Countryballs
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, 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.
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.
[5][6] Other users on the website attempted to sabotage the artwork by inverting the color scheme to match that of a Poké Ball, or defacing it with a large swastika.
[5] 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.
[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.
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.
[12] States, provinces, other subdivisions, multinational organizations (such as the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations), and historical countries (such as the Roman Empire) are also used.
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 their spare time.
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 looming behind them, alongside the phrase "Guten tag" and poised to attack.
[20] Nepal and the U.S. state of Ohio are drawn as vaguely triangular shapes with jagged teeth (known as "rawrs"), in reference to the unusual proportions of their flags,[18] while Singapore is depicted as a triangle.
[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.
[30] Among the events that have been covered by Countryballs and have been noted in the media are the Senkaku Islands dispute,[35] the 2013 papal conclave (which saw Jorge Mario Bergoglio being elected the new Pope),[36] the Revolution of Dignity,[29][30][37] the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation,[15] and issues relating to Filipino workers in Taiwan.
[39] 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.
[39] 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, recalling 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.
