Stylistic Techniques in Demotivational Posters During COVID-19 Pandemic and Self-Isolation Period

Abstract

This study examines the visual stylistic devices used in the iconic component of demotivators during the pandemic and self-isolation period. It is argued that the significant impact potential of the iconic component of demotivators stimulates their creators to produce more expressive visual components. Achieving this goal is possible through the implementation of stylistic techniques not only in the verbal text but also in the accompanying imagery. It is noted that the most frequently used visual stylistic device in the analyzed material is metaphor. The impactful effect in the examined demotivators was also achieved through the presence of visual hyperbole, comparisons, allusions, contamination, gradation, pun, allegory, parallelism, and antithesis in the iconic part. It was found that stylistic techniques exclusively in the iconic part are present in 47% of the analyzed polycodal texts (in 13% of cases, the verbal component was completely absent, in 34% of cases, the presented verbal text served as an explanation of the meaning reflected in the illustration). 53% of the examined polycodal texts demonstrated the presence of stylistic techniques in both the iconic and verbal parts. Furthermore, the duplication of stylistic techniques in the verbal text and the image is characteristic only for 33% of the analyzed demotivators.