A multimodal study of the visual features in David Cameron's apology for Bloody Sunday

Abstract EN

This paper examines the visual features of the apology given by the previous British prime minister David Cameron (2010) for Bloody Sunday which took place in 1972.

Cameron delivered his apology in the House of Commons in the presence of the members and the Speaker of the House of Commons.

This apology was analysed according to Kress and van Leeuwen's proposed analytical framework for multimodal analysis.

The main focus of this study is on the gaze and gestures made by Cameron and which are significant in the meaning-making process.

The gaze and the gestures could give the feeling of inferiority to the addressee or it could give the feelings of regret, remorse or shame or other meanings that the speaker wants to deliver.

The video of Cameron's apology was found on YouTube.

The analysis of this apology should help other researchers to get a better understanding of the interpretation of the visual features that can be used by political leaders in delivering an apology.

The analysis and the findings of this study can be used for further research by showing the researchers how multimodal analysis can be applied not only on political apologies but also on political speeches in general.