Contents – Spring 2026

Evelin, Horváth :

Virtual Characters at the Boundary of Reality

This study investigates the phenomenon of anthropomorphic virtual characters through three interrelated dimensions: ontological, aesthetic and social. The ontological analysis highlights that although these characters do not exist in the physical world, their identities are real and active within the digital sphere; consequently, users often perceive them in ways comparable to human agents. The aesthetic dimension explores how their flawless, idealised appearance influences recipients’ self-evaluation and their relationship to prevailingbeauty ideals, emphasising the tension between virtual perfection and realistic human body standards. The social dimension focuses on parasocial relationships, illustrating the role of perceived authenticity, attraction and the experience of social media interactions. The study demonstrates that the boundaries between reality and virtuality are increasingly blurred across all three dimensions: on an instinctive level, similar emotional responses emerge toward both human and nonhuman agents, whereas conscious perception tends to reinforce a preference for human forms of attachment.

Keywords: aesthetics, anthropomorphic virtual characters, ontology, parasocial relationship, virtual influencers

Ádám, Kuttner – Andrea, Kárpáti:

Generatív mesterségesintelligenciaeszközök az egyetemi kommunikációoktatásban [subtitle

This study presents the potential applications of generative artificial intelligence tools in university-level communication education. The pilot programme discussed summarises the results of the fourth phase of a research series conducted in the fall semester of the 2024/25 academic year with the participation of thirty-four master’s students in communication and media studies and staff members of the Hungarian National Museum. The main finding of the research is that the conscious and pedagogically integrated use of artificial intelligence tools can help streamline student workflows by reducing repetitive technical tasks, thereby creating greater opportunities to focus on more complex learning challenges and creative activities. The findings of the study are expected to support the development of educational methods and communication projects based on similar technologies, both for educators and professionals working in other areas of science communication.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, communication education, digital pedagogy, technology integration, university training

Orosz-Réti, Zsófia:

Mixed Metaphors

The article explores images generated by artificial intelligence from a humanities perspective and considers the implications of the new technologies on traditional mechanisms of meaning production. It argues that artificial intelligence has fundamentally reconfigured the taken-for-granted relationships between meaning, recognition and interpretability. To support this claim, after briefly delineating the working mechanisms of AI image generation, the paper turns to photorealistic, idealised representations of the human figure through the logic of Hermann Broch’s kitsch and Freud’s uncanny. Then, it relies on Mark Fisher’s reading of the eerie to analyse AI errors and visual glitches up until the point of complete visual incomprehensibility, suggesting that such experiences are unsettling because they render the absence of a subject palpable. Finally, the paper interprets the phenomenon of Italian brainrot, framing it with Mark Fisher’s understanding of the weird. Rather than understanding the random and impossible combination of visual elements as the tag “brain rot” suggests, in the sense of meaning being irretrievably lost, the article suggests exploring it as a visual practice that, albeit through AI devices, reinscribes human agency while interrogating the cultural and ideological frameworks of meaning-making. The paper concludes by positioning these three aspects of AI-generated imagery within a framework of the shifting relationship between self and other.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, brainrot, crisis of meaning, image generation, uncanny

Orsolya, Szabó Palócz:

The Dramaturgy of Political Enemy Narratives in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

In contemporary politics, enemy construction is not merely a rhetorical tool – it is a creative and immersive narrative process blending imitation, symbolic role-play and collective meaning-making. Consequently, political enemy-making resembles a structured performance: it distributes roles, establishes conflict- driven storylines and engages participants in emotionally charged scenarios with high symbolic stakes. Generative AI increasingly shapes these processes by automating narrative production, mimicking persuasive forms and dramatising threats. Drawing on discourse theory and political communication, the paper suggests that enemy construction is a form of political dramaturgy, fusing imagination, imitation and affect to produce cohesive group identities and moral worldviews. In this framework, AI is not just a tool but a co-actor, capable of replicating, accelerating and innovating the narrative mechanics of political enmity. By reinterpreting enemy narratives as structured yet improvisational political creativity, this paper contributes to broader discussions on how dramaturgy, imagination and AI shape social realities.

Keywords: political narratives, enemy construction, artificial intelligence, serious play, identity politics

Márton, Bene – Norbert, Merkovity:

History of Online Campaigning in Hungary

Based on the scholarly literature, this study reviews the history of online election campaigning in Hungary and describes the rise of digital campaigning in four phases. The experimental period (1996–2006) featured mostly static party websites and bottom-up viral mobilisation via email and SMS, especially since 2002. From 2006 to 2014, online tools became integrated into campaigns, while web 2.0 and blogging intensified personalisation. In 2014–2019, campaigning grew Facebook-centric and politically asymmetric: the opposition used social media to compensate for its disadvantages, while governing parties relied more on legacy media. After 2019, digital campaigning “broke through” as the government side also prioritised social media, multi-platform strategies expanded, ad spending rose and “stealth” campaigning spread. The conclusion highlights platform “TikTokisation” and campaign integrity as key research areas for the future.

Keywords: digital campaign, Facebook dominance, online election campaign, social media, stealth campaigning

Krisztina, Burai – Virág, Bagi – Vanessza, Juhász:

A Comparative Analysis of Hungarian Political Leaders’ 2024 EP Campaigns on Facebook

This study examines the social media communication of the 2024 European Parliamentary election campaign in Hungary, which was rendered particularly complex by the simultaneous organisation of municipal and EP elections and the emergence of Péter Magyar as a new challenger of the incumbent Fidesz/Christian Democrats party alliance. The study investigates the prevalence and forms of populist elements in the Facebook communication of leading candidates of party lists that secured mandates, as well as how this new political context influenced their campaign strategies. The analysis is based on a manual content analysis of 509 Facebook posts, incorporating the examination of both textual and visual content. The findings indicate that campaign communication focused predominantly on national political issues, while topics related to the European Union remained marginal. The visual analysis also reveals marked differences in symbolic repertoires, with patriotic symbols used more extensively than EU-related imagery across candidates. The use of negative campaigning varied substantially across candidates, whereas populist elements appeared in the communication of all three actors under study, albeit in distinct structural patterns. Government-aligned communication was primarily characterised by fear-based appeals and war-related narratives, while opposition strategies relied mainly on elite criticism. Overall, the analysis highlights the fragmented and selective use of populist strategies in the social media practices of the Hungarian EP campaign.

Keywords: European Parliamentary election, Hungarian municipal election, multimodal analysis, populist communication, social media communication

Márton Pál, Iványi:

Stands, Suburbs, Salat

The scholarly literature has explored the genesis of rap music and its original social functions, including, among other things, the processing of the experiences of marginalisation, the formation of collective identities, and various forms of social engagement. Building upon these established lines of discussion, this paper introduces three case studies of artistic practice drawn from two broadly comparable historical and social contexts, as well as a third one that differs markedly from them. Through these cases, it aims to demonstrate how the artistic identity and oeuvre of a given rapper may be structured around distinct focal points such as 1) the articulation of affiliation with a sports club, as exemplified by Dale in the Hungarian scene, 2) the expression of patriotic motifs, characteristic of the Polish trajectory associated with Sokół and 3) the foregrounding of religious commitment, as observed in the Algerian case of Lotfi Double Kanon. In each instance, these emphases operate in tension with, or in opposition to, dominant mainstream cultural frameworks and currents. Taken together, these cases make it evident that certain salient patterns—related to sport, place-based belonging or religious orientation—may constitute some of the most prominent elements of an artist’s public persona or “brand”, even within a musical genre that has long been associated with African American cultural expression. Ultimately, this analysis corroborates earlier observations that suggest that rap has by now evolved into a highly differentiated field and a polyphonic universe of meanings.

Keywords: identity, mainstream, rap, society, underground, (post-)subcultural research