Excuse me, what is a meme?
This is exactly what I asked my classmate when this
term popped up in my class. She
responded, “You know, those pictures that have funny sayings....” Still clueless, I broke down and resorted to
consulting my friend, Google. This is what I found:
Then,
I jumped over to the images (because I’m very visual person), and found a
bazillion examples, like this.
O.k. Got it. I
have seen these; however
I had no idea that there is a cultural significance to them. Memes have been around for decades. They
are a means for us to communicate quickly, satirically, and visually in our
very pop-culture-oriented society.
For an informative and entertaining timeline of the history of memes,
follow this link: http://gizmodo.com/what-exactly-is-a-meme-512058258
Artist and programmer Micheal Mandiberg goes on to explain that memes "comprise"cultural cornerstones" such as language or religion, behavior that is either taught or learnt through self-experience" (Koulture, 2012).
Artist and programmer Micheal Mandiberg goes on to explain that memes "comprise"cultural cornerstones" such as language or religion, behavior that is either taught or learnt through self-experience" (Koulture, 2012).
Another scholar, professor Chris Chesher, adds that memes are meant to invoke feelings we experience, but are unable to articulate (Koulture, 2012). Furthermore, the reason this is valuable when studying our culture is that "just like how archaeologists and historians gain understanding of human life in Roman times by studying the frescos and murals of Pompeii, Internet memes would be able to provide historians of the future hints of popular trends, political views, norms and habits of this period's society" (Koulture, 2012).
What is the make-up of an effective meme?
Memes today most often take something familiar and
add an unexpected twist. Typically these are digitally-formatted images that
combine a picture with a satirical statement.
The idea is to create something relatable within today’s pop-culture-
something that makes people laugh, or better
yet, makes them feel included (i.e. as if they are part of something bigger, because
someone else “gets” how they feel, or
what they are going through). This is an
extension of a type of shared knowledge.
Let’s give this a whirl!
So, by the simple guidelines I listed above, anyone
can be a producer and can create a meme. For an assignment, I tried to create one. First, I considered our
current political candidates. I believe most
people will agree that both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump leave a lot to be desired. In fact, neither one has much character or
many skills to be desired. For me, the idea of having to choose between
the two is somewhat overwhelming and very depressing. Either way, I believe we are going to lose; however,
the question is- which is the lesser of two evils
To create the image, I sought a picture of the most ridiculous duo I
could think of- the two characters from Dumb and Dumber (Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels). Then, I superimposed Trump’s and Clinton’s
faces and added the caption. Pretty easy.
So the question is, can you relate to this? Do you feel the air or foolishness
surrounding this political campaign, and does this translate through my meme?
What kind of meme would you create?
Reference
The significance of internet memes. (2012). Koulture. Retrieved from
