2024/03/21 by Natalya Ryabinska · 1 voice
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Humor Studies and Applications #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia
paper · doi:10.1080/1060586x.2024.2331925
openalex publication_date 2024/03/21 · openalex created_date 2024/03/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
In this study we used computer-assisted (Atlas.ti software) quantitative analysis of framing politics in a popular Ukrainian television comedy show Vechernii Kvartal (VKv) to evaluate whether and to what extent it used populist frames in 2019-2020, after its star and director Volodymyr Zelensky won the presidency with populist narratives. We found that VKv offered a consistently populist perspective for looking at politics. Its main element was anti-elitist humor targeting both old politicians and political newcomers, including those from Zelensky’s party Sluha Narodu. The only exception was Zelensky himself, who was portrayed via the characteristic of populism people-centrist template—as a simple man genuinely caring about the people. We found no exclusionist framing, which is typical, for example, for European right-wing populist rhetoric and which discursively excludes all who are not natives (minorities, migrants, asylum-seekers) from a country’s “pure and virtuous people.”