Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa;
Kahn, Lily;
(2025)
A semiotic analysis of humor in K-drama memes.
Punctum International Journal of Semiotics
, 11
pp. 221-240.
10.18680/hss.2025.0011.
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Abstract
This study is a qualitative semiotic analysis of the humor in 13 representative K-drama memes drawn from a corpus of approximately 200 memes bearing the hashtag #kdramameme. K-dramas are one of the key aspects of the global Korean Wave, and there is a thriving body of memes created by and for the global K-drama fandom. Despite the centrality of humor to the meme genre and the fact that memes constitute a prominent form of 21st-century expression, K-drama memes have not previously been analyzed from a humor theory perspective. We analyze the humorous element of the K-drama memes in our corpus according to three semiotic theoretical mechanisms, namely the concepts of meme templates, blending, and benign violation. We argue that these three semiotic mechanisms feed into two overarching functions of K-drama meme humor, i.e., a social function (construction and enhancement of in-group identity and belonging), and a psychological one (expression of emotions). Our study shows that the K-drama memescape is multifaceted and connected to K-drama and real life in complex ways.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A semiotic analysis of humor in K-drama memes |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.18680/hss.2025.0011 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.18680/hss.2025.0011 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an Open Access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | K-drama, Meme, Memescape, Hallyu, Humor |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Hebrew and Jewish Studies |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10215414 |
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