This thesis explores the Danish public discourse about biological reproduction by focusing on how three fertility campaigns, issued by public agencies, produce and reproduce gendered identities and contribute to shape a national identity. The theoretical framework is built on insights from feminist research in international relations, sociology and gender studies and highlights how ideas about femininity and masculinity are central regarding both biological reproduction and national identity. The method used in this thesis is a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis. The results show that traditional gendered identities in many ways are reproduced in these campaigns. However, the results also show that the campaigns give masculinity and men more space in the discourse of biological reproduction and the campaigns somewhat challenge traditional notions of masculinity. In the campaigns it is acknowledged that it takes both eggs and sperm to create a baby, but the results show that women still are ascribed the main responsibility for biological reproduction. The results also show that the construction of Denmark as a nation can be connected to the myth of “common origin” which creates a homogenous and exclusionary vision of the nation. Further, since these campaigns in many ways reproduce traditional gendered identities, Denmark is argued to be constructed as a traditional and conventional nation.

Med det socialkonstruktionistiska antagandet att verkligheten skapas genom språkanvändning, undersökte denna studie hur sex konstrueras diskursivt i vloggar på Youtube. Materialet som analyserades var fyra stycken vloggar av Youtube-profilerna Therese Lindgren, Tova Helgesson, Lakidoris och Aina & Thobias. Syftet var att blottlägga underliggande sexuella normer och hierarkier för att skapa en klarare bild av diskursen kring sex i vloggar. För att uppnå detta syfte applicerades den kritiskt granskande metoden multimodal diskursanalys med tillhörande analysbegrepp (MCDA) i kombination med Rubins (2006) modeller över sexuella normer och hierarkier på materialet. Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgjordes även av begreppen Infotainment och Edutainment som definierar medieinnehåll som befinner sig i gränslandet mellan information, utbildning och underhållning.     Analysen resulterade i tre teman som tillsammans bildade den övergripande diskursen. Det första temat var att vlogg-profilerna intog rollen som sexualupplysare. Med en ofta humoristisk ansats innehöll språket uppmaningar som bland annat handlade om sexuell integritet. Främst låg fokus på positiva aspekter av sex, snarare än negativa. Det andra temat var att vlogg-profilerna konstruerade bilden av sex utifrån ett subjektivt perspektiv där egna åsikter presenterades som objektiva sanningar. Det tredje temat var att det i vloggarnas till synes normbrytande diskurs förekom dolda sexuella normer och hierarkier. Det kan anses problematiskt att vloggarna utbildar och informerar sin publik när de har en humoristisk ansats, samtidigt som de utgår från ett subjektivt perspektiv och reproducerar sexuella normer och hierarkier. Detta eftersom den unga publiken, som ofta saknar egna sexuella referensramar, kan påverkas av de konstruktioner som de exponeras för. Vidare diskuteras fördelar och nackdelar med den undersökta sexdiskursen, vem som bär ansvar för den konstruktion av sex som unga människor exponeras för och hur normer utvecklas i takt med samhällsförändringar.

Globalization has significantly reshaped communication trends that influence nation branding practices. Many studies examine the development of a nation and destination branding; however, little has been done to examining the planning processes and the selection of representative messages that nations choose to communicate through their individual brands. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the key concepts that are used to build Brand Singapore. Singapore is a small, diverse country that attracts attention both as a tourism destination and political and economic entity. Hence, the study examines its branding materials and messages chosen in order to stand out from the competition, as well as the rationale behind these choices. For those purposes, the process of multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) was used on text and visual based messages present in the “Singapore – Where Passion is Made Possible” nation branding video of Singapore. In order to break down and identify the core messages that Brand Singapore communicates, results were subjected to contexts of safety and diversity in Singapore along with theories of re-orientalism and competitive identity. The examination revealed that Singapore is persistently showcasing itself as a multi-ethnical country, but it is rather understanding and tolerant. The presence of the social and economic hierarchy is present, and the Chinese ethnicity is granted the highest status in the messages. Communication practitioners and marketing organizations will find this study helpful in developing branding strategy planning for the most demanding countries.

The Finnish police have power and influence as they are gate keepers of the criminal justice system. Governmental crime reduction policies rely on the actions of the police and in 2020 the Finnish police made a TikTok video to warn adolescences about dangers of sexting. My thesis uses Lerner’s Just world hypothesis and Bacchi’s What’s the problem represented to be as a theoretical framework, and multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) to identify how the victim is represented in the TikTok video. The analysis on the content of the TikTok video is representing the victim as culpable for the crime against him/her. When the analysis is applied to the theoretical framework, it can be argued that the instructive TikTok video bears pressing social and institutional problems and extends people’s responsibility for avoiding crime and therefore fails achieving a balanced policy between crime prevention and criminal justice response.

Corporate image reflects on how a company is perceived to the public outside of the organisation. It is based on the reputation the company already has and constantly creates. Today numerous people use and rely on social media networks which encourage companies to try to reach their audiences and shape company image by the usage of different digital networks. One of the platforms where companies can represent their business is LinkedIn, as it is designed specifically for organizations and individuals to develop a professional image. One of the platform’s most popular feature is the possibility to post job advertisings that are seen in several platform areas. These job offers serve as a recruitment tool but also simultaneously shape the image of a company. Therefore, it is interesting to explore how job posts of a company manage to stay informative, focused on the targeted audience and, at the same time, shape corporate image. Thesis project, “Communicating corporate image: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis on LinkedIn Job Advertisements”, aims to examine how world leading Swedish companies create their corporate image through job advertisements posted on the social media platform LinkedIn and what that image is. The study draws on media logic theory together with the concept of discourse and tries to reach the project’s aim by applying multimodal critical discourse analysis. By this model, job advertisements of 3 companies based in Sweden were analysed. Results show that corporate image through job advertisements is created equally by the company and the platform LinkedIn. Companies in job advertisements use semi-formal language, creative elements, address accomplishments, values and goals to attract the reader. While LinkedIn places main company information that can influence job advertisement readers to obtain a primary opinion about the enterprise.

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.

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Today's media landscape is larger and more diverse than ever before. Individuals are fedwith news and information from many different types of media. When competition ishigh, media actors need to stand out to be noticed, sometimes to the extent that the truthis omitted or embellished. The purpose of this essay is to examine the consequences ofthe spread of false information on social media. The material of the essay consists of 25Swedish videoclips from YouTube and is intended to investigate how well the videoportals (headlines & thumbnails) correspond to the actual content of the videos. Themethod used in the essay is a quantitative coding of these videoclips and a multimodalanalysis from a selection of these coded video clips. To fulfill the purpose of the essay,theories and concepts such as misinformation and disinformation, filter bubbles, andselective exposure theory are used. The results of the study showed that many videoportals do not correspond at all to the content that the clip possesses. They oftenexaggerate or add details that make the video clip stand out more or appear moreinteresting for the audience to engage with. The consequences of false information spreadon social media can be many. For example, it can contribute to somewhat distortedworldviews. If individuals in a society are fed with incorrect information, it becomes moredifficult to get a fair picture of the world. It can also become normalized that thingswritten on social media are often not true, which leads to it becoming commonplace tobuy into small lies and not trust the information and news consumed online.

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.

Global alcohol- and drug consumption is a big health problem, despite the fact that the amount of usage has decreased throughout the years. Our interest for this study arose because earlier research showed that films, series and television can affect viewers' perceptions regarding alcohol- and drug use. Thus we were interested in examining how alcohol- and drug use is constructed in the teen dramas Skins UK and Euphoria, considering that these series manage subjects such as drugs, alcohol and addiction. The method this study conducted was multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) because this method is used to analyze audiovisual materials. The theoretical framework for this study consists of poststructuralism, socialsemiotics and filmsemiotics to analyze and identify discourses in our empirical material. Our empirical material was analyzed by looking at poses, facial expressions, lexical choices, distance, sound and music. The results showed that the construction of alcohol- and drug use in the respective series was more negative than positive. Four discourses were identified from the results: escapism, anxiety management, connection and self-destructiveness.