Religion and humor in the New Age
A case study of the Humor New Age website
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/1677-1222.2023vol23i1a11Keywords:
New Age movement, Religion and humor, Memes, Religion and Internet, CartoonsAbstract
The present study analyzes the humorous production of the Brazilian Facebook page “Humor New Age”. All posts from June 1, 2020, to March 27, 2022, were analyzed, totaling 401 unique memes. The memes were classified into nine categories of joke themes: (1) orientalisms, (2) morals and politics, (3) nature and body, (4) pop culture, (5) sacralization of psychology and psychologization of religion, (6) European Christian esotericism, (7) mythologies of science, (8) magic, witchcraft, and paganism, and (9) conspiracy theories. Drawing on Bateson's ethos considerations, the study demonstrated that studying the mood of a religious group also allows one to capture the core elements of its ethos.
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