Political Parody on the Cypriot Twitter.
The case of the parody account of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Cyprus “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou”
Marisa Maria Labiri
Faculty of Culture and Society, School of Arts & Communication K3 Media and Communication Studies: Master's (One-Year) Thesis 15 ECTS/hp May 2021 Supervisor: Signe Ivask
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 2
Abstract This thesis examines how a female politician is being represented in a political parody account on Twitter through a thematic analysis of “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc) Tweets, satirizing the Cypriot Minister of Justice & Public Order Ms. Emily Yiolitis. The analysis of both Tweets and official media outlets, during a fixed period of time, demonstrates how a humorous and at the same time critical act of public discourse, can perform as an expression of political action and a form of activism, which can be approached as a branch of the study of anti-fandom.
Keywords: political parody, Twitter, topicality, anti-fandom, participatory culture, thematic analysis, female representation, celebrity politics
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 3
Table of Contents Abstract ...... 2
Preface ...... 7
1. Introduction ...... 8
1.1. Purpose and research questions ...... 9
1.2. Background ...... 10
1.2.1. Introducing the Cypriot political scene – 2020-2021 ...... 10
1.2.2. The parody account “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou”
(@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc) ...... 11
1.2.3. And then “all hell broke loose” ...... 13
1.3. Summary ...... 14
2. Literature review...... 16
2.1. Defining parody ...... 17
2.1.1. Summary: Parody ...... 18
2.2. Fandom and anti-fans ...... 18
2.2.1. Summary: Fandom and anti-fans ...... 20
2.3. Twitter ...... 21
2.4. Summary ...... 22
2.5. Contribution to the field ...... 23
3. Theoretical framework ...... 23
3.1. Participative culture ...... 24 Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 4
3.2. Female representation ...... 25
3.3. Celebrity politics ...... 26
3.4. Discourse studies ...... 27
3.4.1. Ideology ...... 28
3.4.2. Judgements and opinions ...... 29
3.4.3. Power and hegemony ...... 29
3.5. Application ...... 30
4. Methodology ...... 31
4.1. The parody Twitter account ...... 31
4.2. Online news sites ...... 32
5. Ethics ...... 33
6. Analysis ...... 34
6.1. Twitter parody account ...... 34
6.1.1. Theme: Female beauty & social status ...... 36
6.1.2. Theme: Competence ...... 39
6.1.3. Theme: Favoritism – Presidential Protection ...... 41
6.1.4. Sub-conclusion: Representation of the Minister in the Twitter parody
account ...... 44
6.2. Online news sites ...... 45
6.2.1. Theme 1: Dangerous for democracy ...... 48 Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 5
6.2.2. Theme 2: Incompetence – Resignation ...... 49
6.3. Sub-conclusion: How was the Minister portrayed in the Cypriot Press ...... 50
7. Conclusion ...... 52
7.1. Limitations ...... 54
7.2. Future research ...... 55
References ...... 56
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 6
Table of Figures Figure 1 Facebook page of “Os Dame” ...... 11
Figure 2 Parody account of the Minister Mrs. Emily Yiolitis ...... 12
Figure 3 Tweet from the account of the Minister of Justice & Public Order Ms. Emily
Yiolitis, 28 December 2020 ...... 13
Figure 4 Press Conference at the Presidential Palace. Shown here the President of the
Republic of Cyprus Mr. Nicos Anastasiades and the Minister of Justice and Public Order
Ms. Emily Yiolitis (K, 2021) ...... 14
Figure 5 Post from the Instagram account of Ms. Emily Yiolitis ...... 15
Figure 6 Representation of van Dijk’s ideological square (van Dijk T. , 1985) ...... 30
Figure 7 Main daily and weekly newspapers/news sites in Cyprus ...... 33
Figure 8 General surface descriptors (Lampiri, 2021, p. 13) ...... 35
Figure 9 Analysis of the parody account description (Lampiri, 2021, p. 14) ...... 36
Figure 10 Theme: female beauty and social status ...... 37
Figure 11 Theme: Competence ...... 39
Figure 12 Theme: Favoritism - Protectiveness ...... 42
Figure 13 Documentation of the Press coverage of the Parliamentary committee meeting on
15/2/21 based on headlines ...... 46
Figure 14 Macrostructure and discourse topics from Cypriot newspapers, 16/2/21-28/2/21
...... 51
Figure 15 Sketch by S. Mitidis published in Cyprus Mail, 21/2/2021, “Tales from the
Coffeeshop: Hurray! Cyprob show scheduled to resume” ...... 52
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 7
Preface I would like to express my sincere thanks to my examiner Maria Brock for her constructive comments.
I would also like to warmly thank all the teaching staff of this program for their positive predisposition, the knowledge they imparted to me, and the extra effort they put into teaching us during these awkward conditions caused by a worldwide pandemic, often while being in confinement.
Special thanks go to the Head of the MA program, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies and Visual Communication, Michael Krona, for his kindness, for the fact that he made himself available to us at all times, and for his incessant willingness to support and encourage us throughout the year. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 8
1. Introduction In November 2020, the political parody account under the name “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc) appeared on Cypriot Twitter, satirizing the Minister of Justice & Public Order. This account constitutes the first political parody account that has appeared on Cypriot Twitter. Since then, and in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, many events took place in the Cypriot political scene sparking an unprecedented social, political, and media upheaval. The triggering event concerning the specific Twitter account has been the reaction of the Minister (object of the parody) to the content of the parody, her "unofficial" complaint to the Police (which is under her jurisdiction), following a police raid to the house of a Cypriot citizen with the excuse that she was the one behind the Twitter parody account. From that moment on, the parody account's popularity (i.e. number of followers) went up significantly. Conventionally, the media have been the main source of information for the public. Nevertheless, the prevalence of media logic over all aspects of social life combined with the affordances of technology, namely the Internet and social media, have shifted the role of audiences, from simple receivers to content creators and media sources. (Labiri, 2021) Interestingly so, even new media, such as parody accounts and other forms of public social media posts have been considered media sources, further strengthening participatory culture. Traditional media dealt extensively with the “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” parody account since its creation and up to the appearance of the Minister before a Parliamentary Committee, to which she was summoned to give explanations. The media's preoccupation with the parody account can be justified since this is the first such phenomenon aimed at a politician in Cyprus. In addition, the target of the parody is a well-presented young woman who bears characteristics of celebrity politicians and is closely related to the immediate environment of the President of the Republic. Another fact that is making the media’s interest in the parody account reasonable, is the audience’s preference for “softer news”. As a result, “political journalism is becoming more superficial and sensationalist, less informed and less investigative, more desk-bound, more cannibalistic, and generally prone to taking newsgathering short-cuts in its practice” (Van Aelst, 2017). As Altheide suggested, “Media sociology has shown very clearly that news and politics are immersed in the Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 9 entertainment format.” (Altheide, 2004) and this tendency to choose topics that contain a scandalous tone or gossip goes perfectly with tracking an account that satirizes a politician. On the part of the account creator, I will analyze later in my thesis how the utilization of humor and stereotypes is actually an exercise of the democratic right of the citizen to criticize the State and its officials; an essential element for an engaged and sustainable public culture (Hariman, 2008, p. 248). In the parody account, imitation and ridicule are employed in order to create a new persona. Texts (in the place of voice) and images are used for the birth and cultivation of a unique personality, which differs from the real one, aiming either at an aggressive attack on principles of another or the rendering of the topical reality as perceived by the person behind the parody. Additionally, the fandom dimension should not be overlooked as, “the irreverent takes on media texts also reflect aspects of ironic, critical and anti-fandom” (Highfield, 2016, p. 2031).
1.1. Purpose and research questions In view of the above, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate what types of themes are used in the specific political parody account and how they challenge power and authority. To do that, I will examine how the subject of the parody (the Minister) is represented on the Twitter account, in the context of political news and topical coverage. Secondly, I will examine the journalistic discourse in traditional news outlets in Cyprus regarding the actions of the Minister and the Police, focusing on the triggering event. My purpose in on the one hand to comprehend how a citizen uses the Twitter parody account as an alternative voice, seeking to pass a message to the audience and compete with hegemonic representatives on equal terms (Denisova, 2017) and on the other, to capture the news media’s reaction to it. This leads me to the following two research questions: RQ1: How is the Minister Ms. Emily Yiolitis being represented on the Twitter parody account “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” as a means of challenging authority? RQ2: How was the Minister Emily Yiolitis portrayed in the Cypriot Press following her appearance on the Parliamentary Committee? In the following section I will give a brief background on some major topical news, which I consider to be important for a better understanding of the circumstances under which Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 10 the certain Twitter parody account has been created. It will also support the comprehension of the context of my analysis and justify the sources I use and the choice of reference points.
1.2. Background 1.2.1. Introducing the Cypriot political scene – 2020-2021 The year 2020 has been a tremulous one for Cyprus, with major political scandals. The major three scandals that saw the news are the following: The first one was the scandal over the issuance of “golden passports” to foreigners accused of criminal offenses. The story culminated with a famous video aired and posted online by the foreign information network Al Jazeera (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj18cya_gvw), defaming Cyprus internationally. The video revealed the absolute readiness and willingness of politicians and high- ranking government officials to facilitate foreign investors since, as they said in the video, "This is Cyprus, everything can be done". The slogan “This is Cyprus” became a common meme and catch phrase in Cypriot discourse ever since; the corresponding hashtag is #ThisIsCyprus. Another incident, which caused an institutional crisis, was the report of the Auditor General on the granting of citizenship to executives of the newfound casino in Cyprus and one more company. Reacting, the government characterized the report as unsubstantiated and accused the Auditor General, Mr. Odysseas Michaelides, of exceeding his authority. In 2020, the case of non-performing loans of Politically Exposed Persons, including MPs, also stigmatized the political life of Cyprus. The third case with a strong stench of scandal in the year 2020, was the case of the “Cypra” slaughterhouse. An aspect, which caused fierce conflicts in the Parliament, concerned the withdrawal of a letter of guarantee in 2017, with the intervention of the General Accountant, in favor of the slaughterhouse and against the Republic. The political crises of 2020 were passed on to 2021, where there were - perhaps for the first time in the history of the island - intense mass reactions by citizens in the midst of a pandemic, who managed to organize rallies via social media platforms. In early February, an open call for a march under the title "Os Dame" -which means "up to here" (i.e. enough is enough) in the Cypriot dialect- appeared on Cypriot Facebook (Figure 1), amid a ban on Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 11 demonstrations. Groups of citizens protested against corruption, the government's divisive policy, the destruction of the natural environment and the maladministration of immigration detention centers. With the slogan "Health, Solidarity, Reaction" as the central banner reads (Figure 1), the protesters were faced with a repression unprecedented for Cyprus. Images of police violence and the serious injury of a young female musician by a police water cannon was covered by news media around the world. The disconcertment against the political system, led groups of citizens take a step back from official party mechanisms and denounce the relationship between corruption and the perpetuation of division. This tension peaked when the third rally of "Os Dame" took place.
Figure 1 Facebook page of “Os Dame”
1.2.2. The parody account “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc)
Ms. Emily Yiolitis was appointed Minister of Justice & Public Order in 29th June 2020. From 2006, until her appointment as Minister, Emily Yiolitis was a Partner in the Law Office “Aristodemou, Loizides, Yiolitis LLC” (which merged with Harneys LLC in 2010) and was head of corporate law, competition and taxation at Harneys. Shortly after her official appointment to the Ministry of Justice & Public Order, a fake profile of Emily Yiolitis appeared on Twitter, which was not labeled as a parody from the beginning. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 12
Figure 2 Parody account of the Minister Mrs. Emily Yiolitis
The parody account under the name “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc) appeared on Twitter in November 2020, it presently has 3,126 Followers and it is the 1st known parody account of a local Cypriot politician ever to have appeared on Twitter (Figure 2). The parody account has harshly criticized the Minister, her immediate family and close friends. The triggering event, as mentioned above, was a complaint she filled with the Police that led to the issuance of a warrant. Members of the Office for the Fight against Cybercrime conducted a search in the home of a person, who allegedly manages the Twitter parody account, and confiscated mobile phones and electronic devices of all members of the household. Following the police search, the Police Spokesperson said that, "We have located the person who manages this profile and we secured some information and, if there was a complaint against this person, he/she would have been arrested because there are offenses of forgery of personal data." (Antoniou, 2020) However, the Minister of Justice in a post on her Twitter account stated that she has no intention to take legal action against the person who manages the specific profile. "No intention," she wrote, "to take legal action against my goblin. My opinion is that it goes Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 13 beyond the limits of satire when it offends the dignity of my father and relatives. Let it deal only with me. He/she is welcome for an apple cream in my office. Happy holidays with health, love, humor and patience!" (Emily Yiolitis @emilyyiolitis 28 December 2020, Figure 3).
Figure 3 Tweet from the account of the Minister of Justice & Public Order Ms. Emily Yiolitis, 28 December 2020
1.2.3. And then “all hell broke loose” The way in which the Police acted in the case of the parody account provoked an intense discussion. The Police investigated the possible commission of two offenses: Violation of personal data and falsification of electronic data, an offense that carries up to five years imprisonment. Following the search at a citizen’s house (Mrs. Niki Zarou), at least three opposition parties demanded the resignation of Emily Yiolitis for two reasons: the complaint she made to the Police about the parody Twitter account that satirizes her, and the violence used by the police against demonstrators in Nicosia. The lawyer representing Ms. Zarou, Mr. Alexandros Clerides, stated to the media site Philenews that a lawsuit was filed on 2/3/21 with which she demands general and special damages against the Attorney General as a representative of the State and Ms. Yiolitis personally, for violating the constitutional rights of his client (Zoumidou, 2021). Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 14
What is more, at a press conference that took place at the Presidential Palace on January 2021, during which the President of the Republic announced measures against corruption, a question was addressed by a journalist to the Minister regarding the parody account. The President, obviously irritated, did not allow the Minister to reply and stated that he is the one who appointed Ms. Yiolitis, that he trusts her completely, and that taking responsibility is out of the question. "It’s that simple. Full stop.", he concluded. (K, 2021)
Figure 4 Press Conference at the Presidential Palace. Shown here the President of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Nicos Anastasiades and the Minister of Justice and Public Order Ms. Emily Yiolitis (K, 2021)
A parliamentary Committee meeting on Human Rights was called on the 15th February 2021, in the presence of the Minister of Justice and Public Order Emily Yiolitis and the Chief of the Police Stelios Papatheodorou, regarding the handling of the Minister's complaint for a parody account. The session was also attended by Niki Zarou, at whose house the investigation took place.
1.3. Summary We saw in this chapter how some important topical events in the political sphere caused the intense dissatisfaction, indignation, and mistrust of the citizens, resulting in the creation of a new movement, the so-called "Os Dame". Within this climate of dissatisfaction and disrepute of politicians, with corruption being the principal accusation, a new form of polemic also appears on the Cypriot language Twitter: the parody account satirizing a young Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 15 female Minister. But Ms. Yiotilis is not just any Minister; she is a person who exposes herself on social media in a celebrity fashion, she is in a relationship with another ‘celebrity’ figure, Mr. Chrysanthos Tsouroullis the CEO of DIAS Media Group and SIGMA TV, and maintains close friendly relations with members of the family of the President of the Republic. Members of the immediate family of the President of the Republic have been broadly accused of being involved in financial scandals, capitalizing on the access but also the ‘safety-net’ the President is offering them. All these elements made the attack against Ms. Yiolitis rather fitting: a. The availability of a variety of photos she posted over-time on her social media accounts from parties, luxurious travels, and personal moments (Figure 5), b. the image of a beautiful young woman, independent and professionally successful with an exciting and well-off life, made her the perfect candidate for an attack. Especially after the triggering event, she became - during a troubled era- the representation of all “corrupt” Cypriot politicians.
Figure 5 Post from the Instagram account of Ms. Emily Yiolitis
In the chapter that follows, I will list all the concepts and terms that are useful for approaching the topic and are relevant to my research.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 16
2. Literature review The topic of parody and satire on social media is a fairly new one and not extensive research has been done. It is important to note that the majority of relevant academic research, within the fields of social sciences, media and communication, technology and legal studies, have appeared mostly within the last ten years. In this literature review I will focus on the main concept of the parody and present various definitions and meanings in the context of social sciences and communication science. I will also refer to the concept of participatory culture, which is very relevant to my topic since social media platforms are de facto easy to use tools that allow for the general public’s participation and engagement. Literature from the field of fan studies has also been thoroughly studied as I consider that the act of parody is inextricably linked to the idea of the fan-admirer and respectively, in the case of negative criticism, to the idea of the fan-hater or anti-fan. Having studied these central concepts and several peripheral ones, I have determined that a portion of the literature is largely relevant for the scope of my thesis but at the same time it is clear to me that research has not covered substantially all facets of social media participation and the affordances they provide for audience activism, especially through the figurative device of the parody. Thus, I have decided to focus on literature that defines mainly parody. Secondly, I will refer to the affordances of Twitter and how this microblogging tool can be and is used for actions of both humor and activism, discussing the concept of participatory culture. And thirdly, I will focus on fan studies, which I find are very relative to my thesis. I have found all the articles I mention in this literature review using mainly two academic databases: Malmo University Library and google scholar. I also found it very useful to study the list of references of academic articles most relevant to my own study. Consequently, when I did not search for a specific academic article by title or by author, I used mostly the following search criteria: “Parody AND Twitter”, “fandom AND anti- fandom”, “political parody”, “participatory culture”, “slacktivism”, “Twitter AND topicality”, “Twitter”, “indexicality”, “female representation AND social media AND Twitter”.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 17
2.1. Defining parody There have been many efforts to define parody and satire since the literary form has appeared in several versions throughout the centuries. When referring to literature, we could say that parody is an imitation or falsification, in a mocking or comic mood, of the form or content of a literary work. It is a form of satire which “can be thought of as variously using mixed modes of humor, such as irony, sarcasm, and parody (Peifer, 2013, p. 158). When attempting to explore what parody does, Amy Johnson’s description who states that “like a metaphor [it] expresses meaning through correspondence. Parody constitutes, reproduces, and alters an original, with both reproduction and alteration simultaneously recognizable in the parodic version” (Johnson A. , 2015, p. 68), is very useful. Nonetheless, parody is equally a playful act and a polemic; it is “a passionate argument against something and in favor of something else” (Sangeet & Combe, 2015, p. 212), and at the same time it is a form of play, which “is a paradox in that it is both real and not-real and those who engage in play simultaneously recognize it as both” (Johnson A. , 2017, p. 26). Tim Highfield’s and Robert Hariman’s articles on political parody and humor have been very inspiring for my own work, since I will attempt to analyze the humorous parodic performance as a vehicle to exercise political criticism and fan activism. Highfield, referring to Twitter, supports that “the presence and longevity of parody accounts underline the importance of humor on social media, including within news and topical coverage.” (Highfield, 2016, p. 2028) while Hariman continues this thought by arguing that “political humor and particularly its core modality or parody are essential for an engaged, sustainable, democratic public culture.” (Hariman, 2008, p. 248). Consequently, parody accounts combine many elements; they are both a polemic against something and a playful act. They are “essential resources for sustaining public culture” (Hariman, 2008, p. 248). Parody accounts are widespread on social media and especially on Twitter, satirizing celebrities, politicians, fictional characters and more (Lampiri, 2021). I embrace Highfields’s statement that parodies are “a ritualized social media practice, an extension of fan practices and irreverent internet culture” (Highfield, 2016, p. 2028) in the realm of which we often witness the appearance of several spoof accounts of popular political actors, that have gained visibility (Denisova, 2017). The digital space is unique in that its affordances have shifted the role of audiences, from simple receivers to content creators and media sources, so it can Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 18 consequently, “empower alternative voices to pass their message to the audience and compete with hegemonic mouth-pieces on equal terms” (Denisova, 2017, p. 25). When I refer to the word hegemony, I adopt the definition given by Benedetto Fontana. Fontana writes that the word hegemony “derives from the Greek work ηγεμών (guide, ruler, leader) and ηγεμονία (rule, leadership), and generally it means the preeminence or supremacy that a state, social group, or even and individual may exercise over others” (Fontana, 2008, p. 82). It is important to understand that the mimicry behind the parodic act, offers an esoteric intellectual pleasure to its readers for the reason that “its sole value seems to lie not in the parody itself but in its effect as critique, that is to say, in the sharpness of the insight afforded into the weaknesses, the eccentricities, the disharmonies, and incongruencies of the work parodied” (Kiremidjian, 1969, p. 232). This characteristic of the parody is in alignment with the opinion that “fandom contains significant displeasures as correlates and counterparts of its pleasures” (Gray J. , 2005, p. 840).
2.1.1. Summary: Parody We have seen in the literary review of parody that it is a means used to imitate and ridicule a particular target. During the execution of this act, the performer of the parody engages in a form of play, taking on a role that recreates personhood, and while using as expressive vehicles mockery and humor, passionately moves against it. When it comes to social media, with an emphasis on Twitter, the durability of parody profiles displays the importance of humor, the need the users feel for participation, as well as the enablement of different voices to convey their message to the public and resist to traditional power structures. Thus, operating a parody Twitter account is "a social and political communicative practice." (Denisova, 2017, p. 29). I will now explain how fandom, and in specific the anti-fan aspect, can be seen as an act of political action which is related to my study of the specific Twitter parody account.
2.2. Fandom and anti-fans In this paper I will treat the Twitter parody account as a form of social and political critique in the context of fan studies. As stated in the previous section, a parody microblog is “a social and political communicative practice.” (Denisova, 2017, p. 29) What I would like Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 19 to present in this section is an overview of what it means to be a fan, a non-fan and an anti- fan, especially in a social networking environment, and how media fandom is connected to the genre of social media parody. This review will help lay the groundwork for understanding the behavior and motivations of users of parody accounts. According to Fiske, “fandom is a common feature of popular culture in industrial societies” (Fiske, 1992, p. 30). Audiences are involved in varying degrees of semiotic productivity, producing meanings and pleasures related to their social status. However, fans often turn this semiotic productivity into some form of text production which is shared amongst them and consequently help define the fan community (Fiske, 1992). Fans are producers of texts, images and other media, and creators of distinct cultural communities comprised of people who share common tastes, values and ideas. What is interesting to note is that “much of the pleasure of fandom lies in the fan talk that it produces, and many fans report that their choice of their object of fandom was determined at least as much by the oral community they wished to join as by any of its inherent characteristics” (Fiske, 1992, p. 38). What makes the study of fans fascinating is, among other things, the strong discrimination they show regarding the persons or issues they support and those they reject. So, are fans potential fanatics? In some cases, yes. This is why fandom is often seen as an “excessive, borderline on deranged, behavior” (Lewis, 1992, p. 9). This characteristic of fans constitutes them as the “most visible and identifiable of audiences” (Lewis, 1992, p. 1). During my research I noticed that anti-fandom has not been adequately studied since “hate and dislike have a bad name in media and cultural studies” (Gray & Murray, p. 358), an opinion that has been reinforced by Jonathan Gray’s work on fandom and anti-fandom. But what happens in cases where fans express themselves against their chosen object of fandom? “This is the realm not necessarily of those who are against fandom per se, but of those who strongly dislike a given text or genre, considering it inane, stupid, morally bankrupt and/or aesthetic drivel.” (Gray, 2003, p. 70) Anti-fans remain also a type of fandom and we could say that behind their expression of dislike lie expectations of how things should be like on a social, moral, or aesthetic level. “To study the anti-fan, then, is to study what expectations and what values structure media consumption” (Gray, 2003, p. 73). I posit that this disposition of the anti-fan to critically comment, engage in text or image production, and try to influence the opinions of others by showcasing what is right versus what is wrong Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 20
(expression of values), can be studied in connection to the genre of political parody on social media. We could say that anti-fans are indeed fans of the opposite of their object of criticism. They are fans of a hypothetical “Other” and through voicing their objection and criticism they are too, creating an anti-fan community based on irony, criticism, even hate-speech, and, in the case of parody, role-playing. The third category in fandom studies is the one dealing with non-fans, who are defined as “those viewers or readers who do view or read a text, but not with any intense involvement” (Gray, 2003, p. 74).
2.2.1. Summary: Fandom and anti-fans I have examined the definition of three types of fandom in this section: fans, anti-fans, and non-fans. One could say that both fans and anti-fans are actually fans of a subject, but support the reason behind their choice in a different manner. While, non-fans are indifferent to the object of either admiration or dislike. The counterparts of fans -anti-fans- are “as much a presence in contemporary society as are fans” (Gray J. , 2005, p. 841). Parody is indeed a form of anti-fandom which displays through criticism, satire and a playful behavior how the actor imagines the ideal situation. Meaning that it may be understood as an attempt to indicate the right versus the wrong, logic versus the irrational, the good versus the bad, accentuating the dipole "us" versus the "others". In our digital era, with the affordances the Internet offers, anti-fandom is expressed widely and openly either anonymously or not. Be it in fan forums, in Twitter comments, or parodic forms of expression (e.g. Twitter parody accounts), people now more than ever feel free to express how much they “love to hate” something or somebody. We know that “The most visible activities associated with media fandom are productive practices in which fans create new content and meaning that incorporates or expands upon the source text.” (Fandom as Survival in Media Life, 2014) and the case of the Twitter parody account under study in this thesis is a typical example of this activity. With the relevant definitions and dimensions of parody and fandom explored within the literature, I will now explain how Twitter microblogging works and the position of parody within this social media tool. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 21
2.3. Twitter As Kierkegaard writes, “Twitter was founded in March 2006 by Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, and Biz Stone. At the time most people were paying per SMS message. The first Twitter prototype was used as an internal service for Odeo employees and the full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006.” (Kierkegaard, 2010, p. 578). The platform allows “Twitterers” or “tweeters” to send and receive short messages, called “tweets”, on Twitter’s Website, with instant messaging software, or with mobile phones. (Kierkegaard, 2010). “Twitter, which started as a micro-blogging website, is the third most popular social network next to Facebook and My Space” (Kierkegaard, 2010, p. 577). Social media have become prominent means for people to lift their voices and Twitter especially, “is providing a particular communicative space which is affording the emergence of a new type of publicness: the ‘personal public’” (Schmidt, 2014, p. 4). People use Twitter both to communicate with others and increase the number of receivers of their unique messages as well as to engage in political and social criticism. As mentioned in the section about parody, Twitter -and parody within the platform- can be used as a tool for resisting hegemony and overcoming political power. “Social media is leveling the field by allowing every person to engage in discussion. It has broken some of the traditional barriers and dispelled misinformation on the Web.” (Kierkegaard, 2010, p. 577) Twitter parody accounts can definitely be seen through the lens of social critique. What is unique and unusual about this microblogging platform is that it somewhat endorses parody through its policy (Parody, newsfeed, commentary, and fan account policy (the “policy”) , 2021) by giving the following instructions in the section “Requirements for parody, newsfeed, commentary, and fan accounts”, thus welcoming such activity: Bio: The bio should clearly indicate that the user is not affiliated with the subject of the account. Non-affiliation can be indicated by incorporating, for example, words such as (but not limited to) "parody," "fake," "fan," or "commentary.” Non-affiliation should be stated in a way that can be understood by the intended audience. Account name: The account name (note: this is separate from the username, or @handle) should clearly indicate that the user is not affiliated with the subject of the account. Non-affiliation can be indicated by incorporating, for example, words such as (but not limited Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 22 to) "parody," "fake," "fan," or "commentary.” Non-affiliation should be stated in a way that can be understood by the intended audience. Essentially, “Parody accounts are a situated play. They are specific to the Twitter platform, using platform affordances and social norms to achieve their aesthetic expression. Most basically, this entails capitalizing on the identification of accounts as people and using this envoiced identity to perform a particular imagined personality.” (Johnson A. , 2017, p. 30). For understanding the subject of the parody Twitter account under study, I posit that play and activism go hand in hand in these easy-to-use content creation tools. Highfield notes that “social media platforms provide opportunities to creatively participate in public debate, whether sharing extended commentary or remixing or spoofing political videos. These practices extend beyond political aims, with such approaches also part of participatory culture” (Highfield, 2016, p. 2029). The concept of slacktivism is also relevant to this concept of participatory culture and activism, which is defined as “low risk, low-cost activity via social media, whose purpose is to raise awareness, produce change, or grant satisfaction to the person engaged in the activity” (Chou , Hsu , & Hernon, 2020, p. 821). The rise of the use of the microblogging tool is also attributed to the increased significance it has for activist groups and political nonconformists as “should an issue arise that inspires a user of Web2.0 tools to activism, she will be well-positioned to create and share content, and she will have a pre- existing audience of her friends and followers” (Zuckerman, under review, p. 7). This idea of the affordances the tool has provided its users has given rise to the Cute Cat Theory by Ethan Zuckerman (Zuckerman, 2013).
2.4. Summary In this section, I have covered three themes that are essential to my thesis. In regards to the parody, I presented studies that defined parody in its literary and digital form as a “figurative device which is used to imitate and ridicule a particular target” (Mavronikolakis, Villegas, & Preotiuc-Pietro, 2020, p. 1). A summary of various fandom definitions and aspects followed, aiming to explain how parody is an act of fandom even in the cases of snarking, critique or a manifestation of anti-fandom, for the reason that “irreverent takes on media texts also reflect aspects of ironic, critical and anti-fandom” (Highfield, 2016, p. 2031). Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 23
Lastly, I gave a short outline of the Twitter platform which is “a heady mixture of messaging, social networking, ‘micro-blogging’ and something called ‘presence’” (Kierkegaard, 2010, p. 579), its affordances and its role in enhancing the participatory culture of social platforms.
2.5. Contribution to the field My thesis will contribute to the growing number of academic research within the topics of Twitter parody accounts, fandom and anti-fans in the context of political action and the effects that this form of social and political communicative practice has on media and society. It is also possible that my thesis will contribute to a wider discussion regarding the usage of microblogging platforms as vehicles for the public’s resistance against hegemonic structures and their interpretation of political reality in societies where there are major ethical and political crises. My overall goal is to offer an understanding of how political parody on Twitter can form, establish and create an impact in the political and social scene of Cyprus. Additionally, I consider probable that my thesis will inspire more researchers to further examine the production of parodic texts on social media in view of anti-fandom, especially those who take on the form of social and political critique on the Greek and Cypriot Twitter.
3. Theoretical framework In my thesis I will approach the issue of the political parody Twitter account as an effort to creatively participate in public debate, an expression of resistance and an effort to expose hegemony, using as a vehicle the anonymity allowed by Twitter as a means of social networking. Even though I have initially leaned towards applying the Critical Discourse Analysis method, I concluded that a thematic analysis is more appropriate because of the limited size of Twitter texts and the extensive use of images and symbols. I will analyze my findings in view of participative culture discussions, taking into consideration the representation of female politicians on social media in the light of celebrity politics.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 24
3.1. Participative culture As Habermas argued as early as in the 1960s, “the ongoing project of human emancipation is dependent on the ability of publics to participate in ongoing rational communication about matters of significance to their society and its future.” (Hodkinson, 2017, p. 182). Indeed, today, social media platforms do “provide opportunities to creatively participate in public debate, whether sharing extended commentary or remixing or spoofing political videos. These practices extend beyond political aims, with such approaches also part of participatory culture.” (Highfield, 2016, p. 2029) While traditionally, the public was a mere receiver of media content and had no say or control over the messages being transmitted, the affordances of technology, namely the Internet and social media, have shifted their role, from simple receivers to content creators and media sources. Habermas’ idealistic vision of the creation of a public space where people could meet and discuss about their shared culture and ideas has somewhat materialized. Of course, the current model of digital public participation is by no means an officially accepted instrument of fostering accountability on a political, social, or any other level and the messages created on social media platforms are not fed systematically back into government and the commercial sector, as Habermas suggested (Hodkinson, 2017). Still, they do bring about change and, in many cases, organized online movements, influencing individuals or smaller groups of people, have deeply affected social and political life on a topical and international level. As a matter of fact, in a highly mediated environment, audiences do engage more and more in online public discourse since it is a low-risk, low-cost activity, driven by the will to raise awareness, produce change or enjoy the process of participation (Chou , Hsu , & Hernon, 2020). Benkler argues that, within networked public spheres “the social practices of information and discourse allow a very large number of actors to see themselves as potential contributors to public discourse and as potential actors in political arenas, rather than mostly passive recipients of mediated information who occasionally can vote their preferences.” (Benkler, 2006). Of course, the fact that audiences are able to actively participate in social media does not mean they always choose or are able to do so. (Labiri, 2021) Large scale corporations have maintained their power and dominance on the Internet and in that context, Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 25 it is “worth remembering that much of the content created and published by ordinary internet users will only be engaged with by tiny audiences.” (Hodkinson, 2017, p. 190) In this thesis I will examine how a topical Twitter political parody account, acting as a voice of resistance with characteristics of anti-fandom and activism, has affected the political and social life of the country.
3.2. Female representation In general, women “figure prominently within media content”, nevertheless, “their role often has been secondary to that of men.” (Hodkinson, 2017, p. 244) Since the Twitter parody account being analyzed in this thesis criticizes a woman, I believe it would be useful to offer a basic overview of how women politicians are being represented in social media.
Even though Clare Walsh has found in her research that “media consumers are more than capable of resisting over sexism” (Walsh, 2015, p. 1026) in the case of snarking and under anti-fandom practices in social media, I find that the boundaries between satire and sexism are blurred. (Lampiri, 2021) According to Michelle Lazar, “the central concern of feminist critical discourse analysts is with critiquing discourses which sustain a patriarchal social order – relations of power that systematically privilege men as a social group, and disadvantage, exclude, and disempower women as a social group.” (Lazar, 2007, p. 145) We will see later in the analysis chapter of the political parody Twitter account that indeed, there is a clear display of this systematic patriarchal relationship between the female politician and her surrounding mostly-male political environment.
The way female public figures are portrayed on social media is often indicative of the discrimination they are subject to. Especially when it comes to female politicians, the criticism is harsh and the attention often shifts from actions and political statements to their physical appearance. (Lampiri, 2021) As Walsh concludes in her article, “female political Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 26 leaders continue to be judged according to different and often more taxing standards that their male peers” (Walsh, 2015, p. 1032).
3.3. Celebrity politics
Without a doubt, “celebrities are the ultimate media creation and as such embody the notion of simulacra” (Hodkinson, 2017, p. 270). In an era where politics have become highly mediatized, we are witnessing the relatively recent phenomenon of the rise of ‘celebrity politics’ while, as Street argues, in recent years “considerable political and media attention has focused on the phenomenon of the ‘celebrity politician’” (Street, 2004, p. 435). By the word celebrity we refer to those “people who, via mass media, enjoy ‘a greater presence and wider scope of activity and agency than are those who make up the rest of the population.
They are allowed to move on the public stage while the rest of us watch’” (Street, 2004, p.
437).
This development can be explained as a side effect of the mediation of politics. As J.
Stromback writes, “mediated politics refers to a situation in which the media have become the most important source of information and vehicle of communication between the governors and the governed” (Stromback, 2008, p. 230). This exact prevalence of media logic over party or political logic and the audience’s role in the digital age, has given rise to celebrity politics, which is described by Nyarwi Ahmad as “the established politicians who enter the sphere of celebrity” (Ahmad, 2020, p. 4).
In this case of the Twitter political parody, the object of satire is a person with an intense public social media activity, projecting a bourgeois fashionable life-style, who is in my opinion a typical case of a celebrity politician; a fact that has placed her immediately Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 27 under the microscope of the audience and constituted her an easy “target” for criticism and mockery. (Lampiri, 2021)
3.4. Discourse studies As mentioned earlier, I have attempted to conduct my analysis based on the discourse analysis but it has not worked well with small-sized Twitter texts. Regardless of the fact that I will not be using discourse analysis, I have been influenced by some of the theories that have been developed over the years by van Dijk, which I thought were relevant to my subject and helped me in the analysis and the manner in which I grouped and interpreted these texts. Let me begin with a definition of the word discourse, whose first known use was in the 15th century. Discourse is defined as "all forms of spoken interaction, formal and informal, and written texts of all kinds" (Potter & Wetherell, 1987, p. 7).Discourse analysis has its roots in the philosophical theory of social constructionism according to which scientific theories are determined to a degree by social and political contexts, therefore discourse should be taken seriously into account as the basic means of the constant construction and reconstruction of reality. Reality is not common for everyone, it is not given or natural. And since humans are historical and cultural beings, the way in which we understand and reproduce information regarding the world is historically and culturally specific and it is subject to change. The world then is understood via social interactions “in which we construct common truths and compete about what is true and false.” (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 5) Prevalent theories around critical discourse analysis belong, among others, to Norman Fairclough and Teun A. van Dijk. I will not go into detail about the different approaches and theories since this is out of the scope of this paper but, I will mention some basic principles below, which I found relevant to my work. Norman Fairclough recognizes that there is a relationship between social events, social practices and social structures. His approach to discourse analysis is based on the “assumption that language is an irreducible part of social life, dialectically interconnected with other elements of social life, so that social analysis and research always has to take account of language.” (Fairclough, 2003, p. 2) Thus, no deep understanding of the social causes of discourse can be achieved without investigating the way language is used in both Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 28 written texts and oral communication. A concept that I found particularly interesting in his writings is that we should not be confined by our personal sense of reality. Our knowledge, what we think we know about texts, is limited; “we should not assume that the reality of texts is exhausted by our knowledge about texts.” (Fairclough, 2003, p. 14) Consequently, there is no such thing as objectivity when it comes to the analysis of texts. For Teun van Dijk discourse is “a complex communicative event that also embodies a social context, featuring participants (and their properties) as well as production and reception processes.” (Van Dijk, 1988, p. 2) while he defines the method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as “discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social-power abuse and inequality are enacted, reproduced, legitimated, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context.” (van Dijk, 2015, p. 466). Before moving to the next chapter, I would like to briefly list some of the basic concepts that govern van Dijk’s theory and correspond to the topics that influenced the way I went about my analysis, namely ideology, how opinions are expressed and the concept of power and hegemony.
3.4.1. Ideology Ideologies are defined by van Dijk as “systems that are at the basis of the socio- political cognitions of groups” (van Dijk, 1985, p. 138). According to van Dijk, “language users are defined as members of communities, groups or organizations, and are supposed to speak, write or understand from a specific social position. Ideological analysis then examines what ideologies are typically associated with that position, for example, in order to defend or legitimate that position, typically so by discourse.” (van Dijk, 1985, p. 136) No individual can have his/her own language as the group or community this individual belongs to defines the means of expression. Language in the texts I will be analyzing is very important as it is a combination of common Greek, the Cypriot dialect and the English language. The symbolism behind the usage of such a combination of languages is central in the expression of ideology and the attitude against social and political events.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 29
3.4.2. Judgements and opinions Since my thesis focuses on a parody account as a polemic against the elite and the power of politics as a form of hegemony, I would like to mention van Dijk’s position regarding judgements and opinions in this section. The scholar holds that beliefs are also relevant to what our unique evaluations of what is good or bad, what is just or unfair, what is right or wrong, which are “the products of judgements based on values or norms” (van Dijk T. , 1998, p. 19). This is how opinions are formed which are of course related to ideologies, as “clusters of beliefs in our mind” (van Dijk T. , 1998, p. 26).
3.4.3. Power and hegemony Power is a central concept of my study. Power can be seen from various angles and has been studied in a political, sociological, psychological, physical and other aspects. When talking about social power, Teun van Dijk defines it as “a social relation between groups or institutions, involving the control by a (more) powerful group or institution (and its members) of the actions and the minds of (the members) a less powerful group. Such power generally presupposes privileged access to socially valued resources, such as force, wealth, income, knowledge, or status.” (van Dijk T. , 1995). Power is limited though to the context in which it is exercised. People and groups outside the sphere of influence of the person or group that exercises some form of power cannot be influenced by it. The owner of the parody account under examination has the power to influence and openly criticize the Minister and the government at large through the affordances of the Internet. While doing that, he/she criticizes the Cypriot elite and the stereotypes that follow that path, including femininity and women in power (women in politics). Nevertheless, this power can only be exercised to those with similar ideologies, opinions and social attitudes. It is important to note here, though, that van Dijk does not discuss power in relation to individuals.
Van Dijk summarized the actions of linguistic evaluation of the members of a group in the so-called ideological square (Figure 9) arguing that evaluation is intertwined with the presentation of the dipole "Us and the Others", so that the evaluative judgments of social groups have the following quadruple structure of underlying ideologies: “Emphasizing Our Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 30 good things, Emphasizing Their bad things, Mitigating Our bad things, and Mitigating Their good things” (van Dijk T. , 1985, p. 474). While conducting my analysis I realized that this dichotomic dimension of “Us and the Others” is strongly evident throughout the Tweets of the political parody account.
Figure 6 Representation of van Dijk’s ideological square (van Dijk T. , 1985)
3.5. Application For the purposes of this paper, I will follow the model of the interpretive approach using the inductive logic which is essential for answering “what” questions. For my qualitative data analysis, having as a purpose the interpretation of meaning in texts and images, I will be using thematic analysis taking also into consideration van Dijk’s ideological square. I will use thematic analysis in order to focus on identifying and describing implicit and explicit ideas within the data, i.e. by identifying themes (Guest, MacQueen, & Namey, 2012). I am using this type of analysis because it is the “most useful in capturing the complexities of meaning within a textual data set. It is also the most commonly used method of analysis in qualitative research.” (Guest, MacQueen, & Namey, 2012, p. 10) I will additionally consider the ideological square in order to portray how the author of the account separates the object of mockery and the social group he/she feels that it represents (Us) from Others, thus setting the themes of criticism in an attempt to highlight weaknesses and wrongdoings, implicitly expressing an ideological position. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 31
In this study I will also examine how is the Minister portrayed by traditional media, in view of the triggering event, by recording the style of discourse of journalistic texts and identifying prevailing themes.
4. Methodology For my research I have collected data from the Twitter parody account “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc), the official Twitter account of the Minister of Justice and Public Order Ms. Emily Yiotilis (@emilyyiolitis), and the online news sites that covered the subject, during a specific time period related to the triggering event.
4.1. The parody Twitter account The data includes original Tweets and Retweets published on the “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” Twitter account between 16/12/2021 (the day the parody’s Tweet about her father sparked the Minister's reaction) and 09/05/2021. These data exclude Retweets and replies by third parties since it would be too difficult to include them in the analysis as well as for reasons of protecting their personal data. What is important to mention is that the parody account is still active and no posts -besides the one that caused the initial reaction by the Minister- have been removed by the administrator. Most of the Tweets include images and original pictures from the Minister’s social media accounts, typically from Instagram, that have been edited by the administrator of the parody by adding comments, dialogues or other images in order to create a storyline. The images are often repeated in separate posts with different texts and using different editing techniques. For the purposes of my analysis, I hand coded a selection of Tweets that refer specifically to the role of the Minister, her professional and social interactions, and constitute a direct or indirect criticism, challenging authority, in reference to my first research question. The total number of Tweets I gathered and examined amount to 2,000. I thought it was important to commence my analysis by familiarizing myself with the context of every single Tweet from the start date of the account until the date of actually starting to write this analysis (2,000 Tweets). My purpose was to get to know the data and have a thorough overview of the context and the content, before starting to code individual Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 32 themes. This process helped me highlight sections in these Tweets and come up with the main themes that would best describe the messages transmitted by the parody account. In order to identify the dominant themes that characterize the content and ideology behind the parody account, I used basic criteria such as images, concepts, ideas and symbols (Kuypers, 2010). I hold that Twitting in a political parody framework is a form of written rhetoric. The word "rhetoric" comes from the ancient Greek word “rhetorike” (ρητορική) which means "the art of speech". Even though the word rhetoric in Greek sometimes evokes hesitation and suspicion, expressions that respond to deeper fears about the power of language and the dangers of its misuse, it is in essence the innate or acquired ability of humans to formulate their oral speech in a pleasant and convincing way. The use of humor combined with distinct political arguments in a political parody satisfy both conditions of rhetoric for a pleasant and convincing means of expression. Since rhetoric is an intentional and strategic use of language with the purpose of persuading the listener/reader about an idea or a purpose, I used the prevailing themes, I have identified in my analysis, so as to record what attributes are stressed and the ways in which the author challenges authority. Through a process of analyzing the texts of the parody, I came up with a list of main themes. Then, I analyzed, adapted, and categorized them ending up with a final list consisting of the following three main themes: 1. Female beauty & social status, 2. Competence, 3. Favoritism & presidential protection. These themes are not independent of each other and it is not easy to separate them. Nevertheless, when combined, they form the basis of criticism against the politician and a blatant expression of questioning the power that stems from her own role and the government as a whole.
4.2. Online news sites A total of 11 articles were analyzed from news outlets in Cyprus. The sample might seem small for this analysis but it has been purposefully selected, after accessing online and reading all media news articles that mention the Minister, within a period of two months (February-March 2021), in order to cover the effect of the Minister’s appearance on the Human Rights Committee of the Cypriot Parliament. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 33
Therefore, for my thesis I have chosen articles from main online news outlets (Figure 10), which were collected between 15 February 2021 and until the 25 February 2021. As mentioned earlier, I chose to examine news articles only from this period in order to capture the journalistic discourse that followed immediately after the Minister’s appearance before the members of the Parliamentary Committee, as a result of her handling regarding the Twitter parody account against her (triggering event). After the chosen period, no news media instances of importance to this analysis were recorded. My purpose is to record the themes on which journalists chose to either criticize her or, write in favor of her. For purposes of objectivity and fairness, I have chosen news outlets that are traditionally considered either left-wing or right-wing as well as material from news outlets that are commonly considered to be closest to center. A list of the major weekly and daily newspapers in Cyprus I used to source texts from can be seen in Figure 10 below.
Figure 7 Main daily and weekly newspapers/news sites in Cyprus
I should mention that none of the above news sites belong to the category of a tabloid newspaper and that the weekly newspaper “Simerini” belongs to DIAS Media Group, whose CEO is the partner of Ms. Yiolitis.
5. Ethics Rapid developments in scientific research often bring to the surface ethical issues such as the limits of research, interventions in human beings, the duplication or misuse of results, the protection of personal data, biosafety, etc. Ethics are an integral part of research, from the conception of an idea to the publication of its results. Relevant issues to social sciences research are the informed consent of those involved in the research, the protection Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 34 of personal data, the participation of developing countries in the research, and the dual use of research results. My thesis explores mainly data published in social media platforms and the main areas of ethical concern in terms of social media data, is the extent to whether such data should be considered public or private. A password protected social media account can be considered as private “whereas an open discussion on Twitter in which people broadcast their opinions using a hashtag (in order to associate their thoughts on a subject with others’ thoughts on the same subject) can be considered public” (Wallace & Townsend, 2021). In order to protect the personal data of the commenters and followers of the Twitter account under examination, I do not provide any information that could lead to the disclosure of their identity. Other ethical concerns are, informed consent of participants and safeguarding anonymity. My main source (parody account on Twitter) is de facto anonymous but that also means that securing an informed concept was impossible. When analyzing the anonymous Twitter parody account, I had no way to obtain a written permission from the account holder. Thus, I have been particularly attentive to not disclosing any sensitive data or reveal the identity of people who comment or share posts from the parody account. Nevertheless, I must not overlook the fact that for the purposes of my analysis, I reproduced images and statements of the Minister being parodied and/or other people without their consent.
6. Analysis
6.1. Twitter parody account In the previous sections I have explained how I will be using thematic analysis and van Dijk’s ideological square to analyze the Tweets of the parody account under question. For my analysis, I have reviewed 2,000 Tweets from the parody account “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈʸ” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc) and singled out 44 of them, as the most representative of the themes that follow. These 44 Tweets were singled out as the most complete in meaning, since they convey clear messages relating to the identified themes. The parody account reuses the same images in a similar or slightly different context in various Tweets or even re-Tweets his/her older Tweets. Thus, a detailed record of all the Tweets would not be useful for this type of qualitative analysis. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 35
It is important to note at this point that the account has been labeled as a ‘parody’ according to Twitter’s policy (Parody, newsfeed, commentary, and fan account policy (the “policy”) , 2021) and the word ‘parody’ appears next to the name of the account. Before proceeding with the analysis, it is meaningful to review the profile description of the account. The general or surface descriptors that apply to all Tweets under examination are the following (Figure 11):
Figure 8 General surface descriptors (Lampiri, 2021, p. 13)
The description of the parody Twitter account is a key element of the parody and predisposes the reader regarding the content, the context and style of the account (Lampiri, 2021). I am thus presenting in Figure 12 below the analysis of the account description from my previous work on this parody account. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 36
Figure 9 Analysis of the parody account description (Lampiri, 2021, p. 14)
Οne could extricate the themes even from this elementary analysis of the parody account description. The analysis of the dominant themes follows.
6.1.1. Theme: Female beauty & social status The appearance of the Minister and her social status has been a prominent discourse from the very beginning of her appointment. Ms. Yiolitis is a young, well presented, fashionable and professionally successful woman with a strong presence in social media. The parody often comments on her appearance and especially on the appearance related to her Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 37
social status and financial well-being (clothes and accessories from well-known fashion designers). I will display three characteristic posts of this frame and proceed with the analysis.
Figure 10 Theme: female beauty and social status
At a first glance, and under the ideological square by van Dijk, we may easily identity the “Us vs Them” concept as a matter of social class, status and external appearance. Specifically, in the downright Tweet dated 31 December 2020, the photo caption reads “But which human rights of the masses and the poor are we talking about since these people can’t even afford a lawyer” and the Tweet reads “I think it’s time to get serious because I'm tired of dealing with plebeians” #NoMoneyNoHoney. In this case, the parody is using a picture from the Minister’s personal social media account in order to emphasize the distinction between rich and poor people and declare the power that comes with economic prosperity Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 38
(#NoMoneyNoHoney). This Tweet is relevant to the triggering event and separates the Minister from the rest of the people who complained that in this case (i.e. police investigation to a civilian’s house) human rights have been violated by the police. The second Tweet on the left, is a medley of images of the Minister reading the Financial Times, a paper that focuses on business and economic current affairs linked with a white-collar and educated readership and is considered the most important business read. In one of the pictures included in this collage the parody is trying to ridicule the Minister by showing a lady reading the Financial Times in the toilet. The humorous Tweet does not use a caption, hashtag or a statement and allows the reader to draw conclusions just by posting this collection of pictures. The first picture is also a collage of various images of the Minister and in this case, it includes a picture of the President of the Republic, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, who is supposedly asking the Minister “And how do I press the button Emily?” to receive the answer “You use the timer Mr. Nicos”. The dialogue is obviously a satirical ‘guide’ on how to take selfies, a common practice of the Minister. This Tweet has the caption “Mirror Mirror on the Wall” and the hashtag #UseTheTimer (#ΒαλλειςΤαιμερ). The emphasis on this Tweet is placed on vanity and a sense of self-importance while, the inclusion of the image of the President aims to indicate on the one hand, their close personal relationship and on the other hand, the levity of the government, which is implied by the President’s desire to learn how to take selfies. Money, status and a sense of self-worth are the dominant elements of these posts, which separates the Minister from the common people or “plebeians”, from people who have different jobs and people who have no personal relationship with the supreme power of the country. The “Us vs Them” statement here is a distinction between the Elite and the Commoners.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 39
6.1.2. Theme: Competence Competence is another important point of criticism of the Minister in the parody account. The Minister is presented as naive, ignorant and indifferent towards the Law but also towards the responsibilities that stem from her role in the Ministry. Another important point is the expressed opinion that she was not appointed to the Ministry because of her capabilities but because of her social status and acquaintances. The following Tweets showcase this opinion and the prevailing perception that connects social status with competence (Figure 14).
Figure 11 Theme: Competence
Τhe first, upper left Tweet, sets the tone for the rest. Its caption reads “My Chrysanthos and I ascended with our own value” with the hashtag #Selfmade. In this Tweet, the parody presents a collection of people that supposedly played a role in the lives and careers of the Minister and her partner, Mr. Chrysanthos Tsouroullis. The image includes a. the Deputy Minister of Innovation – “I worked very hard to complete the e-justice project so that Emily would appear on TV and get all the credit” – b. the well-known Greek journalist Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 40
Yiannis Pretenteris – “Chrysanthos copied my article and presented it as his own” – c. in the center the President of the Republic with his two daughters –“Shouldn’t we make our girlfriend a minister in order to have a person of our own in the ministry of justice?” – d. Mr. Nicos Koshis, ex Minister of Justice and Public Order and ex father-in-law of Mr. Tsouroullis –“Not even his own mother knew who he was until I brought him up, because he married my daughter”- and d. the couple Yiolitis-Tsouroullis – “We accomplished everything with our own value my love”. This is a very important Tweet because it raises the issue of the appointment of the Minister but also the role and competence of her partner very distinctly. Important people, related to the personal and professional life of both the Minister and her partner are presented together in an image, giving the stigma and defining the style of the whole parody. The parody attempts with a single Tweet to tear down the public image of the couple and to emphasize the means by which he/she considers that they have progressed, socially and professionally. The idea of incompetence is prominent. The second Tweet shows the Minister in a laid-back summer look presumably commenting on a post that states that the Parliament's legal committee rejected three justice reform bills submitted by the Minister. The caption reads “I am wasting my time reforming stupid Cypriots. You don’t deserve me, you peasants.” While the Minister is presented saying “I do not care at all whether they will vote or not. Summer is coming and I have other things on my mind ...”. Again, the image projected is that of a young woman who has no professionalism and all she is interested in is her well-being. In the Tweet that follows, third in the first row of images, the opinion of third parties is presented, while the Minister is absent from the picture. The picture shows an official governmental meeting of the President of the Republic with the Cyprus Patients Association and the Minister of Health, regarding COVID-19 measures. The dialogue reads, President: “If you are not happy with Ioannou, I can give the Ministry of Health to Emily as well.” (Ioannou is the current Minister of Health), Representative: “Oh no no President, in that case we have no complaints”. The ironic Tweet reads: “When you have an ace up your sleeve, patients have no complaints.” The fourth Tweet of this selection has no image and reads, “I was informed that when the godfathers of the underworld hear my name, they make their cross and shout ‘Thank you Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 41
God, we did not deserve such a gift’. At least somebody is happy.” This post is a clear rebuke against the Minister and the actions of the police, which is under her jurisdiction. Corruption, scandals, police behavior towards both protesters (see background information on the Movement “Os Dame”) and civilians, in the cace of the woman who was wrongly accused of owning the parody account, are indicators of incapacity which prevents the Minister and the Police from functioning properly, leaving real criminals undisturbed. The last Tweet in this frame is a criticism regarding the legal knowledge of the Minister, who until recently practiced the profession of a lawyer. The cause for this criticism is clearly the reaction of the Minister to the parody account (which was broadly considered to be naïve, coming from someone with legal knowledge) and the way the Police handled the suppression of the protest march of “Os Dame”, causing physical damage to citizens. The Tweet reads “I didn't even know that the police would break into a house for a simple complaint and I should know that glops break heads? Have some mercy, do they think that I am google and have answers to all questions?”, while the dialogue in the picture where the Minister is shown with the two daughters of the President of the Republic reads – “Emily, why are they cursing at my dad again?”, - “Elsa, did you and Ino know that police glops break heads?”, – “Ha-ha they break heads, love it darling”. Down right we see a picture of an injured man during the protest march. This contrast of three socialite women joking around on one side, with the image of an injured man during a protest against corruption on the other, accentuates the gap between Us and Others and at the same time stresses the alleged incompetence and frivolousness of the subject of the parody.
6.1.3. Theme: Favoritism – Presidential Protection Even though instances of favoritism have been implied in the previous themes as well, I would like to display some characteristic Tweets that present the way the Minister is seen in relation to the family of the President, and how his protectiveness or patriarchal demonstration (namely his reaction to negative comments against her) has damaged her image as an independent professional woman. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 42
Figure 12 Theme: Favoritism - Protectiveness
As mentioned in the Background chapter, the President of the Republic, during a press conference at the Presidential Palace on January 2021, answered a question that was addressed to the Minister regarding the parody account. The President in a protective and at the same time annoyed gesture, nodded to Ms. Yiolitis not to reply. Instead, he made a statement himself declaring his complete trust in her, saying that there is nothing more to discuss: "It’s that simple. Full stop.", he concluded. (K, 2021). It should be noted here that the President is known for his temper. The Tweets I have chosen under this theme portray exactly the notion of favoritism and in certain instances patriarchy. In the first image we can see a collage of close associates of the President and him in the center giving directions. The Tweet caption reads “Gang v.2.0” with the hashtag #DontMessWithTheGang and the vociferation “Woof!!”. The dialogue in the image resembles a Mafia’s godfather discourse and it reads (President): “Well, listen carefully to the action plan. Kyriakos will make unclear statements on TV to confuse them Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 43 and Victoras will bark at human rights lawyers. We will compensate the girl from Larnaca to silence her. In any case, the judge made a mess with the warrant, so we will not have a problem with the judiciary. We will blame a police officer for the rest. Now, we have a problem with the Parliament if the others will raise an issue. Chrysanthos will call Andros and tell him that if he raises an issue in Parliament, he will see Sigma channel again only with binoculars. Capeesh??”. Victoras Papadopoulos, Presidential aide, appears with a dog’s body and a human head saying "woof", Kyriacos Koushos, government spokesman, leaning his head says “OK President”, while Ms. Yiolitis is looking up at the President and says “Yes Mr. Nicos. Chrysanthos make the call now.”, urging him to call Mr. Andros Kyprianou the left-wing opposition leader. Chrysanthos Tsouroullis appears to be saying “I am already calling”. This Tweet has many symbolisms and messages that are referring to topical news. Firstly, the title “The Gang” refers to a best-selling book by the Cypriot journalist Makarios Drousiotis that was published in December 2020, about the corrupt political system in Cyprus with many references to the Presidential Palace. So, the parody uses this narrative to set-up a story with the President in the role of a Mafia boss, giving directions to his ‘lacqueys’ on how to cover-up the problem that arose with the parody. What is striking in this narrative is the effort that the President puts in protecting the Minister. In the second Tweet we can see an edited picture of the Minister driving a car while the President seats next to her. There is an ‘L’ sign at the back of the car, symbolizing that she is a “learner” and not an experienced driver. The Tweet reads: “You are the best Mr. Nicos!!”. In the dialogue between them we can read, Emily Yiolitis: “I hit a teacher…do I need to apologize?”, President: “No my darling daughter, I appointed you, do whatever you want and the government will pay for it”. With this allegorical dialogue, the parody criticizes the way in which the Minister handled the case of the complaint against the teacher Ms. N. Zarou from Larnaca. At the same time, he/she deplores the way in which the President ‘covered’ her in front of journalists through his statements, where he justified her behavior due to inexperience (“learner”). The third Tweet is also an example of the protection offered by the President to the Minister, this time in his capacity as a father who does not want to have problems with his daughters. In this image the President of the Republic is seen talking to Averof Neofytou, the Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 44
President of Democratic Rally (DISY), the governing party in Cyprus. Mr. Neofytou says, “Mr. President, we need to do something about this story with Emily because we are losing votes. Dismiss her!” and the President replies, “No, if I am going to have Andri and my daughters driving me crazy, I prefer that you lose votes.” (Andri is the President’s wife). It should be shocking that a President does not care about his party losing votes over the mistakes of a Minister but the way the story is presented in these Tweets, it seems natural and expected. Emily Yiolitis is apparently one of ‘Us’ and we protect our own.
6.1.4. Sub-conclusion: Representation of the Minister in the Twitter parody account Through the thematic analysis of the representative Tweets and with the help of van Dijk’s ideological square, according to the three themes I have identified, we can distinguish the dominant arguments for which the Minister and consequently the government receives the most intense criticism. It is important to understand that Twitter, as a tool that was initially used for low-value purposes, can be also used for online activism (Zuckerman, 2013) or as a means to challenge authority and renegotiate social power. Both main features that influence the popularity of parody Tweets: “references to the persona who is the object of parody, and topicality that links this persona to the immediate context" (Denisova, 2017, p. 29) are present in the parody against the Minister Ms. Emily Yiolitis, namely Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou ᵖᵃʳᵒᵈʸ. In this context, we see that the Minister is mocked for her intense self-promotion, in a framework of wealth, fame and superficiality while, topical political news set the background and content of the narrative. Vanity and social status as an end in itself are dominant elements in most Tweets. The idea of the Minister’s incompetence, which is combined on the one hand with her fascination with appearance and on the other hand with the close personal relationship she maintains with the family members of the President of the Republic, is also prevalent. The Minister is being scorned for not having the necessary skills or knowledge to do her job, even though she is a lawyer by profession. She is portrayed as inexperienced, naïve, unintelligent, superficial, and basically, not capable enough of managing such an important Ministry. Her critic keeps mentioning social status in a negative context, emphasizing the gap between “Us” and “Them” (#NoMoneyNoHoney, “plebeians”, “peasants”), and refers to Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 45 close acquaintances in an attempt to explain how she has been able to ascent professionally, even though her aptitude is questioned. The third pertaining theme is clearly a direct polemic against the President of the Republic as well. By favoring and protecting the Minister at any cost, he is presented as a patriarchic figure who is non-objective, unreliable and driven by personal rather than meritocratic motives. Family and friends, and not the country, comes first and the President, like a Mafia boss (#DontMessWithTheGang), solves government’s problems in an unorthodox and reprehensible manner. Again, the favoritism displayed, the means and narrative of the Tweets under this theme mean to attest that Ms. Yiolitis is a silly, inexperienced, and unworthy woman who has gained her appointment by means of nepotism vs. merit.
6.2. Online news sites For the purposes of this thesis I shall review news coverage around the subject of the Minister’s appearance on the Parliamentary Committee of Human Rights published between the 15 February 2021 and until 25 February 2021. My analysis will focus on headlines and lead paragraphs (macro-structure) and the manner in which the Minister's statements and journalistic commentary were recorded, aiming at discovering the fundamental topics and implications of these articles (episode and consequences). The majority of news items were published in Greek thus, I shall translate the pieces that I find most relevant for this analysis. I will organize the data in a table format and proceed with the analysis based on the superstructures of the articles.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 46
My reading has revealed that all articles under examination, dated 15 February 2021, republished in most part the content of the Press Release issued by The Cyprus News Agency (CNA), which is the major news agency in Cyprus. Only titles and subtitles changed and the articles did not bear the name of the author but referred to CNA as a source. Therefore, I will only record the headlines for that date and then, I will proceed with the selection of journalistic articles that are an actual commentary of the facts and developments regarding the presence of the Minister at the House of Representatives on the 15th February (Figure 16).
Political Newspaper Date Link Headline Subtitle alignment https://www.kathimerini.com The meeting of the human rights Kathimerini 15/2/2021 .cy/gr/politiki/gioliti-ginomai- Yiolitis: I am being threatened committee for the parody account took centre-right dektis-apeilwn place in a tense atmosphere
The session of the Parliamentary https://www.philenews.com/ Committee on Human Rights was held in eidiseis/politiki/article/112665 the presence of the Minister of Justice Group attack against Yiolitis for Philenews 15/2/2021 1/pyr-omadon-kata-goliti-ga- and Public Order, Emily Yiolitis, and the liberal parody account and episodes parody-account-kai- Chief of Police, Stelios Papatheodorou, epeisodia regarding the handling by the Police of a parody account concerning the Minister. https://politis.com.cy/politis- Emily Yiolitis: "I am receiving news/kypros/apeiles-gia-ti- threats […] my resignation is at the Politis 15/2/2021 zoi-tis-dechthike-i-emily- No centre-right disposal of the President every gioliti-ti-apokalypse-enopion- day" tis-voylis/ https://cyprus- mail.com/2021/02/15/police- Police chief: we may have gone too conservative and right- Cyprus Mail 15/2/2021 chief-we-may-have-gone- far over fake Yiolitis Twitter No leaning too-far-over-fake-yiolitis- account twitter-account/ E. Mavrou to Yiolitis: You are https://dialogos.com.cy/6485 Xaravgi 15/2/2021 dangerous for democracy. It's No left 13-2/ outrageous, scary what we live https://www.sigmalive.com/n Yiolitis in Parliament: "The setting Statements at the end of the tense ews/politics/740054/gioliti-sti- Simerini 15/2/2021 was set - They came ready for session in the Human Rights Committee right vouli-stimeno-skiniko-irthan- quarrels…" were made by the Minister of Justice. etoimoi-gia-kavgades-vinteo
Figure 13 Documentation of the Press coverage of the Parliamentary committee meeting on 15/2/21 based on headlines What is worth noting when reviewing these headlines is that both center-right newspapers emphasized the threats against the Minister in their headline. The left-wing newspaper Haravgi (or Xaravgi) on the other hand, published part of the statement of Ms. Eleni Mavrou, Member of Parliament of the left party AKEL, in its title: “You are dangerous for democracy. It’s outrageous, scary what we live.” The conservative, right-leaning newspaper Cyprus Mail, decided to pick a statement of the Chief of Police for the headline, which is apologetic and exempts the Minister indirectly from any fault: “We may have gone Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 47 too far over the fake Yiolitis Twitter account”. The use of “we” denotes that the Police, independently of anyone else, has showed excessive zeal in handling the matter. Finally, the liberal newspaper Phileleftheros emphasizes the disorderly session and the aggressive mood against the Minister that prevailed in the Parliamentary Committee meeting. The ideological implications stem from the political alignment of each newspaper and portray their attitude regarding the subject. Thus, the ideological expressions are rather explicit from the headlines of the news reports, even though the main body of the articles is practically identical. The headlines of right wing and center-right wing news outlets express two macro-propositions (topics): specifically, that the Minister is being threatened, and that she has been ‘attacked’ during the Parliamentary session. While the left-wing opposition newspaper expresses one macro-proposition: namely, that the Minister is dangerous for democracy. What is implied by this choice of reference on the headline of the article is the request or suggestion that the Minister resigns. While examining the texts published in the media right after the appearance of the Minister in the Parliamentary Committee, I found a stronger expression of meanings, opinion and ideology. The table below displays the most characteristic articles published during the period under examination. Emphasis is placed on the headline and lead paragraph of each article, which are the most important elements in a text as they set the tone and predispose the reader about the content. The way central events are described, the background, and context as well as comments by the writer will also be taken into consideration. The news outlets’ ideological standpoints, i.e. political alignment, is also measured since it is critical for the discourse analysis. The articles picked for analysis can be seen in the Figure below (Figure 17). My search on Sigmalive (Simerini newspaper), the news portal that belongs to the News Group whose CEO is the partner of the Minister, did not produce any relevant publications after the 15th February and is therefore excluded from the analysis below. I will now proceed with the analysis of the portrayal of the Minister Ms. Emily Yiolitis by the Cypriot news media, following her appearance on the Parliamentary Committee under two prevailing themes.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 48
6.2.1. Theme 1: Dangerous for democracy The theme firstly appeared in left-wing discourse, following the Parliamentary Committee meeting on the 15th February 2021, but I noticed that it has been adopted and reproduced as an idea in texts that appeared in right and right-center news outlets as well. Hence, in this case I have not recorded the anticipated right-left polarization; the ideological distance is diminished. The case of the Minister's parody account was combined by journalists with the incidents that occurred during the citizens' protest, during which the Police used violent means to suppress it, resulting in the serious injury of a young woman in the eye: “After all, what if one has one eye, what if one has two?” (Phileleftheros, 22/2/2021, Figure 17). The element of concurrence of the views of the left-right dipole is important and focuses around basic ideological principles such as democracy, justice, and the abuse of power. This may be explained by the fact “that in two-party systems, parties compete to satisfy the preferences of the median voter, who is almost invariably at the center of the ideological continuum.” (Huber, 1989, p. 601) All news articles refer to the system of democracy, as a commonly acceptable self- explanatory term for everyone. But what do they mean when they refer to democracy? As van Dijk describes, our shared, social knowledge allow us to understand vague concepts and propositions of the text. (van Dijk T. , 1991) The authors of these texts rely on the readers world knowledge and beliefs in order to convey their message. Although there are many types of democracy, for this analysis I hold that the ideology behind the use of “democracy” in this case can be explained by the definition of modern political democracy as “a system of governance in which rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens, acting indirectly through the competition and cooperation of their elected representatives” (Schmitter & Karl, 1991, p. 76). The idea of accountability is especially stressed in the left-wing newspaper Haravgi (Figure 17) using strong propositions like: “authoritarianism”, “citizens’ anger”, “government will be held accountable”, “must finally take political responsibility”. Support of the idea that democracy has been violated and that violence and oppression have therefore prevailed, is evident in most of the texts under consideration. An exception is the newspaper Kathimerini, which even though uses as a headline a strong title “How Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 49 dangerous is Emily Yiolitis for democracy?”, the ideological implications expressed in the text are moderate and the author even uses the terms “unfair” and “targeted attack” to describe the reactions against the Minister.
6.2.2. Theme 2: Incompetence – Resignation The second prevailing theme concerns the Minister's resignation, which stems from her alleged inability to handle the Police and other responsibilities of her Ministry. However, confidence in politicians is essential for the functioning of democracies (Otto, 2018). When a politician is deemed as incompetent, trust becomes fragile and the expectation that the politician will bear the voters’ interest in mind is challenged. (Otto, 2018) Under this theme we can see how the media outlets have projected negative information about political failure, incompetence and dishonesty. The theme presents itself more strongly in the left-wing newspaper. Nevertheless, propositions such as “not very smart”, “alienated the entire police force”, “managed to piss off deputies”, “was appointed Minister of Justice as a favor”, “princess”, “autopilot”, “no trace of reliability”, “personification of incompetence”, etc. reveal a strong common point of criticism of all media outlets against the government and the Minister. The repetition of the proposition “resignation” is imminent is most texts: “pushing for the resignation of Emily Yiolitis” (Kathimerini, 17/2/2021), “Mrs. Yiolitis should have already resigned” (Haravgi, 16/2/2021), “demanded the resignation of Ms. Yiolitis” (Politis, 16/2/21), while sarcasm is used to make apparent the opinion that she is not competent enough to be the Minister of Justice and Public Order: “walking PR bomb” and “deciding to express her views” (Cyprus Mail, 21/2/2021), “You idiots, what did you gain from your reactions?”, “Ministry of Fashion and Wardrobe” and “if, Ms. Yiolitis, you think you are a politician then I am the Pope” (Phileleftheros, 22/2/2021). What is clear under this theme is that the public’s trust has been shaken and citizens and/or opposing political parties demand for the replacement of the politician. This “concentration of negative information in the news” (Otto, 2018, p. 367) can potentially affect and undermine the public’s trust in politicians.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 50
6.3. Sub-conclusion: How was the Minister portrayed in the Cypriot Press Both identified themes have clear superstructures while ideological differences are minor between the news outlets, even though they have different political affiliations. Τhe most intense rhetoric comes, as expected, from the left-wing newspaper Haravgi. Nevertheless, the portrayal of the Minister, directly and indirectly, as incapable of performing her duties effectively is apparent in all texts. The question of whether she poses a threat to democracy (Theme 1) is addressed in different ways and with dissimilar intensity by different media. Similarly, to the second theme, explicit ideologies of authoritarianism and repression are expressed in the article published in the left-wing newspaper. Prominent in both themes is the idea of power and how it has been exercised in both the parody case and the civilian protest. In both cases, it is implied that the excess use of power (and violence in the case of the protests) affected citizens directly, leading to mistrust and fear. At the same time, I believe that it is important to refer to the humorous disposition of some of the authors (Figure 18), which is strongly reminiscent of the style and content of criticism against the Minister in the Twitter political parody account. Τhe way in which the Minister is portrayed in the articles under consideration, focuses on the extent to which her actions affected the institution of democracy and, consequently, on her inability to cope with the demanding role of her political position. In some cases, with a serious and critical tone and in others using humor as a vehicle, the authors express arguments against the Minister by raising issues of intelligence, ability, perception and making wrong decisions that lead to undemocratic actions. Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 51
Macro-structure Newspaper Date Link Headline Lead paragraph Ideological implications
authoritarianism and repression, AKEL: "Mrs. Yiolitis citizens' anger, deadlocks caused should have already by its policies, government will be resigned - The A government that sends the police to beat up citizens in peaceful https://dialogos.com.cy/akel-i-ka- held accountable, police violence, responsibility now demonstrations, that launches illegal searches in citizens' homes in Haravgi 16/2/2021 gioliti-eprepe-na-eiche-idi-paraitithei- pretext of the pandemic, belongs to the President search of those who satirize it, is a government that has crossed the eythyni/ democracy, abuse of power, must of the Republic, he line, set by the constitution, the rule of law and democracy itself. finally take political responsibility, should have dismissed the Minister should have already her" resigned, political intolerance
not very smart to publicly criticise them, condescending remarks she JUSTICE minister and walking PR bomb Emily Yiolitis exploded had made, alienated the entire https://cyprus- Tales from the again after deciding to express her view about cops beating up police force, also managed to piss mail.com/2021/02/21/tales-from- Coffeeshop: Hurray! Cyprus Mail 21/2/2021 demonstrators at last weekend’s anti-corruption extravaganza in off deputies, “a threat to the-coffeeshop-hurray-cyprob- Cyprob show scheduled Nicosia. This time she infuriated ordinary cops by saying from the democracy.” Toby Young’s book show-scheduled-to-resume/ to resume pictures she saw, the “necessary proportionality is absent.” ‘How to Make Enemies and Alienate People’ could have been about Yiolitis, but it is not.
extreme behaviors, does not mean that the Police should react violently, she accused some The political scene is moving in very delicate balances after last parties that they went to Saturday's developments, with the opposition and the government not yesterday's session "ready for showing any intention to lower the tones of the confrontation, at a https://politis.com.cy/politis- quarrels, populism and time when the restrictions due to the pandemic intensify people's news/kypros/oyte-skepsi-gia-paysi- No thought of ousting disorientation", there is no intention anxiety. Yesterday's presence of the Minister of Justice and Public Politis 16/2/2021 tis-gioliti-se-toicho-peftei-i- Yiolitis - Opposition of resignation, excessive violence Order, Emilis Yiolitis, in the parliamentary Human Rights Committee apaitisi-tis-antipoliteysis-gia- demand falls on wall exercised by the Police, necessity provoked even stronger reactions from most of the opposition parties. paraitisi-tis-yp-dikaiosynis/ of Ms. Yiolitis' resignation All parties, except DISY, ELAM and EDEK, directly or indirectly (AKEL), "unprovoked institutional demanded the resignation of Ms. Yiolitis and in some cases of the violence", "unrepentant and Chief of Police. unaware of reality and certainly without any willingness to take political responsibility"|
You idiots, what did you gain from your reactions? You made the Minister of Justice not sleep neither on Saturday (day of the episodes) was appointed Minister of Justice nor on Sunday! But from Monday on, she slept like an angel. as a favor, princess, can order Between us, Anastasia could not sleep either, but literally. After all, armies of men even to invade what if one has one eye, what if one has two? If he loses one in a civilian houses, even for parody https://www.philenews.com/f-me- demonstration and does not participate in another event again, he will accounts, Ministry of Fashion and apopsi/arthra-apo- be fine for the rest of his life. Personally, I feel sorry for Ms. Yiolitis Wardrobe, provocation, country in Phileleftheros 22/2/2021 Yiolitis could not sleep f/article/1130081/den-ekleise-mati- because, as she said, the climate she experiences every day is very the autopilot, we lacked the i-goliti toxic. Imagine how toxic was the atmosphere for the citizens who oxygen of democracy and we are participated in the event with so many chemicals thrown at them! She heading narcotically to a crash, no stressed, however, that she has nothing to apologize for. And between trace of reliability, "if Ms. Yioliti us, why apologize? What did she do? This thing is also happening in you think you are a politician, then Turkey. And in fact, there, obviously the Minister of Justice sleeps I am the Pope and bless you". carefree after every fascist action of the army or the Police. unprecedented accussations, At least three opposition parties are pushing for the resignation of dangerous for the Republic, Emily Yiolitis. Some are doing it with more intensity than they used to Perhaps so many accusations demand the resignation of Ionas Nikolaou. Especially AKEL. This against a minister of the Republic https://www.kathimerini.com.cy/g time, however, DIKO and the Green Party joined in dynamically. And of Cyprus have never been heard r/apopseis/the-hill/politics- #PoliticsBlog How they are asking for her resignation for two main reasons: the in such a short time, unfortunate, Kathimerini 17/2/2021 blog/politicsblog-poso-epikindyni- dangerous is Emily complaint she made to the Police about the parody Twitter account personification of incompetence gia-ti-dimokratia-einai-i-emily- Yiolitis for democracy? that satirizes her, which resulted in the entry of police officers into a and authoritarianism, model of gioliti citizen's house and the confiscation of the computer and other abuse of power and institutional "evidence", but also the Violence exercised by police officers against intimidation, her impressive posts demonstrators in Nicosia last Saturday. on instagram, However, many citizens consider the targeted attack against her to be unfair Figure 14 Macrostructure and discourse topics from Cypriot newspapers, 16/2/21-28/2/21
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 52
Figure 15 Sketch by S. Mitidis published in Cyprus Mail, 21/2/2021, “Tales from the Coffeeshop: Hurray! Cyprob show scheduled to resume”
7. Conclusion
The present thesis aims to examine the political parody account under the name “Lady Emily Kardashian Duchess of Yiolou” (@edPLOgAQvtTQHJc), active on Cypriot Twitter, and record how the object of the satire is portrayed in both the parody and the local media. My purpose was to comprehend how an individual, bearing anti-fandom traits, uses the affordances of Twitter, noting especially the platform’s tolerance or endorsement of parody accounts, and follows “a social and political communicative practice” (Denisova, 2017, p. 29) as a means to challenge and renegotiate authority. Thus, my research questions have been formulated accordingly in order to help me reach conclusions by means of a thematic analysis, assisted by Teun van Dijk’s theories. My analysis was conducted in two parts: a. I analyzed the Tweets of the parody account under participatory culture theory, female representation, and celebrity politics, and b. I analyzed the news articles that were published between the 15th February and until the Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 53
25th February 2021, which is the period that followed the Minister’s appearance in the Parliamentary Committee Meeting of Human Rights. This period marks somewhat the closure of the issue, regarding what I have labelled as the triggering event. In the first part, I presented 11 Tweets from the parody account, dividing them in three distinct themes in order to illustrate how meaning is organized by its administrator. My analysis, consistent with van Dijk’s ideological square, revealed how this role-playing with humorous and critical dimensions discloses a resistance to the current political regime and emphasizes the existence of two poles: "Us" and "Them". I concluded that the Minister is being portrayed as a superficial, incompetent, self-absorbed and reliant on nepotism woman. I hold that the parody is not used by the anti-fan of the Minister only as a means to imitate and ridicule her but, it constitutes a direct polemic against her and at large, against the President and the government. In the second part, I analyzed a total of 11 articles from Cypriot online news outlets in which I identified two main themes: a. danger for democracy and b. incompetence. I concluded that the political orientation of the newspaper outlets plays an important role in how they approached the issue but was not decisive in this case, where political ideologies seem to converge to a large extent. The inclination for harsh criticism and the appearance of common expressions and ideas, even when done in a mild manner, is a characteristic of this analysis in all media, without exception. Once more, the subject is being portrayed as incompetent, a subject of nepotism and as someone who may harm democracy by her actions. In conclusion, we observe that the criticism exercised through the role of the parody and the criticism exercised through media texts, have many elements in common and often share the same rhetoric. Consequently, we can understand how this parody and the media "incorporate references to local culture, history, popular stereotypes and folklore, and draw links to the immediate political context" (Denisova, 2017, p. 27) in order to satirize and challenge authority and power. One might wonder whether the parody account had such a big impact on the way the public’s opinion has been formed or if it actually expresses citizens' interpretation of the political events that stigmatized Cyprus during 2020 and the first half of 2021. I totally agree with Hodkinson’s statement that “in comparison with earlier representations, the presence and popularity of images of single, financially and sexually Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 54 autonomous women should not be under-estimated” (Hodkinson, 2017, p. 247). Nevertheless, social attitudes about what it means to be a woman have not changed altogether. As it is as evidenced by the analysis of the parody account, the need for an emphasis on appearance (good looks) and the need to attract the attention of men has not yet been overcome. The celebrity politician -who happens to be a well-educated, financially independent, accomplished mother- still feels the need to post dozens of pictures of herself on her social media accounts in impressive outfits, in bathing suits or performing difficult gymnastic exercises that emphasize her fit figure or make her look sexy. And since politicians are by nature “easy prays” for an attack, as their every move is placed under the political and social spotlight, by embracing celebrity attributes they make their position even more precarious or even ‘provocative’. And this is even more intense in societies undergoing social or economic crises, like the case I have studied, when this celebritization of politics is topped with a bourgeois attitude and a demonstration of wealth. In conclusion, I believe that the Twitter parody account under investigation does not have as its primary purpose the mockery of the Minister but is actually, an expression of political action and a form of activism, which can be approached as a branch of the study of anti-fandom, taking into consideration that “social media has become the key site where protest identities are created, channeled, and contested.” (Gerbaudo & Treré, 2015) My thesis has attempted to contribute to the research of parody on Twitter as an irreverent take on media texts that echoes aspects of anti-fandom (Highfield, 2016) offering also to the discussion on the representation of female politicians in parodic texts. My work also contributes to the research around Twitter’s influence and the increased attention that particularly the parodic Twitter account category has gained by the news media. My analysis has portrayed how a parody account took on such dimensions as to affect political, social, and media topical discourse. Thus, I believe that I have achieved my stated overall goal, which was to offer an understanding of the impact of the Twitter political parody on the political and social scene of Cyprus.
7.1. Limitations The analysis of texts from an unknown source always presents the problem of the lack of understanding of the author's point of view, both in terms of gender, age and social Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 55 position as well as in terms of his/her political and ideological background. Not being able to contextualize the writer of the texts has inhibited my ability to place them in a frame, according to which I could delve further into their meanings. Another difficulty I faced while analyzing the Twitter texts has been the use of language. The use of the Cypriot dialect in an informal, street-talk, linguistic style constituted my deep understanding hard. Even though I have grown to comprehend the dialect, I cannot claim to share the same experiences that lead native speakers to common conclusions. Another linguistic element that made it even more difficult for me to comprehend and properly translate the Tweets was the syntactic, spelling, and grammatical errors repeatedly made by the author of the texts. This is a fact that leads me to the conclusion that he/she may not be a permanent resident of Cyprus or may have lived abroad for many years. Finally, the fact that this is an active account on Twitter, constituted the research in real time challenging. As for the Press analysis, the obvious limitation is that all the texts are sourced from local media and we cannot undertake that the assumed influence that the parody may have had on media discourse could be generalized as a conclusion.
7.2. Future research Fan studies have dealt extensively with followers and enthusiasts of a vast array of subjects but, there has been little work done into parodists and anti-fans. Especially, concerning the Greek and Cypriot Internet, literature is quite poor regarding the critical analysis of texts of microblogging parodies as expressions of activism and political critique. I consequently trust that the topic of political parody accounts as commentators of topical political and social reality will be of interest for future researchers. Moreover, I believe that further research regarding topical news framing as an irreverent take will most probably intrigue future scholars into better understanding how the various aspects of the social world are understood by users and ‘produsers’ in a highly participatory culture.
Political parody on Cypriot Twitter 56
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