as discussed in the literature review. In image 5, a European map emblazoned with one EU flag is contrasted to a map wherein each nation state is

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22 decorated with its own flag. This image suggest that the European project does not reflect the reality of nation states. It is of note, as discussed under ‘representations’, that both European flags and nation state flags are constructs – if you photographed Europe from above, you would see neither flags, but land without borders. Therefore, this discourse is designed to appeal to leavers and suggested a prescriptive view of how society should be structured – by nation states, not by supranational bodies. Image 9 also makes use of a map, this time portraying a generic map of Europe but with Great Britain replaced with a ‘middle finger’; an obscene hand gesture. This map portrays Britain as taking an aggressive stand against Europe and uses humour to praise this stance.

Image 15: example of Britishness/Europeanness defined in contrast

Characters of the Brexit Negotiations

Many images personified the Brexit negotiations, portraying the key persons involved in the negotiations as signifiers to put their point across. Prime Minister Theresa May is satirised to appear weak or hopeless in several images, leading to connotations of the weakness of her proposed Brexit deal (see images 1, 16, 30). In image 3, Theresa May is portrayed as aged and dishevelled, as if to suggest the negotiations will go on for many years. There are two very similar images which are designed to suggest a lack of political divergence, by merging the faces of Theresa May and leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn, as if to imply that their standpoint in the negotiations is identical. Interestingly, one of these images was from a leave page whilst the other was from a remain, meaning such images would be decoded differently depending on the stance of the interpreter.

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Image 7: example of May & Corbyn symbolising collusion

As previously discussed, Nigel Farage and Angela Merkel are also characterised to paint viewpoints on the Brexit negotiations. Other politicians used as signifiers include Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson, who are used as figureheads of a ‘hard brexit’ (see images 25, 31, 32). In image 28, a famous advert from the Vote Leave campaign relating to the migrant crisis has been refashioned to instead portray politicians, highlighting the leave campaign’s use of immigration to stir up hostility to the EU. Instead, the image suggests, voters should redirect this hostility to politicians. In nearly every image, politicians are displayed in a negative light, perhaps reflecting a dissatisfaction for the Brexit negotiations, regardless of political stance. This is reflected in the difficulty Theresa May has found in gaining consensus for a deal – viewpoints on Brexit are far from binary leave and remain.

However, many images choose to portray a binary opposition by contrasting Remainers vs Leavers, and images from both remain and leave pages used the refashioning of images and symbols from the opposition with humour to mock, in classic meme style. In image 4, a photo of a group of remainers on a bus heading to a political demonstration whilst waving EU flags has been reworked and their faces replaced with an image of a crying baby, suggesting they are ‘Remoaners’, compared to a child throwing a tantrum. Similar satire is available on the remain pages, for example in image 21, the well known ‘vampire-sunlight’ meme has been reworked to include a ‘leaver’ shunning ‘evidence’. Such constructions that poke fun at the opposition serve a purpose in instilling identity and perpetuating an ‘us versus them’ mentality.

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Image 4: example of Remain image refashioned by Leave page to mock

Diversity and Representation

Looking beyond the symbolism utilized, it is vital also to question who is being represented in these images. As discussed within the literature review, Shifman (2014) finds a tendency for men to be portrayed in memes, which he sees as a reflection on the mostly male creators of memes. This theme continues in this study – there are certainly more male characters portrayed than female, and where there is a woman, it tends to be Prime Minister Theresa May. Since the majority of people portrayed were politicians, this tendency to represent men can in part be explained by the overrepresentation of male Members of Parliament; there are 442 male MPs and only 208 female (UK Parliament). Yet the question remains whether there is an implicit favouring of men; as described in ‘Characters of the Brexit Negotiations’, Theresa May is only ever shown in an unfavourable light. This can be contrasted with male characters such as Nigel Farage portrayed as decisive and strong.

It is also important to note the absence of black and minority ethnic portrayals; certainly all the politicians portrayed in these images are white. Image 28 again makes for interesting exploration on this point. It is notable that the original image this visual satirises was of a group of migrants with notable non-white characteristics apparently ‘descending’ upon Britain, which was widely criticized for its racial undertones and attempts to stoke fear (Guardian, 2016). In the reworked version, the immigrant group is replaced with an all white and predominately male group of politicians dressed in formal wear. In the foreground, four people crouch in front of the billboard, identifiable as ‘ordinary’ citizens in their casual clothing. Of the four, two appear to be black and/or minority ethnic. This image seems to critique the lack of representation amongst the political decision-makers, whilst the text describes the group as ‘a tide of incompetents’. This image is apt not only for the point it makes in regard to lack of diversity in politicians, but also in regards to memes.

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25 Image 28 also points to the Brexit negotiations as an elite discourse. This is a predominant discourse throughout the visuals; politicians are portrayed time and time again yet there is little representation of ‘ordinary’ citizen. This dynamic is interesting given that these are user-generated visuals from unofficial sources, commenting on a political situation that occurred from a public referendum. Whilst voting and engaging with political memes could be described as forms of grassroots empowerment; the content of these memes demonstrates a feeling from the public that Brexit is a political situation that does not involve them. In this sense, by engaging with memes, the public are providing a humorous ‘social commentary’ as described in section 3.3, but from an outsider perspective.

Image 28: Example of image critiquing lack of diversity

Perspectives on Brexit negotiations

As well as portraying identities, using characterisations to communicate political stances and revealing an elite, white and male dominated Brexit discourse, many of the images also provide comment on the Brexit negotiations. Some explore the potential options for Brexit, whilst others still provide comment that discussions have gone on too long, Brexit in itself is a farce or that represent the notion that voters feel confused and do not know where to turn to. These viewpoints are not limited to either leave or remain posts, but came from both.

Discourse over whether Britain should seek to remain in the Customs Union is a recurring theme (see images 2, 8, 10, 26, 36), demonstrating the many discourses around trade outlined in chapter 3.5. Image 10 makes use of popular culture by adding a UK flag to the centre of a well-known image of a black hole – released in April 2019 as the first ever black hole to be photographed. The black hole is encircled by the EU flag, implying the customs union would leave the UK stuck in an infinite trap belonging to the EU. In contrast, image 19 portrays a deal protecting our trading relationship as ‘having our cake and eating it’, a well known British idiom implying a win-win situation. Use of classic British

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26 imagery is designed to appeal to a traditional idea of Britishness, in a bid to evoke feelings of nostalgia which will persuade the audience of this option.

Many images from pages with a remain stance display an ongoing commitment to remain in spite of the referendum, for example image 36 looks at the options in terms of drinks, concluding a WTO (World Trade Organisation) deal would be merely the ‘dregs’ of a drink; the Canada option is ‘glass half full’, Norway deal is ‘almost full’, whilst remaining is ‘drinks with mates’. Again, this visual makes use of an idiom, ‘glass half full’, describing a positive outlook, as opposed to a person who considers their ‘glass half empty’. This suggests a view that the Canada option is overly optimistic when in reality we could have the ideal option of remaining. Image 38 proposes a People’s Vote, painted as an ‘escape option’ to avoid a hard Brexit or the PM’s deal. Meanwhile, image 40 satirises the notion of the ‘backstop’. This relatively new term is now commonplace, as it has been widely used in the Brexit negotiations to describe an agreement keeping North Ireland in the common market, to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. The issue has been very contentious and the backstop itself has been frequently revised in the hope of making it more appealing in negotiations. The image portrays the backstop as a net, and then humorously contrasts this with a second image– the ‘new, improved backstop’, identical in every way except with a small bow added. This image simplifies an otherwise very complicated political discourse.

Image 40: use of humour to give perspective on Backstop debate

The visuals also convey more general commentary on Brexit, for example the notion that the negotiations have gone on too long. In image 5, this is suggested by the ‘subject to delays’ sign on the Eurostar train, whilst in image 3 it is Theresa May who has aged as she continues to seek extensions to article 50 in 2060. Many visuals also express a dismay at the way the negotiations have been carried out, for example image 16 describes Theresa May as a ‘fish out of water’ and image 31 suggests cowardice from Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg as they have apparently ‘bottled it’ and ended up back in parliament when they should have been out of the EU celebrating. As alluded to in

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27 ‘Characters of Brexit Negotiations’, many images convey an equal mistrust of both the government and the opposition, for example images 7, 25 and 27 all extend their criticism to Jeremy Corbyn. Image 33 sums up how many remainers are feeling; as the politicians sit in the iconic Downing St negotiating over Brexit, behind them there is an ‘elephant in the room’, with the text ‘Brexit is a shit idea’. This is another example of a British idiom being utilized to make a political point – the ‘elephant in the room’ refers to an unsaid truth that is known by everyone but confronted by no one. As such, the image implies that Brexit negotiations are farcical but no politician will admit it.

8. Conclusion

This thesis has thoroughly examined social media visuals to uncover how discourses of Brexit negotiations are portrayed. A key theme found was relating to British and European identities, which were defined in contrast. Stereotypes of Britishness were contrasted with those of perceived Europeanness to exaggerate differences and make the case for Brexit. Classic British institutions such as the Royal Mail were used to represent a positive view of Britain, whilst the EU was at times characterised with depictions of bureaucrats.

Militaristic themes were used in discourse to remind the audience of world wars where Britain was in conflict with some of its European neighbours, and at times this went as far as using Nazi imagery. Flags and maps were the most commonly used signifiers that found their way into nearly every image, making it very clear for the viewer to comprehend. Flags were also used to make a distinction between Remainers and Leavers, for example, in images from leave pages, EU flags were used negatively, whilst EU flags were a positive symbol in Remain content.

Images of politicians were used as signifiers of the debates, and both leave and remain content showed a negativity towards politicians. There was criticism of both the government and the opposition, and certain figures ascribed to different options for the negotiations – for example Jacob Rees-Mogg representing a ‘hard’ Brexit, whilst Theresa May was continuously portrayed as weak, as if a personification of the deal she was creating. Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May were merged, demonstrating a sense of despair from citizens across the political spectrum. Remainers and Leavers also characterised each other and used symbols of the other side to mock, which highlighted the very different discourses each group was having.

The images had a tendency to overrepresent men, underrepresent black and ethnic minorities and contain depictions of the elite yet few depictions of the ‘ordinary’ citizen. This indicates a discourse dominated by a white, mostly male, political elite. Despite the sense of promise for the ‘new public arena’ of participatory culture given in chapter 3.1, the content of memes suggests the public remains an outsider to the Brexit political negotiations. The findings also showed a myriad of perspectives on

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28 the Brexit negotiations, which in turn reflects the divided public and the varying discourses also going on in other media channels. The chaos of Brexit is very apparent from the visuals and there was an overwhelming sense of negativity towards the Brexit negotiations from both sides of the debate. These findings make the case that whilst memes can be humorous and flippant, they are also very much attuned to the political discourses going on offline. The requirement for a creator to make their point in a single image encourages use of symbolism, idioms and connotations to communicate with the viewer. Memes afford individuals a chance to creatively contribute to political events, not only reflecting discourses, but also making fresh contributions to the public arena.

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Brexit Memes Brexit: Exploring discourses of the Brexit negotiations through social media visuals