The medium of the meme is an image that employs text to get a point across. The standard, minimalistic format divides the text into a top and a bottom. The top line introduces the concept of the meme while the bottom line is usually where the comedic elements come to play. The bottom is in essence the punchline of the joke by creating a sense of finality to the thought or idea the meme was created upon. One of the most important aspects of the meme is not only the text but the image that the text is based around. This may be the most challenging part to decoding memes because you have to grasp the persona that the image represents before the point of the meme may be understood. There are a vast collection of meme images that can be based on pretty much anything. This url will introduce to some of the images/personas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_memes. The relationship between the image and the text is where the artistry of meme creation exists. If the text can be artfully related to the image in the typical comedic format, then the meme can be considered successful.
Below are some memes to reinforce the post.
This is a meme from the facebook group, "Penn State Memes". The persona of the image that the text is based around is that of the typical "Freshman" college student who is prone to the mistakes that any freshman is prone to. The memes based around this image usually poke fun at the lack of understanding of college culture that a freshman usually exhibits. The text is comedic in that it reflects a typical experience that a freshman at penn state may have in which the more experienced students can make fun of. The separation of the text allows the comedic effet to become much stronger, which is why i believe that memes have generated so much popularity recently. If you go to Penn State, you should understand the joke.
Another "Penn State Meme":
Here is an example of a Harry Potter meme that isn't in standard format:
Just because the meme employs a different format doesn't mean that it isn't one. The comedic effect is still preserved. Often times in film memes, the text is used to coincide with the facial expressions of the characters to create the effect.
Hey Connor. I am really glad that you approached the topic of memes being as though they have really exploded in todays culture. Even though they are heavily prevelant now, however, I do think that they can get old very quickly like many forgotten fads. Great entry you really did a good job explaining the essence of memes and why they are so popular. If you are ever bored check out iwastesomuchtime.com thats pretty much all it is and I find them pretty hilarious.
ReplyDeleteConnor, I'm so grateful that you posted this because...(true-confession time)...until now I didn't know what a meme was. I've seen people talking about them on Facebook, but I was too sheepish to ask. I know, I know, I live under a rock. But still--this post was helpful. I didn't realize that memes are those little images I've seen popping up more often. Now that I've been enlightened, however, I see your point: those little pictures are pretty potent rhetoric devices. They convey, like you said, the values (and humor) of a specific subset of the population. They're often funny, but I suppose they could easily become insulting...might they be just another avenue for stereotype, sexist and racist jokes? "Dumb blonde" and "bad Asian driver" jokes might shift from verbal to meme--and thus become even more prevalent. The "really funny" ones might even go viral. I'm not arguing that all memes are bad, of course, just that they might (and likely do) cross the line at times. But I'll get off my soapbox :) Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThe concept of memes has actually been around for a while, and it even existed (gasp) before the Internet. A meme, in its purest form, is simply an idea that spreads (and evolves slightly) in a _viral_ way. In fact "eme" is a term sometimes used to describe the smallest unit of thought (and is a root in phoneme, morpheme, and several other linguistics terms). Mimeme (greek for mimicry) was later shortened to meme; regardless, the idea is that some concepts spread through copying (like genes) and sometimes mutate. Commonplaces, for instance, are spread through a culture via memes.
ReplyDeleteThe internet meme is an unusual subset of memes, in which people intentionally iterate and play upon a given form. So far as I can discern, knowyourmeme.com is the most exhaustive compendium of memes globally, both internet and otherwise. (Planking, owling, and Tebowing are memes, for instance, and are not on the internet.)
Whew! That's probably more than you asked for. And everyone has now left the classroom... Have a good weekend. :)