A three-step manual for creating a political villain: the case of Jeremy Corbyn

This manual guides the reader through the process of creating a political villain with three easy-to-follow steps. Readers may wish to create their own political villains (there is no shortage of politicians on which to practise), or simply use it to better understand how political villains are created and more critically engage with this type of multimodal construction. The case of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK is utilized to make this process as evident and clear as possible. Corbyn’s case reveals how power operates in the everyday through multimodal constructions. Overall, this is a manual which exposes how images and words work together to persuade us of particular messages. In an age that sees us constantly exposed to many multimodal messages, this visual essay sheds some light on important points for us all to consider as both willing and unwilling consumers of media. Its focus is on the how of multimodal construction rather than on the why.