Representation in the media has become a debated topic over the last decade, with many people advocating for more diversity in movies and on TV. After ten years of entirely white male superheroes, Marvel released Black Panther in 2018, featuring an almost all-black cast. Four years later, in 2022, they released Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with Marvel's first ever black female superhero in the lead.  This thesis examines the construction of gender in the two movies, whilst applying a lens of intersectionality. The purpose of the study is to analyze how the films relate to stereotypes and norms surrounding masculinity and femininity. The research question posed was: How is gender represented in Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, from an intersectional perspective, through the negotiating of stereotypes and gender norms? The theoretical framework consists of Hirdmans gender-contract, Hall's representation theory, intersectionality as well as social semiotics and discourse-theory. The research question was answered using multimodal critical discourse analysis. The model “Hero's Journey” was used to identify key-scenes in the movies which were then analyzed based on the theoretical framework.  The study finds that the movies overall do a good job of negotiating stereotypes, with many examples of norm-breaking behavior from both female and male characters, despite the latter being somewhat more in line with the stereotypes identified. Seeing as representation is a powerful tool in shaping societal discourse, this speaks for the movies abilities to create a more inclusive perception regarding the topic of gender.

This study presents an analysis of UR Play's homepage and its use of visual and textual elements as online control mechanisms from a technographic perspective with a focus on social semiotics. The study employed the social semiotic method of multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA). The findings revealed that UR Play employed conventions - socially accepted meanings familiar from other websites - in a user-oriented manner from a technical perspective, providing users with a sense of control and choices. For instance, program images were designed as clickable links, clearly indicating their interactive nature when the mouse hovered over them. UR's power as an established, trusted actor was expressed through the linguistic categorization and the determination of which programs received attention. Discourses of UR as a trusted knowledge authority were reiterated through lexical choices. The study emphasized the importance of digital literacy as a prerequisite for analysis and the need to develop new concepts within media research to better comprehend these dynamics. / Denna studie visar en analys av UR Plays startsida och dess användning av visuella och textuella element som styrmedel online utifrån ett teknografiskt perspektiv med ett socialsemiotiskt fokus. Studien har genomförts med hjälp av den socialsemiotiska metoden multimodalt kritisk diskursanalys (MCDA). Resultatet visade att UR play vid undersökningens genomförande använde konventioner - socialt vedertagna betydelser, bekanta genom andra webbsidor, på användarorienterat sätt ur ett tekniskt perspektiv som gav användarna en känsla av kontroll och valmöjligheter. Exempelvis hur programbilder byggts upp som länkar och tydligt visade sig klickbara när musen hovrade över dem. UR:s makt som etablerad aktör med högt förtroende tog sig uttryck genom språklig utformning av kategorier och genom bestämmandet av vilka program som fick uppmärksamhet. Diskurser av UR som betrodd aktör med makt över kunskap upprepades genom lexikala val. Studien underströk vikten av digital litteracitet som en förutsättning för analys och behovet av att utveckla nya begrepp inom medieforskningen för att förstå dessa dynamiker bättre.

Dagens kvinnor blir allt mindre förlåtande och mer publika med det behandlande de får ta emot (Chamberlain, 2016), vilket vi uppmärksammat genom att allt fler influencer publicerar den kritik och de trakasserier de får ta emot online. I dagens samhälle har influencer kommit att få en allt starkare röst samt större socialt inflytande (Freberg, Graham, McGaughey & Freberg, 2011). Det är därför viktigt att analysera vilken kritik och vilka trakasserier kvinnliga influencer publicerar samt hur de bemöter den orättvisa behandlingen för att eventuellt få en uppfattning om hur influencernas agerande kan påverka till exempel deras följare.   Studien grundar sig i de feministiska teorierna cyberfeminism samt digital feminism för att ur ett feministiskt perspektiv kunna tolka hur kvinnliga influencer använder sig av Instagram för att belysa diskrimineringar. Multimodal kritisk diskursanalys (MCDA) kommer även att tillämpas som teori samt metod för att kritiskt kunna analysera influencernas bemötande.  De kvinnliga influencernas val att publicera och bemöta den kritik och de trakasserier de får ta emot kan tolkas som att de belyser och uppmärksammar olika diskrimineringar. Valet att publicera och bemöta kritiken och trakasserierna leder till att de både reproducerar men även motarbetar patriarkatet. Den typ av kritik och trakasseri som publiceras är kritik mot agerande och värdering, sexuella trakasserier, dömande kritik, kritik mot profession samt trakasseri mot utseende. Diskurserna som återspeglas i influencernas bemötande kan tolkas som att de dels skyddar sig själva och avsändaren, antar ett mer maskulint beteende samt tar tillvara på sin roll som influencer för att belysa en diskriminering för att utbilda sin publik. / Today's women are becoming less forgiving and more public with the treatment they receive (Chamberlain, 2016), which we have noticed by increasing numbers of influencers publishing the criticism and the harassment they receive online. In today's society, influencers have come to have an increasingly strong voice and greater social influence (Freberg, Graham, McGaughey & Freberg, 2011). It is therefore important to analyse what criticism and harassment female influencers publish and how they respond to unfair treatment in order to get an understanding of how influencers actions can affect, for example, their followers. The study is based on the feminist theories cyberfeminism and digital feminism in order to be able to interpret from a feminist perspective how female influencers use Instagram to highlight injustice. Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) will also be applied as a theory and method for critically analysing influencers’ respond to criticism and harassment. The female influencers’ choice to publish and respond to the criticism and the harassment they receive is interpreted as a way in which they illuminate and draw attention to different discriminations. The choice of publishing and responding to the criticism and the harassment they receive, results in them both reproducing but also counteracting the patriarchy. The type of criticism and harassment that is published is criticism of action and valuation, sexual harassment, judgmental criticism, criticism of profession and harassment against appearance. The discourses that are reflected in the influencers’ respond can be interpreted as both protecting themselves and the sender, embracing a more masculine behaviour and taking advantage of their role as an influencer to highlight an injustice to educate their audience.

Studien har fokuserat på hur feministiska aktivister använder sig av det sociala mediet Instagram. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka hur aktivisterna har använt sig av text och bild samt samspelet mellan dessa och vad för typ av budskap som har kommunicerats. Materialet i studien baseras på sammanlagt tio inlägg från de feministiska aktivisterna Sarah Delshad (sarahdelshad), Anna (notondietanymore) och Natashja Blomberg (ladydahmers). De teoretiska utgångspunkterna för studien har varit den tredje vågen inom feminismen och multimodal kritisk diskursanalys. Den tredje vågen anser att dagens aktivism är mer individbaserad än förut samtidigt som vågen fortsatt att fokusera på att sprida det feministiska budskapet, men nu till en större publik. Den andra teoretiska utgångspunkten, multimodal kritisk diskursanalys, har också har använts som metod i studien med hjälp av olika analysredskap. Analysen visade på att inlägg kunde innehålla flera olika typer av teman och det var inte alltid som text och bild samspelade. De teman som framkom i studien var: stereotypiskt, informativt, personligt, egofunktionellt och normbrytande. De feministiska aktivisterna använde sig av olika former av teman som olika typer av strategier för att nå ut med sina budskap. / This studie is about how feminist activists use the social media Instagram. The purpose of this studie is to investigate how the activists are using text and images and how they interplay with each other and what kind of message they communicate. The studie is based on ten posts from the feminist activists Sarah Delshad (sarahdelshad), Anna (notondietanymore) and Natashja Blomberg (ladydahmers). The theoretical approaches of this studie is the third wave feminism and multimodal critical discourse analysis. The third wave feminism is more individualized than the waves before while the focus still remains on spreading the word of feminism, but on a bigger scale. The second theoretical approach, multimodal critical discourse analysis, is used as a method as well through different analytical tools. The analyze showed that the posts could contain several different themes and there was not always an interplay between the text and the image. The following themes appeared: stereotypical, informative, personal, ego functional and norm-breaking. These themes were used by the feminist activists as different types of strategies in order to spread the word of feminism.

Studien ”När den anklagade blir till offer” ämnar belysa och problematisera mediernas roll när det gäller representationen av sexualbrottsanklagelser. Medierna kan ha potentialen att påverka den allmänna opinionen om sexualbrott och det är därmed viktigt att uppmärksamma hur representationer förmedlas. Studien undersöker olika diskurser och myter i dokumentären Persona non grata som skildrar Soran Ismails mediala och personliga fall efter de våldtäktsanklagelser han mottog under 2017. Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgår ifrån representationsteorin, genus och könsmaktsordningen samt våldtäktsmyter. I vår analys har metoden multimodal kritisk diskursanalys använts tillsammans med analysverktygen lexikala val, attribut och scenmiljö, sociala aktörer samt kategoriseringar inom våldtäktsmyter. Analysen resulterade i att vi kunde utläsa tre diskursiva teman som bidrog till en ojämlik representation av sexualbrottsanklagelser i dokumentären, där offrens perspektiv uteslöts. Resultatet visade att den anklagade porträtteras som offer genom de sociala aktörernas roller, samt i de kommunikativa valen när han bemöter anklagelserna. Vi fann även flera våldtäktsmyter som bidrar till hur den anklagade representeras i dokumentären — 1) Förövare utgörs enbart av enstöringar, 2) Förövare utgörs endast av underklass, 3) Förövaren är motiverad av lust, 4) Våldtäkt är lika med sex, och 5) Kvinnor använder våldtäktsanklagelser för att få uppmärksamhet. / The study "When the accused turns into the victim" intends to shed light on and problematize the media's role in the representation of sexual crime allegations. Media may have the potential to influence public opinion on sexual crime and it is therefore important to pay attention to how representations are conveyed. This study examines various discourses and myths in the documentary Persona non grata which portrays Soran Ismail's medial and personal collapse after the rape allegations he received in 2017. The study's theoretical framework is based on representation theory, gender studies and gender power structures, and rape myths. In the analysis, the method multimodal critical discourse analysis has been used together with the analysis tools lexical choices, attributes and stage environment, social actors, and categories within rape myths. The analysis resulted in three discursive themes that contributed to an unequal representation of sexual crime allegations in the documentary, where the victims' perspectives were excluded. The results showed that the accused is portrayed as a victim through the roles of the social actors, as well as in the communicative choices when responding to the accusations. Several rape myths were found that contribute to how the accused is represented in the documentary - 1) The perpetrator consists only of solitary confinement, 2) The perpetrator consists only of the underclass, 3) The perpetrator is motivated by lust, 4) Rape is equal to sex, and 5) Women uses rape allegations to get attention.

The Swedish television game show series På spåret has aired since 1987. Participation in På spåret has been connected to prestige and status, where a display of knowledge is seen as admirable, but unsuccessful performances are stigmatized. This is a possible result of the television show’s representations of cultural capital. The aim of this study is to examine how cultural capital is represented in På spåret, and how these representations have changed over time. The study is grounded in Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of embodied, objectified, and institutionalized cultural capital. Furthermore, Stuart Hall and Roland Barthes are used to explain representations in media and their meaning. A multimodal critical discourse analysis was used on three episodes from three seasons: 1987, 2004/2005 and 2022/2023. The analysis concerned linguistic aspects, where connotations, modality and authority were analyzed, as well as visual aspects, where objects and settings were examined through the lens of denotation and connotation. It was found that both linguistic and visual aspects mattered in the representation of cultural capital. The linguistic aspects mostly concerned words with connotations to formal situations or knowledge, and expressions of authority through knowledge, while the visual aspects included pictures of architecture and art or objects such as books and clothing. Some representations changed over time, primarily the studio and the tonality, as well as the distance between audience and participants which increased throughout the seasons. The study provides a new perspective on cultural capital in television and shows how television affects power relations and symbolic violence.

Companies have an important role to play in sustainability initiatives as they have great power to drive development. Working with sustainability issues can be seen as crucial to their survival, as various stakeholders today place high demands on companies to take responsibility in this area. This study aims to critically examine The Body Shop’s sustainability communication in order to gain a deeper understanding of how the company constructs a sustainable brand. The study is based on the following questions: (1) How does The Body Shop communicate sustainability? (2) Which discourses are most prominent in The Body Shop’s communication? (3) What does The Body Shop convey through its sustainability communication? The material consists of The Body Shop’s sustainability report, as it is an important part of a company’s sustainability communication. The study’s theoretical framework is based on theories of critical discourse theory, consumer society, brand identity and brand activism. Furthermore, the methodology of the study is multimodal critical discourse analysis, where we have used different analysis tools to study both visual and textual elements of the company’s sustainability report. To see how The Body Shop relates to the sustainability discourse and constructs a sustainable brand, different discursive themes were identified based on the roles the company takes in its communication. The two most prominent roles are the role of the fair company and the role of the innovative company, which further contribute to the maintenance of the sustainability discourse. The result shows that The Body Shop communicates in a transparent way, using informative and persuasive language which creates a sense of credibility. We can conclude that The Body Shop presents itself as a leader in the field and often as the solution to various societal problems. Finally, The Body Shop presents its sustainability communication as a goal rather than a means, as it appears that sustainable development is the company’s sole purpose.

Många människor använder sig idag av olika sociala medier som sin främsta utgångspunkt för information och kommunikation. Bland de sociala medier som används mest har TikTok kommittill att bli en av de mest populära, främst bland den yngre publiken. Innehållet på TikTok har kommit till att bli ett nav för delvis humor och underhållning, men å andra sidan opinionsbildning och åsiktsspridning. Eftersom TikTok är en sådan ny plattform finns det stora forskningsluckorkring mediets funktioner och hur dessa funktioner kan användas för att sprida budskap av alla olika slag. Detta resulterar i spridning av åsikter som inte alltid är hälsosamma. Ett ämne som har på senare tid fått stor spridning på plattformen är kring vad det är att vara “man” idag. Det finns många studier om maskulinitet, men forskning om maskulinitet på TikTok är bristande. Denna studie är därav ämnad till att undersöka hur åsikter kring maskulinitet kan konstrueras i plattformens videomaterial. I denna studie analyserade vi, sammantaget, sex olika videoklipp från TikTok med hjälp av en multimodal kritisk diskursanalys. Den kvalitativa textanalys metoden valdes för att ge oss möjlighet till att analysera och utvinna så många olika visuella och auditiva komponenter i videoklippen somvi ansåg vara relevanta och på så sätt hitta underliggande konnotationer i allt från kroppsspråk till musikval. Vi analyserar videoklippen utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk som består av bland annat representation, stereotyper och hegemoni. Vårt resultat gav oss två diskurser; Hotad maskulinitet och Maskulinitet som ett spektrum, som presenterar sambanden i vårt material. Det gav oss en ökad insikt om hur TikTok material konstruerar och reproducerar maskulinitet genom semiotiska resurser grundade i hegemoni. De åtskilda trenderna har en tendens att försöka positionera den motsvarande representationen av maskulinitet som överlägsen gentemot andra. Det konstrueras ytterligheter för att visa på rätt och fel. Slutsatsen är att konstruktionen av maskulinitet grundar sig i samma stam, men växer sig ut i olika förgreningar. Vår studie bidrar till insikt kring hur toxisk maskulinitet reproduceras genom TikTok, likt genom andra plattformar, och förhoppningsvis kan insikterna förebygga att detta mönster fortsätter att froda. / Many people today use various social media as their starting point for information and communication. Among the most used social media, TikTok has developed into one of the most popular, mainly among the younger audience. The content on TikTok has come to be a hub for partly humor and entertainment but on the other hand for advocacy and opinion spreading. Because TikTok is such a new platform, there are large research gaps around the medium's functions and how these functions can be used to spread messages of all different kinds. This results in the spread of opinions that are not always healthy. A topic that has recently been widely spread on the platform is about what it is to be a "man" today. There are many studies on masculinity, but research on masculinity on TikTok is lacking. This study is therefore intended to investigate how opinions about masculinity can be constructed in the platform's video material. In this study, we analyzed six different videos from TikTok using multimodal critical discourse analysis. The qualitative text analysis method was chosen to allow us to analyze and extract as many different visual and auditory components in the clips as we thought relevant and thus find underlying connotations in everything from body language to music choices. We analyze the clips based on a theoretical framework that consist of, among other things, representation, stereotypes and hegemony. Our result gave us two discourses; Threatened Masculinity and Masculinity as a Spectrum, which present the connections in our material. It gave us an increased insight into how TikTok material construct and reproduce masculinity through semiotic resources grounded in hegemony. The separate trends tend to try to position the corresponding representation of masculinity as superior to others. Extremes are constructed to demonstrate right and wrong. The conclusion is that the construction of masculinity is based on the same stem but grows in different branches. Our study contributes to insight in how toxic masculinity is reproduced through TikTok, much as through other platforms, and hopefully the insights can prevent this pattern from continuing to thrive.

Den här studien undersöker om det går att återfinna en gestaltning av en ung kvinna idag som använder sin sexualitet som främsta vapen i TV-serien Euphoria. Forskning imom humaniora tyder på att kvinnor i allt yngre ålder lär sig att använda sin sexualitet till sin fördel. Med multimodal kritisk diskursanalys har jag undersökt hur sexualiteten, med ett urval av semiotikens verktyg, i det här fallet färg, symboler och kameravinklar, gestaltas. Vidare har jag undersökt om den unga kvinnan av idag som gestaltas tycks göra just det, använda sin sexualitet som främsta vapen. Detta genom att se till om någonting talar för att hon använder sig av självrepresentation för att representera sexualiteten. Studiens viktigaste resultat är att det går att återfinna tydliga tecken som talar för att den gestaltade unga kvinnan använder sig av sin sexualitet för att gynna den egna självrepresentationen och vidare utvinna makt. / This study is looking to investigate the conscious use of represented sexuality by a young, female character from the TV-series Euphoria. Studies within humanities show that women at early ages learn how to use their sexuality as a weapon. Using multimodal critical discouse analysis, I aim to investigate how this sexuality, with semiotic tools such as color, symbols and angles, is represented. Furthermore, I aim to see if there are any signs of conscious self-representation or use of the sexuality by the young woman, and if it equal power. The most important results found are the clear signs that show how the young woman does indeed use her sexuality for her own benefit. As well as how she, by conscious self-representation gains power.

How emotions resonate: A comparative multimodal critical discourse analysis of the campaigns Det är inte för sent and Jag lovar, det är inte värt det. This study aims to identify communication strategies in campaigns against children in gang violence, which is relevant as the challenge shows an increasing tendency in Sweden. This is done by using a multimodal critical discourse analysis on the Det är inte för sent campaign from 2023 by the Swedish non-profit association Bris and Jag lovar, det är inte värt det from 2023 by the Swedish Police. The empirical data has been analyzed through a theoretical framework and chosen analytical tools such as modality, connotation and interaction.Based on the multimodal critical discourse analysis, it has been possible to identify different communication strategies in the campaigns. The result from the analysis shows that there are both similarities and differences between the campaigns. Both campaigns feature accounts from people who have experienced the consequences of gang violence, evoking emotions such as sadness and empathy in the viewer. The main difference between the campaigns is based on its framing. In Det är inte för sent, the message is framed around the idea that young people are affected by gang crime and are not considered perpetrators, while Jag lovar, det är inte värt det.