Gucci cabbages and Dior eggplants: Politics, humor, and the lockdown in Shanghai.
The lockdown in Shanghai (Spring 2022) sparked a flood of funny memes, songs, artworks, and short videos shared on WeChat platforms. Based on an analysis of over five hundred posts, we analyze three moments: First, the humor at the start of the lockdown, characterized by parody and irony and clearly...
| Publicado en: | Focaal no. 104; pp. 14 - 34 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Berghahn Books
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=192774391&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 192774391 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09201297 LSZ jtl: Focaal issn: 09201297 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 iid: 104 pid: 1130 pub: Berghahn Books artinfo: ui: 192774391 10.3167/fcl.2026.1040102 ppf: 14 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1MB tig: atl: Gucci cabbages and Dior eggplants: Politics, humor, and the lockdown in Shanghai. aug: au: Scheen, Lena de Kloet, Jeroen affil: Associate professor, New York University (NYU) Shanghai, China Professor, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands su: Shanghai (China) China WeChat (Web resource) COVID-19 pandemic Public demonstrations Stay-at-home orders Memes Irony Political satire Parody sug: subj: COVID-19 pandemic Public demonstrations Shanghai (China) China Stay-at-home orders Memes Irony Political satire Parody WeChat (Web resource) keyword: Covid-19 humor lockdown memes platformization Shanghai Covid-19 humor lockdown memes platformization Shanghai ab: The lockdown in Shanghai (Spring 2022) sparked a flood of funny memes, songs, artworks, and short videos shared on WeChat platforms. Based on an analysis of over five hundred posts, we analyze three moments: First, the humor at the start of the lockdown, characterized by parody and irony and clearly infused with a strong sense of Shanghaineseness. Second, during the lockdown, more critical humorous voices became prominent. Third and finally, in the aftermath of the lockdown, these voices conflated with protests on the street. Thus, our analysis shows that seemingly lighthearted posts contributed to the sudden dismantling of China's zero-Covid policies in December 2022, attesting to the continued possibility of political critique in a context of intensified authoritarianism. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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