Viewpoint and image schemas in multimodal political discourse

This paper investigates the ways in which multimodal artefacts on social media can infuse a simple object with political meaning. Using a cognitive linguistic framework, I examine the sudden conceptual enrichment of the umbrella, an object that became the defining symbol of the 2014 Hong Kong suffrage protests. The paper contends that the enrichment of the umbrella, which allowed it to represent the political values of the protesters, was enabled by the conceptual integration of cultural frames and viewpoints in artistic illustrations, which retained the shield-like functionality of the umbrella while simultaneously enhancing its symbolic meaning. First I explore the material affordances of the umbrella and the rudimentary schemas that restrict how the umbrella can be depicted. Second, I analyze two popular artefacts disseminated online. One is a cartoon that draws from the iconic “Tank Man” photo from Tiananmen Square. The other artistically alters the Hong Kong flag to look like a configuration of umbrellas. Building on the basic schemas of the umbrella, both multimodal artefacts insert new viewpoints that prompt the re-construal of the original frame. Third, I posit that the new frames and schemas of the artefacts informed how protesters and the Hong Kong government understood the movement as it unfolded.