by ZAKIR KIBRIA
Perception management is as critical as physical confrontation.
The protests in Istanbul over the past few days, sparked by the detention on March 19 of Mayor Ekrem ?mamo?lu, the chief political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, have taken an unexpected turn with the emergence of surreal, meme-worthy visuals.
Among these, a Pikachu-costumed protester fleeing riot police and AI-generated images of the Joker joining the demonstrations have gone viral, transforming a tense political confrontation into a global spectacle.
This phenomenon raises critical questions about the nature of protest in the digital age. Is this a spontaneous, organic outpouring of absurdist humour or a regime-change operation leveraging hyperreality? How do we interpret such protests in an era where deepfakes, AI-generated imagery and viral memes blur the line between reality and fiction?
How does digital spectacle reshape political resistance?
Viral spectacle
The detention of Istanbul’s mayor on corruption charges — widely perceived as politically motivated — triggered mass demonstrations, with nearly 1,900 arrests reported by Thursday. The protests reflect deep societal fractures, with ?mamo?lu symbolising resistance against Erdo?an’s authoritarian rule.
Amid water cannons and riot police, a demonstrator in an inflatable Pikachu costume became an unlikely icon of defiance. The imagery juxtaposing a cartoonish Pokémon with state repression resonated globally, spawning memes declaring “Gotta catch ’em all” and “Pokémon uprising”.
The contrast between the playful, childlike figure and police brutality creates cognitive dissonance, amplifying the protest’s emotional impact. The viral spread of the footage, amassing over nine million views on X by Friday, demonstrates how internet culture reframes political struggle, making it digestible for global audiences.
Beyond Pikachu, AI-manipulated images inserted fictional characters such as the Joker and Spider-Man into the protests, further distorting reality. Some netizens even superimposed Pikachu floating above the crowd, blending satire with misinformation.
How does hyperreality — French theorist Jean Baudrillard’s concept of reality being replaced by symbols — shape public perception of the protests?
The spectacle
Jean Baudrillard argued that in postmodern society, signs and images replace reality, creating a simulated world where distinctions between truth and fiction collapse.
Applied to the Istanbul protests, the Pikachu protester is no longer just a man in a costume: it is a symbolic, hyperreal event, detached from its original context. The AI-generated imagery of The Joker further dissolves reality, making the protest a media spectacle rather than a purely political act.
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