In her piece on GIFs, Iris Cuppen writes: …a lot of these animations do not display important statements but show in-between moments: the turning of a head, the wink of an eye, the pointing of a finger or the wave of a hand […] the GIF performs a sort of decontextualization whereby (recorded) movement is given a second life outside the structures of the narratives from which it originates. Cuppens arguments are made in the context of the 2016 elections (although her point about gestures and decontextualization is more broadly applicable). Drawing on her arguments about the formal properties of the GIF, reflect on the way in which the decontextualization performed by the GIF propels or derails political discourse.
https://www.diggitmagazine.com/papers/political-gif-never-ending-loop-presidential-races
