The Semiotic Use of Language in the #MeToo Movement: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Abstract

The paper explores the semiotic use of language in the social media campaign of #MeToo to ascertain how far it contributed to the popularity and transformation of the movement. In doing so, the #MeToo movement will be divided for analysis into three waves (thematic and not chronological), signifying different stages of its growth: from the time of its inception, to its period of extreme popularity, till the present day to examine how media discourse and Hollywood celebrities bore a strong impact upon the direction and development of the movement. The primary objective of the research is to explore and analyze the depiction of #MeToo on social media platforms and the ensuing repercussions: the gradual divergence of #MeToo from its original goal of female empowerment to endorsing celebrity culture and triggering misandrist attitudes. A multimodal discourse analysis was conducted upon a sample of ten internet images and seven tweets denoting the three strands of the #MeToo campaign. Michael Halliday’s SFL approach was applied to analyze the three meta functions of semiotic language ‘ideational, textual and interactional’ as identified in the #MeToo discourse. The findings reiterated the stance that although #MeToo may still be running strong as a purely pro feminine movement against gross sexual (male) misconduct, its projection by social media may have different connotations in that it provokes ideologies that are alien to the spirit of the movement.  The movement has been criticized for promoting misandry and a misdirected feminist viewpoint.