#engl295

Memes have become a huge part of today's culture.  I always thought that memes were limited to just the 2D manipulation of photos and drawings that create a connection with the viewer.  Having read Limor Shifman's Meme Genres, a chapter in the book, Memes in Digital Culture, I can see his point of different internet video like flash mobs and recut trailers as being a meme genre due to the similarities of expressing ideas through reused content and connecting with audiences.

Shifman argues that recut trailers reflect current users of the internet ambivalent nature towards movie companies' genre marketing techniques.  I agree that these trailers are very critical of the market, however, I think they are also a demonstration of these creators genuinely love the movies too.  Based on the techniques that are employed to recut trailers, it is a clear critical parody of the market by making a mockery of the formulas.  On top of the parody, the clips that are needed to formulate the recut trailers have to be very specific also demonstrates that creators love of the movie based on their dedication to creating believable trailers.  That kind of dedication only comes from re-watching the film multiple times.  

One of my favourite recut trailers is Monty Python and the Holy Grail Recut as a Drama.  Watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr2AGCPxQfU

What is your favourite recut trailer?

Before beginning the class on memes, I had probably been exposed to five different types of memes simply scrolling through my Facebook feed. From the start of my day, I had seen around 20. Every couple of weeks, a new meme emerges, sweeping social media (especially Twitter) by storm, and creating new ways for people to communicate with one another. I would say it’s getting out of hand, and there’s an over saturation in the meme market, if it weren’t for the fact that I enjoy 95% of them, and there can never be enough.

Just like emojis, memes are a way for a person to express themselves in a more humorous, light-hearted, simple, and Internet-savvy manner. However, the key difference is in what they communicate. While emojis best convey one’s emotions or feelings, memes are better at conveying one’s thoughts, opinions, and even lifestyle. Throughout my life, I can experience most, if not all, of the feelings each emoji represents, but only select memes will apply to me in the same lifetime. As Davidson references, memes convey a behaviour, and not everyone behaves the same or similarly. But emojis convey emotions, which everyone understands and experiences according to the situation at hand.

Not only do memes have less affordances than emojis in regards to what they communicate, but also in regards to when they should be used to communicate. While emojis cover the entire spectrum from happy to sad to mad, and can be used in both fun and serious circumstances, memes usually come with or give off a joking connotation. If I was having a serious discussion with Mama Kalra over failing a course, emojis (such as these 😥 👎🏽 😭 😕) may be thrown into the discussion and assist in conveying my take on the matter, and how upset I am over it. However, if I were to throw in a meme, no matter how relevant, it can easily give off the impression I am not taking the situation seriously.

Interestingly enough, I believe the reason behind the appropriate times to use a meme have to do with Davidson’s break down, and how they all come together. Though one may intend to use a meme to convey a more serious ideal, it may be due to the manifestation attached that detracts from the overall effect. On the flip side, one may be using a meme with a more serious manifestation, but due to the behaviour and environment it is used in, the severity of the manifestation image reduces in quality.

At the end of the day, memes are still a hilarious part of everyday life and interaction between people. But when broken down to individual parts (as Davidson outlines) or compared to the other ways in which we replace simple (text based) communication, there is much more to consider and discuss. 

What is a meme?

It is an idea or behaviour that spreads quickly through social media from person to person within a culture.

Purpose of a meme?

Most modern memes are photos that are captioned. Memes are often intended to be funny. There are also memes that can be videos and verbal expression. Other memes may have more philosophical content.

According to Davidson, there are three components to the creation of a meme: the manifestation, behaviour, and the ideal. Davidson explains, the manifestation is the meme’s observable and external phenomena. An example of this would be a funny joke. The behaviour of a meme is action taken by individuals in creation of the meme. The ideal is the idea communicated by the meme. These three components work together to create the meme. The ideal leads to the behaviour which in turn creates the manifestation of the meme.

Are memes a form of bullying?

According to Boyd, there are three components that comprises of bullying: aggression, repetition, and imbalance. He describes bullying as, “a practice in which someone of differential physical or social power subjects another person to repeated psychological, physical, or social aggression”. The digital age makes its too easy for photos to be ripped out of context. People can create captions that are cruel, displaying a form of repeated aggression that it imbalance as it circulates on the internet, where there’s no way of stopping it.

Memes beyond entertainment purposes?

Understanding memes can be an important way to keep track on current trends or the appeal of long term trends. It can help tell us about new literacies and how people understand new arising crises.

For example, this meme shows how people keep up with Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States of America

Finally, in the weeks wrapping up the class, our object text for this week was a visual novel. Specifically, it was a visual novel about online privacy called "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story".

You bet your ass I was hyped.

FINALLY, we get to talk about memes! I remember the first ever meme I saw was the “forever alone” meme and “me gusta”, oh man does that bring me back to high school or what? It’s amazing how memes became so popular to the point where it’s all I ever see nowadays on every platform I come across. On Facebook, a lot of profiles are dedicated to posting memes. To the memes that are relatable, Facebook users would usually tag someone who can relate with them and say something like “that is so you!”. On Twitter, there are profiles dedicated to just posting memes and not a day goes by where I don’t see a meme on Instagram. 

It’s also interesting to note how memes have changed over the course of the years. Back then, the “forever alone”, “trololol” and the “me gusta” were all stick figures.

These are not usually the memes seen today (in my experience). Usually memes today are taken from real life events such as a snapshot of a photo from a tv show, like Kermit who has given us so many memes and let’s not forget the Obama and Biden memes that recently blew up on the internet post-election.

Referring back to Davidson, when examining a meme it’s important to consider the manifestation, behaviour and ideal. Come to think of it, exploring these three specifics makes it a bit more clear to answer why a meme can be so effective.

My favourite meme recently is the fist of Arthur. Yes, Arthur from the TV show..Arthur (nice on Abby). The manifestation of the meme is Arthur, and is a zoomed up picture of him clenching his fist. The behaviour of the meme is that people can download the original picture, add text to it and post it again on social media. The ideal of the picture is that since Arthur is clenching his fist, the text should be relevant to the person. Basically, add a text that relates to the picture such as the meme I posted below. It’s hilarious to me because Arthur as a TV character is very calm and outgoing, but seeing his fist clenched gives a sense that he’s angry which makes it even more funnier?

When considering emojis, a majority of people may associate the term with its use and functionality through texting and social media communication, stemming from its addition to iOS and Android OS. However, back in my day, emojis were actually referred to as emoticons (despite what Hern says. Sorry Hern). 

This isn’t to say that Hern’s definition or distinction between the two is incorrect. But rather, based on the distinction he makes, what my peers and I considered to be emoticons was actually the early times of emojis. Only difference is the medium where all of this confusion occurred; MSN Messenger. Before it’s uncalled for demise, MSN was the only platform on which my friends and I used pictorial representations (emojis) based on the emotions we typed out (emoticons, ie. :D). 

We just called them emoticons instead. And if I’m being quite honest, they’ll always be emoticons in my heart (long live MSN). 

Nostalgic loyalties aside, the one thing I still find great about how MSN employed emojis is in regard to the ability for a user to create their own custom emoji. Platforms like Snapchat have employed such a practice through the use of Bitmojis (smh), but MSN seemed to do it best. The process was easy for people of all ages, users could create a custom set for download, and you could make it out of anything or anyone. 

In my experience, the power of these customizable emojis was so grand that my cousins and I still use the text shortcut for a custom emoji of a head shaking uncontrollably, spazzing out, in our present day messaging. When we typed in, ‘nut1,’ in MSN, the custom, head spazz emoji would pop up. After its end, we would still frequently message each other with, ‘nut1,’ despite the fact that no emoji would take its place, irregardless of that specific one. But we knew what the other person was referring to and trying to convey. The one emoji changed our way of communicating to a degree.

This brings me to exploring the idea of emojis being able to completely take over language. Sternbergh discusses the idea of emojis being able to convey thoughts and emotions just as well as text and provides examples of people translating books (texts) strictly into emojis. Though I can’t foresee all traces of text being eradicated, based on personal experience and my perusing of social media, it can practically be used just as much, if not more, for a sense of efficiency and aesthetics. 

I feel like it can even go to the point (if not already there), where using text will be seen as more personal and caring than one using an emoji. While I could see a picture of bae and write, “😍,” bae might be more flattered or touched if i took the time to write, “Wow, you look beautiful, you are so bae, bae.” Do they mean the same thing? Essentially, yes. But its almost like emojis are so common place now, and used to replace speech to even this romantic of a degree, that using text shows more care and attachment. Likely because it can now be perceived as, the old way, or in other words, outdated. 

All I know, whatever they’re called now, I await the day I can customize the small icons into whatever I want (aka nut1, I need nut1 back). That, or MSN can just come back already 👀 😏