Open AccessQuarantine humour as a coping mechanism. A centennial “dialogue”
Author(s) -
Stanca Măda,
Monica Gomoescu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
bulletin of the "transilvania" university of braşov. series iv, philology and cultural studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2066-7698
pISSN - 2066-768X
DOI - 10.31926/but.pcs.2020.62.13.2.5
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , newspaper , covid-19 , pandemic , pessimism , centennial , quarantine , psychology , social psychology , political science , media studies , public relations , sociology , history , medicine , psychotherapist , disease , epistemology , philosophy , archaeology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
"Quarantine humour functions as a coping mechanism transcending a time lapse of onecentury between the 1918-1919 Spanish influenza pandemics and the 2020 Covid-19ongoing crisis. The study aims at observing the main concerns related to the infections and their consequences for both the individuals and the societies. The paper focuses on the analysis of fifteen cartoons, six of them published in a newspaper in 1918-1919 and the rest in 2020 online media and social networks. The findings support the idea that pandemic humour is used not only for coping with the fear of death or illness, but also with coping with more mundane issues such as lack of commodities, losing one’s job, beauty concerns, online schooling or the lack of implication in solving the crisis on behalf of the authorities."