Beneath the Laughter: Unpacking Extremist Narratives in Far-Right Memes

Abstract

This article examines the narrative structures underlying far-right memes that use humour to convey extremist ideological positions. Drawing on empirical material collected within the EU Horizon project ARENAS, and building on interdisciplinary research in narrative and humour theory, an analytical framework is proposed for the systematic identification of extremist narratives across diverse digital formats. The framework isolates three core dimensions – Group Identity, Thesis, and Solution – allowing the detection of varying degrees of extremism based on the rigidity of in-group/out-group relations and the intensity of proposed actions. While the study acknowledges the role of humour in shaping affective engagement and mainstreaming ideological content, its primary focus is on the narrative architecture that enables the encoding and circulation of exclusionary worldviews. Through exemplifications drawn from Spanish far-right memes, the article demonstrates how humorous content can operate as a vector for extremist narratives, subtly normalising ideological positions by embedding them within emotionally resonant, aesthetically familiar, and culturally legible forms. The findings contribute to ongoing debates on the mainstreaming of extremism in digital culture and offer a methodological foundation for further research into the interaction between humour, narrative, and ideological communication. This contribution is to present and exemplify an operational framework that enables researchers to identify and analyse extremist narratives in memes in a way that is qualitatively rigorous yet compatible with computational implementation.