This chapter is split into three main sections: in the first part, the general findings resulting from scraping the Facebook page and categorizing the memes will be presented in order to establish what the final dataset looks like. In the following section, the thesis will undertake a quantitative analysis of the resulting dataset; in this regard, I will look at how the memes have evolved over time, what are the changes in types of memes posted and the correlations with certain events which had happened in that specific period in Romania. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a qualitative analysis of a number of memes representative for Dezarticulat, with the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of the culture war in Romania and how the main left-wing actor is involved in its continuation through memes.
The first thing which must be addressed is the evolution of number of posts per year. This amount is reflected in Table 2, yet there are some caveats for the analysis at hand. The first thing to be mentioned is that in its beginning, Dezarticulat did not engage in the culture war at all. The page was created by a collective of artists which focused their attention on drawing comic books, some based on adaptations of classic Romanian tales. The Dezarticulat team would usually be present at conventions and festivals dedicated to artists and comic book culture. These comics, while sometimes mentioning political characters or specific cultural manifestations, cannot be considered as being specifically deployed to push forward a certain political agenda. As a consequence, the quantitative analysis is based on data starting with 2015, when Dezarticulat began to be more politically active and aware of their position in the culture war.
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Table 2: Total amount of posts made by Dezarticulat between 2012-2021
Some of the earliest memes, ranging from 2015-2016, have shown that Dezarticulat have become engaged explicitly in promoting anti-capitalism and raising awareness in regards to specific events or scandals happening at that time. A prime example can be seen in fig. 4, which refers directly to a controversy involving Therme Bucharest, a well-known and upscale spa complex which refused access to a family simply for the fact that they were Roma people.
This particular event speaks of a larger societal issue – Roma people are constantly discriminated in Romania, even by the ‘educated’ middle-class.
After conducting the quantitative analysis, a periodization of Dezarticulat’s Facebook page is constructed, according to the type of memes they post. This periodization is representative of the page’s evolution throughout the years, as it matured and became exponentially more involved in undertaking the Romanian culture war. Thus, I argue that there are three main meme ‘periods’ that Dezarticulat went through: the earlier years, between 2015 and 2016 show a consolidation of both the style and the content of the memes that they posted. In a sense, this represents the way in which Dezarticulat were testing the waters, to see if the shift from comics to memes is a viable thing to do. This is also highlighted by the relatively small number of posts created in this period, especially considering that Romania had two sets of elections (2014 – presidential elections; 2016 – legislative elections) which would have been a fruitful opportunity to discuss the Romanian political environment at that time. The second period, which started in 2017 and ended in 2019 represents a shift towards more dank/subcultural memes and an increase in persuasive memes. This specific period contains the birth of many inside jokes, recurrent memes and fictional characters developed. Finally, the most recent
Posts per year
2021 277
2020 1362
2019 1254
2018 938
2017 210
2016 53
2015 71
2014 224
2013 79
2012 10
Total 4478
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period, which started towards the end of 2019 and is still ongoing represents a relative maturity of the page, with more ‘normie’ memes, i.e., memes which can be easily deciphered by the general public and do not necessarily require a specific and in-depth literacy;
nonetheless, the memes from the current period still tackle relevant and current political discussion and events.
Figure 4: Dezarticulat meme tackling the latent racism present in Romania (Translation: upper text:
Welcome to Therme; bottom text: the place where you can feel discriminated à la carte)
Overall, the general findings show that there has not been much variation in the type of memes that Dezarticulat have posted so far. However, this particularity will be further detailed in the qualitative analysis, as looking at data only reflects an incomplete part of the analysis. After combining the two, a clearer image of Dezarticulat’s engagement in the culture war will be contoured. The quantitative analysis shows that since 2015, Dezarticulat have been consistent in engaging with Romanian political and cultural events and trends, attempting to
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spread awareness of left-wing ideas in the online meme sphere. As such, the following section showcases the general type of memes posted by the page and how this reflects on its purpose:
while it does not vary in the type of content, it is rather more engaged in public discussion around certain events and actors from a cultural standpoint, offering a left-wing critique carried through memes.