This study aims to dive deeper into the specific structure, propagation and adaptability of the American alt-right political movement QAnon’s underlying narrative through the lens of “Digital Storytelling”. The method employed being a holistic narrative analysis. Utilizing data collected from the image boards 4chan, 8chan and 8kun we look at a large narrative specifically centered around Donald Trump’s presidency. By gaining a more thorough understanding of the narrative techniques employed to create said narrative, this study will highlight resilient and recurring structures within the QAnon movement. Our findings show that the movement through the application of several characteristic features of digital storytelling have created a highly adaptable narrative. The cryptic nature of messaging used by the movements original author has through the instance of “decoding”, allowed a range of different interpretations to flourish. We identify three key factors connected to the success of the QAnon narrative, these being, 1: An authentic message, created through both hidden and visible feedback. 2: An elastic and resilient narrative, formed through iterative interpretations of coded messages. 3: A tight knitted group-identity, reinforced by the self-classifying as underdogs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-183652 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Törnquist, Johannes, Hägglund, Leeloo |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för informatik, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för informatik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | Informatik Student Paper Bachelor (INFSPB) ; 2021.23 |
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