Corona Pandemic and Internet Comedy in the Egyptian Society (An Analytical Study)

Abstract

The current study's problem is represented in the attempt to identify internet comedy during the Corona pandemic and its role in the awareness of the pandemic or warning against it, by analyzing a sample of the most popular comic "figures" on Facebook. The study proceeds from Bergson’s Comedy Theory, and Risk Society Theory of Ulrich Beck. Methodologically, the study uses the descriptive method. The qualitative semiological analysis has been used for 13 comic “posts” related to the Corona pandemic, which are selected purposively. In addition to an electronic questionnaire to detect about The positive and negative effects of comedy from the viewpoint of the general public applying on a sample of 320 persons. The results of the study have showed the importance of comedy as a tool for correcting some wrong behaviors in society in order to change and get rid of them, as Bergson assumes. It is a tool for portraying reality through satire, sarcasm, simulation, or highlighting existing defects and problems. This has been evident from the spread out of comic “posts” that have expressed the extent of fear of the Corona virus and its new mutants, and have criticized the Egyptian people’s disdain for the Corona virus, considering it a normal flu case. This has been with the aim of awareness and caution. The vast majority of the research sample has emphasized the role of comedy as a mechanism for social coping with the pandemic, and for increasing knowledge and awareness during the pandemic.