„Де го тоя арменски поп“. Вестник „Стършел“ – смях по време на преход
There is No One to Turn To: the “Sturshel” (“Hornet”) Newspaper and Amusement in a Time of Transition

Author(s): Albena Vacheva, Nikolay Papuchiev
Subject(s): Anthropology, Media studies, Communication studies, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Софийски университет »Св. Климент Охридски«
Keywords: Sturshel; laughter; transition; mass and popular culture; nostalgia
Summary/Abstract: The article presents the results of a study of one of the longest-lasting humorous newspapers in Bulgaria – Sturshel [Hornet]. It examines and performs a content analysis of the issues published between 1989 and 2000. The focus is on how the publication functioned in the context of Bulgaria’s liberated media and information market and what role it played in changing public language during the decade under review. The analysis shows that in terms of language, the newspaper applied standards that are much more conservative when compared to the news dailies which were rapidly transforming themselves into tabloids. Its pages allow phrases from the “political language” of the street – expressions used in banners or in chants during rallies, strikes and protests. This kind of language use leads to the destruction of the old ideologies and norms of public speech formed out of dogmatic clichés.However, the newspaper does not allow vulgarisms and insults that demean the personality or the religious and ethnic affiliation of the objects of its humour and satirical representation. By keeping to this kind of language use, the newspaper achieves its intended humorous effects through a satire on social ills and a postmodern ironic critique of the emerging nostalgia for the totalitarian regime.

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