Which child (ren) are you talking about?: Analysis of memes disseminated in Brazil during the coronavirus pandemic period

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the memes disseminated in Brazil during the coronavirus pandemic period, seeking to comprehend the social images of children and childhoods evidenced at this moment. The main protective measures adopted, namely social isolation, the closing of schools and day care centers, and the opening of only essential services forced families to live together in the same environment. In this context and as a way of representing reality, memes are quickly produced and propagated, with the intention of being a fun and humorous form of entertainment. However, they show pejorative ideas about children and what it is like to have them under the exclusive care of the family. 38 memes were identified in different social networks, and it is possible to list as emerging themes the violence against children, the school/day care institution as a solution or deposit for children, maternal overload, machism, among others. It was found that memes portray a white, middle-class childhood, whose experiences end up dictating the idealization of a standard childhood but making other ways of life invisible. The images that emerge from the analysis are: children as a problem, children as developing subjects, and killable children. Such images do not arise with the pandemic, but are enhanced in this context. It is concluded that children are repeatedly silenced, with childhood being erased as a generational category, the pandemic being one more phenomenon that is being understood in the adult perspective.