Polandball, also known as countryball, is an internet meme of user-generated comics, which was born on the /int/ site of the German image board Krautchan.net in the second half of 2009. [1] The meme is manifested in many webcomics, where countries are presented as spherical people, usually interacting in poorly written English, making fun of national stereotypes and international relationships between them. The comic style can be called Polandball (even though Poland is not among the characters in the comic) and countryball (or, collectively, countries-balls). [1]
History
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Polandball has its roots in the 'cyber war' among Polish Internet users and the rest of the world in drawball.com which happened in August 2009. The website, which offers a virtual canvas, allowing Internet users to draw what they want, and can draw on what has been drawn by other users. Among Polish users, the idea of drawing the Polish flag on the ball, and thousands of Poles together were able to take the ball with a red top and white drawing below, with the word "POLSKA" written in the middle. After coordinating with 4chan, this drawing was then covered with a giant swastika. [2]
Krautchan.net is a German-language imageboard whose board / int / is frequented by surfers who know English. The beginning of the meme has awarded to Falco, a British in / int /, who in September 2009 created the meme using Paint in an apolitical way to troll Wojak, a Pole in the same forum in English who makes bad employee contributions, a situation that was exploited by several Russians to draw comics of Polandball with great enthusiasm.
Topics
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The premise of Polandball, which increased his popularity after the plane crash in Smolensk that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski, is representing Poland and its history, its relationship with other countries and stereotypes, focusing on Polish megalomania and national complex. [2] The interactions between country-balls tend to be written in poorly written English and internet jargon, like Lolcat meme, and finally, the cartoon of Poland, which is represented red purposely with white above (as opposed to Polish flag) is seen generally crying. [2] Some Polandball comics have the premise that Poland can't go into space.
Representation
editPolandball includes comics from other countries, but by convention also called polandballs or countryballs. Similarly, international organizations, administrative divisions, cities, historical flags, ethnic groups and other elements connected with the society can be represented.
Usually, the characters adopt circular or spherical shapes, with few exceptions: Singapore is represented by a triangle ("Tringapore"), Israel with a hypercube (in reference to the Nazi theory of "Jewish physics"), Kazakhstan with a horizontal rectangle (or brick), the German Empire with a vertical rectangle ("Reichtangle"), Nepal and the U.S state of Ohio with the shape of their flag and teeth at the corners. In addition, some countries can or should include characteristic features: United Kingdom and Hong Kong use top hat and monocle, the United States has sunglasses, Venezuela has sometimes a beret (regarding Hugo Chavez and Che Guevara) and Slovenia, Slovakia and Serbia with a patch the eye (their coats of arms).
Some characteristics
edit- Poland can not go into space.
- The drawing tools are not allowed.
- The characters only have white eyes, no hair, face or limbs.
- The broken English spoken is compulsory except for English-speaking characters.
- Poland is represented in red and white, not vice versa order.
- The characters do not call themselves with the suffix "-ball", but the name of the country.
- The female characters are Polandballs with a bow to the head or a flower.
Gallery
editTo see the gallery of characters, click here
References
edit- ^ a b Moskopp (erlehmann), Nils; Heller (plomlompom), Christian (2013). "Countryballs". Internet-Meme (in German). Cologne: O'Reilly. pp. 86–88. ISBN 978-3-86899-805-4. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
- ^ a b c Zapałowski, Radosław (15 February 2010). lecą z nami w... kulki "Znowu lecą z nami w... kulki". Cooltura (in Polish). Retrieved 19 March 2013.
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External links
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