Genre of political cartoon and internet meme
Countryballs
, also known as
Polandball
,
[a]
is a
geopolitical
satirical
art style
, genre, and
internet meme
, predominantly used in
online comics strips
in which
countries
or political entities are
personified
as balls
[b]
with eyes without pupils, decorated with their national flags. Comics feature the characters in various scenarios, generally poking fun at
national stereotypes
,
international relations
, and
historical events
, with the balls moving about by walking or jumping. Other common features in Countryball strips include non-English countries speaking in
broken English
? with vocabularies of their national languages included ?
political incorrectness
, and
black comedy
. Strips are generally created using
Microsoft Paint
or more advanced
graphic art software
, often made to intentionally look crudely drawn.
Countryballs date back to an August 2009 incident on drawball.com, where thousands of Polish internet users swarmed the website to transform the illustration into the
Polish flag
(a literal "Poland ball"). However, Falco, a British user of the German imageboard Krautchan.net, is often credited with creating the modern Countryballs comic format. This user created the first countryball comic strips to ridicule Polish
internet troll
Wojak
, who used broken English on the same board. Falco created the strips using
Microsoft Paint
in September 2009 and posted them to Krautchan, where they gained popularity among other users on the board, particularly
Russians
. The meme gained further notoriety following the death of
Lech Kaczy?ski
,
president of Poland
, in the
Smolensk air disaster
in April 2010.
Countryballs continue to be popular on the internet, with the
Facebook
community reaching over 215,000 members by July 2015,
[1]
and the
subreddit
r/Polandball reaching over 650,000 by 2024. Several other communities are active on
VK
,
Telegram
,
YouTube
,
Twitter
, and
Bilibili
. It has also been the subject of research by various institutions, as well as positive and negative commentary for both their simplistic and offensive nature, with some feeling they could allow readers to learn about unknown events. Various
video games
and
alternate history
works have been based on the meme.
Background history
Origin
The origin of Countryballs can be traced back to drawball.com. On the website, users could freely draw on a circular canvas called a "drawball".
[2]
[3]
[4]
In August 2009, thousands of
Polish netizens
from
Wykop.pl
, PokazyWarka, and various other sites took over the entire drawball with an illustration of
the Polish flag
with the word "POLSKA" in the middle. The circular canvas constrained the flag in such a way that it became a literal "Poland ball".
[5]
[6]
Other users on the website attempted to sabotage the artwork by changing the color scheme to match a
Poke Ball
, or drawing a giant
swastika
over it.
[4]
[5]
[7]
Eventually, hackers attacked
NK.pl
and Wykop.pl on August 18, which withstood them but ended up running a lot slower for the rest of the day.
[5]
First Countryball strips and spread
The creator of the modern Countryballs format is often attributed to Falco, a British user of the German
imageboard
Krautchan.net who drew the first strips in
Microsoft Paint
, before posting them in September 2009 to the /int/ board. Notably, Poland was drawn with an inverted Polish flag (making it look like the flag of
Indonesia
or
Monaco
), which some have debated on whether or not was intentional, or Falco being unaware of its color pattern.
[4]
[8]
[9]
Poland being drawn upside-down grew in popularity as a way to antagonize Polish Krautchan user Wojak, for whom the internet meme
Wojak
is named. The two meme formats grew out of the same message boards.
British magazine
The Shortlisted
noted the strips were likely inspired by the works of Italian animator
Bruno Bozzetto
, particularly the 1999 animated
web short
Europe VS Italy
, which acted as
political satire
on Italian and
European Union
cultural differences, and which also featured the characters as spherical.
[10]
Unlike
Europe VS Italy
, however, the original strips were
apolitical
and were made to troll
Wojak
, a Polish user on the same board who often spoke in
broken English
.
[5]
[7]
[11]
After the initial strips, creating Countryballs cartoons became popular among other users on the board, particularly
Russians
who started adding several new characters to the comics.
[5]
[11]
[12]
As a result of its increasing popularity, a separate Countryballs community was created on 15 October 2009.
[13]
The comics would continue to gain notoriety following the
Smolensk air disaster
on 10 April 2010, in which the
president of Poland
Lech Kaczy?ski
was killed.
[11]
[14]
Popularity
The style became widely popular as a meme and gained dedicated communities on internet platforms such as
Reddit
[12]
[15]
and
Facebook
.
[16]
One reason for the popularity of this art style is its ability to convey short stories about different cultures simply and humorously. In addition, the group's characterization also lends itself well to a shorter comic format.
[8]
[17]
Another common format for Countryballs are
alternate history
videos, often involving maps of the world changing depending on the event.
[18]
[19]
As of July 2015, the Facebook community has over 215,000 members,
[1]
although the main community has been occasionally banned due to the constant usage of
hate symbols
including the swastika.
[20]
[21]
The r/polandball subreddit reached over 250,000 subscribers at around the same time, growing to over 650,000 by 2024.
[8]
[22]
while the Polandball Wiki had 480,159 edits.
[8]
Themes
Poland
The premise of Countryballs is that they represent the country and its history, foreign relations, and
stereotypes
,
[11]
[23]
focusing on
megalomania
and
national complexes
.
[6]
[24]
Except for Anglophone countries, the dialogue of Countryballs tends to be written in broken English and
Internet slang
, reminiscent of the
lolcat
meme. By the end of a cartoon, Poland is typically seen weeping.
[5]
[6]
The representation of Poland in Polandball often relies on stereotypes. This can include portraying Poles as having poor English skills, frequently blaming others for their past failures due to repeated invasions by neighboring countries, having a tendency to glorify their history, and being perceived as unintelligent and overly religious.
[4]
Some Polandball comics arise from the premise that some countries can
go to space
while Poland cannot.
[25]
[26]
One of the earliest Polandball comics begins with the premise that Earth will suffer an
impact event
, leading to all countries with
space technology
leaving Earth and going into
orbit
around the planet. At the end of the cartoon, Poland, still on Earth, is crying and says the phrase "
Poland cannot into space
".
[c]
[11]
[28]
In this
humorous way
, other Countryballs halt all discussions with Poles on which country is superior.
[5]
[11]
[23]
Other countries
Countryballs usually include comics from other countries: these comics are sometimes still referred to as Polandball comics.
[5]
However, they are more commonly referred to as Countryballs.
[12]
States, provinces, other subdivisions, multinational organizations (such as the
European Union
,
NATO
, and the
United Nations
), and former countries (such as the
Roman Empire
) are also used.
[29]
Other countries are typically seen recalling their glory days or individual events of success, including
Russia
repelling the
Axis Powers' invasion of the country
.
[30]
There are various other established conventions in Countryball comics. The
United Kingdom
usually wears a
monocle
and a
top hat
while holding a cup of
tea
.
[22]
[31]
He is often portrayed as an old
gentleman
sadly reminiscing about his glory days as an
empire
. The
United States
wears big black
sunglasses
and is usually depicted as having an egocentric personality.
[31]
Japan
is occasionally drawn with
catgirl
characteristics and is portrayed as being obsessed with
anime
, particularly
hentai
.
Canada
is often drawn with a
coonskin cap
, and is portrayed as a relatively friendly country who apologizes excessively, but is known for
clubbing seals to death
in his spare time. In a more bizarre example,
Israel
is usually depicted as a cube. A common joke is that Israel is depicted this way because of "
Jewish physics
". Coats of arms in the upper hoist side are most often depicted as
eyepatches
; the civil ensign, which depicts
Austria-Hungary
in the comics, has two coats of arms, rendering the country either blind or wearing tinted glasses.
[32]
The r/polandball community on reddit requires many of these tropes (e.g. UK's top hat, the US's sunglasses, and Israel as a hypercube) as official rules.
A common character in the comics is the Reichtangle, a tall rectangle decorated with the
flag of the German Empire
and expressionless white dots for eyes; it often scares other countries (particularly Poland) by standing behind them, saying the phrase "guten tag" and threatening to eat them.
[2]
[33]
Depending on the comic, it either represents the
German military
or
German imperialism
, although it is officially a fictitious "4th Reich".
[20]
Nepal
and the U.S. state of
Ohio
are drawn as monsters with jagged teeth (known as "rawrs"), in reference to the unusual shape of their flags,
[18]
while
Singapore
is depicted as a triangle. The reason for this is unknown, but is assumed to be either a pun ("Singa" is similar to "Trianga"), as well as a reference to the
Indonesia?Malaysia?Singapore Growth Triangle
.
Montenegro
is frequently depicted as very sleepy and lazy, referring to what is called the "Lazy Olympics".
[32]
In instances where a county or character does not have an official flag, they are drawn as
billiard balls
.
[3]
The simplicity of Countryballs, together with its recognition of world history and a focus on current affairs, makes the meme suited to commenting on international events.
[29]
Among the events that have been covered by Countryballs and have been noted in the media are the
Senkaku Islands dispute
,
[34]
the
2013 papal conclave
(which saw Jorge Mario Bergoglio being elected the
new Pope
),
[35]
the
Revolution of Dignity
,
[28]
[29]
[36]
the
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
,
[15]
and issues relating to
Filipino workers in Taiwan
.
[37]
In the
prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
and after the
invasion
, Ukraine and Russia saw an increase in comic appearances.
Assessment
Wojciech Oleksiak, writing on culture.pl (a project of the Polish government-funded
Adam Mickiewicz Institute
which has the aim of promoting the Polish language and culture abroad), noted that, due to anyone being able to create a Polandball comic, the existence of the meme has created new opportunities for people to express their personal views on race, religion, and history. In describing Polandball as the internet meme
par excellence
, he further stated that comic plots could be "rude, impolite,
racist
, abusive, or just plain dumb", while also noting that the
politically incorrect
nature of the comics adds to the attractiveness of the meme.
[38]
At the same time, Oleksiak notes that Polandball comics often employ exaggerated Polish stereotypes, such as Poles not being as proficient in English as other nationalities and Poland itself being a country full of dull-witted hyper-Catholics. On the other hand, he admits that some stereotypes employed in Polandball comics, such as Poles telling stories about the nation's glorious history and dwelling on a deep-rooted martyrdom, are mostly true. In contrast, the stereotype that Poles hold many national complexes and blame external forces for their failures is true but somewhat justified. Oleksiak further notes that from Polandball, Poles can learn to have "a sense of humour about our long-time grudges".
[38]
A report on the Russian radio station
Vesti FM
noted a
Livejournal
post asking readers to list five images that come to mind when thinking of Poland or Poles. The five pages of responses, illustrating the complex and often difficult historical ties between Russia and Poland, recalled subjects including
False Dmitriy I
,
Tomek in the Land of the Kangaroos
by Polish author
Alfred Szklarski
,
Czterej pancerni i pies
("Four tank-men and a dog"),
Russophobia
, and Polandball.
[39]
[
unreliable source?
]
In popular culture
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
February 2023
)
|
An online multiplayer
third-person shooter
called
Countryballs: Modern Ballfare
was released on
Steam
in June 2021 for
Microsoft Windows
.
[40]
CountryBalls Heroes
, a
strategy game
, was released on
Steam
in November 2021 for
Microsoft Windows
. The game later won the 38th Fan Favorite weekly vote at the Game Development World Championship 2021.
[41]
See also
Notes
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External links
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