Stance, Framing, and Indexicality: A Multimodal Discourse Study of the #KaburAjaDulu
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1605.13Keywords:
#KaburAjaDulu, multimodal tweet, stance-taking, framing devices, indexical markerAbstract
The hashtag #KaburAjaDulu has gone viral among Indonesian netizens, functioning both as a light-hearted expression of escapism and as a political vehicle for critiquing governance and socio-economic stress. This study aims to examine how hashtags—particularly #KaburAjaDulu—operate as multimodal semiotic resources that construct meaning through the interaction of text, image, and affect in digital discourse. Rather than treating hashtags as mere metadata, this research conceptualizes them as indexical, stance-taking, and framing devices within multimodal communication. While prior studies have explored hashtags as tools for solidarity and memes as instruments of humor and resistance, their role as semi-productive discursive hubs that fuse linguistic and visual elements for ironic political critique remains underexplored. Methodologically, the study employed a qualitative multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) integrated with corpus-based collocation analysis. A total of 150 public posts on X (formerly Twitter) containing the hashtag #KaburAjaDulu were systematically collected between February and July 2025 through manual screenshot documentation. Each post was examined for textual, visual, and intertextual features, focusing on how multimodal resources co-construct meaning and stance. The findings reveal that hashtags function as discursive synapses, weaving together humor, irony, and critique into polysemous narratives of resistance. #KaburAjaDulu encapsulates both withdrawal and resistance, demonstrating how humor and satire act as forms of political commentary. The study contributes to digital semiotics by showing that hashtags are dynamic multimodal constructs shaping collective identity and political expression in contemporary digital culture.
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