MIT 3652Student @3652student - Tumblr Blog

Posts

MEME IN REAL LIFE Meme Rage Comics - In Real Life If memes were real... Memes da vida real Follow us on: http://www.LokmanVideo.com http://www.facebook.com/L...

This is our "sweded" version of Accepted (2006) LIKE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/accepted20 Cast: Bartleby Gaines - Will Cheston Sherman - Gr...

Our 5 Minute Swede of Accepted - Give it a watch! ::)

Blog Post #5 - Meme Overload Meme

MEME OVERLOAD IMAGES:

MEME OVERLOAD VIDEOS: YouTube

And Why? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gufXf67qBcc

The Meme Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMAZEW-cnr4

“Meme Overload” is an internet slang term that refers to an instance where multiple memes are used or referred to simultaneously. The first documentation of the phrase appeared in a Gamespot forum thread in 2007 and had spread to Reddit by 2008. By 2010, the Daily What published a post that stated “Meme Overloading is now a meme” (knowyourmeme.com).

The Meme Overload memes on the one hand are a way for people to communicate with the world that they know memes really well. It becomes almost something to brag about if someone can understand the multiple references to various memes within a Meme Overload meme. It also creates a sense of community in which people can feel connected and validated. The fact that they know as much as they do about a wide variety of memes is deemed by others who have the same type of meme knowledge as an accomplishment.

On the other hand though, Meme Overload memes can be seen as supporting dominant systems by keeping people distracted from important issues. The fact that people can see a Meme Overload meme and often pick out and get the reference for the majority of the memes used within it shows how much time people are spending online engaging with memes.

This matters for two main reasons. First, memes create a feeling of community through their participatory nature. Meme Overload memes create a feeling of a specific and almost elite level of memetic community, which consists of those who have devoted enough of their time to understanding the copious amounts of memes on the internet so that they can now understand multiple references within a Meme Overload meme. However, the feeling of community people get from engaging in memes is only imagined and of course is mediated through the technology and commodities they use to both view and create various memes and then use to view and create Meme Overload memes. Like Debord says, within the spectacle people are “linked solely by their one-way relationship to the very centre that keeps them isolated from each other” (Thesis 29).

Second, and perhaps more concerning is the fact that meme overload memes are a prime example of 4th level simulacra (Baudrillard). People are spending abundant amounts of time on the internet engaging with so many memes that they reach the point of being able to create and understand Meme Overload memes. Yet in all these hours people invest, they are only really spending their time creating and sharing images that refer to other images that have been so remixed and reworked that they no longer refer to anything at all. Although memes do have meanings behind them and often can be seen as simultaneously challenging and supporting dominant ideas, when these memes get pulled into a Meme Overload meme, their significance loses value. It is not the meaning of the various memes that is being referred to, it is simply the meme itself. Meme overload memes do not ask people, even on a subconscious level, to think about the meaning behind memes, it simply asks, “Do you recognize this meme?” and applauds them if they do. Debord would say that we are wasting our time and that our obsession with memes is keeping us from talking about what is really important.

Meme Overload memes illustrate how people in today’s society are willing to devote a large part of their lives to engagement with memes, but how doing this results in what Debord called the decline of intelligence and critically thinking. Hooray! We know Doge from Lolcatz, but what about the wars taking place in the world right now? Do we know anything about that?

Blog Post #4 - Successful Black Man

The Successful Black Man meme originally appeared on Meme Generator and 4chan in 2010 and quickly gained popularity from there. The image used comes from the ShutterStock website and the titles added to the image typically follow what KnowYourMeme.com calls a “bait and switch” tactic. The top title usually sets up a stereotype about African American men and then the bottom title consists of a phrase that makes the top title seemingly inoffensive.

On the surface level, this meme appears to be exposing stereotypes and challenging them. By stating a notion that is commonly held in today’s society and then through the second title try to subvert the stereotype, the meme challenges people’s belief in it. In this way, the meme can be seen as opposing ingrained ideas in society, and as being a force that encourages people to look at others not based on their race, but simply as other human beings.

Yet, this meme simultaneously accomplishes the exact opposite goal. Instead of challenging these stereotypes that surround race, the meme can be seen as propagating these notions throughout the internet. The way humour is used here can be seen as offsetting the seriousness of the challenge to these societal “norms” of what a black man “is” or “does”. Instead of really taking on the issue that society sees men of colour as violent, drug users, and criminals, the humour in the meme takes away the potential effectiveness of the meme at debunking these stereotypes.

The meme has to state the stereotype in order to oppose it or offer a contrary stance, but in stating the stereotype the meme is reinforcing that idea and disseminating it to a wide audience who are likely to internalize the message.

The real problem with this type of meme is that it is not specific to stereotypes around race. One can draw comparisons between the Successful Black Man meme and other similar meme series, such as Ordinary Muslim Man and High Expectations Asian Father. These memes operate in a similar way to the Successful Black Man meme in how they both challenge and support stereotypes simultaneously. However these two examples show that this contradictory position the memes hold extends beyond race to both religion and culture as well.

These memes may intend to do good in this world by challenging these unspoken, but often ingrained stereotypes, but by inscribing these stereotypes in the texts of the memes, the stereotypes are spread, people begin to internalize the message, and as a result they further pigeonhole others based on specific aspects of their lives, whether it be race, religion or culture. The meme can both bring us together in community and alienate us from one another by creating divides.

Download the Instrumental track and create a response video with your own version of the song: http://soundcloud.com/laughpong/meme-song-instrumental Like us...

Blog Post #3 - Ridiculously Photogenic Guy

In 2012 a picture was taken of a group of people running in the Cooper River Bridge Run in South Carolina. The picture happened to capture one participant in a particularly flattering pose and it soon became dubbed “Ridiculously Photogenic Guy”. According to knowyourmeme.com, within an hour of the picture being posted to Flickr it had received 300, 000 views.

The image spread like wildfire with people making their own derivatives of the meme by Photoshopping the ridiculously photogenic guy into scenarios other than the race. It also expanded as a genre and has inspired similar memes such as “Ridiculously Photogenic Surgery Girl”, “Ridiculously Photogenic Metal Head”, and “Ridiculously Photogenic Jiu-Jitsu Guy”. The Ridiculously Photogenic Guy, whose name is Zeddie Little, became an internet sensation and was even interviewed on Good Morning America about his new found fame.

This meme can be understood as an expression of society’s anxiety about living in a digital world where image capturing technology is becoming more and more ubiquitous. In today’s digital age, people largely construct their identities online. The pictures they post on their various social media accounts shape how others see them. However, people realize that as careful as they are when constructing their online persona, they are not the only ones who can post pictures of themselves. In this highly technological world, where almost everyone has a camera or camera phone and access to the internet, there is always the chance that someone might snap an unflattering picture of a person and by posting it to the web immortalize that perspective of them.

The fact that this meme spread so quickly shows that this anxiety is very much present in today’s society. The meme, and the larger genre it has expanded into, can be seen as an expression of people’s constant worry about having their online reputation ruined. One never knows in this digital age when one might be photographed, videotaped, or documented in some way. This meme can be understood as an expression of the way people live in a constant state of paranoia because of this. Their online reputation, and thus their identity, can be tarnished with a single unflattering photograph, so people must always be prepared, no matter what they happen to be doing, to survive in this digital world where potentially every moment can be captured and recorded indefinitely.

This meme opens up a dialogue about this shared anxiety. It makes people feel comforted by the fact the others experience it too, but communicating about it does not solve the anxiety. These meme contributors are simultaneously poking fun at and reinforcing the idea that one must always be ready to be documented regardless of the situation they are in. By worshiping these few meme stars who do manage to look ridiculously good no matter what they are doing, it reinforces the pressure on average people to always be ready; to live in a constant state of expecting – knowing that someone may always being watching with a camera in hand.

http://kingsenglish.info

Happened to stumble across this video and it made me think about what we were talking about in class. About how much the KJB has influenced the English language.

Blog Post #2 - Corporate Logic

Corporate Logic is a meme that takes the form of a three panel comic strip and makes fun of the confusing decisions made by large corporations.

No one knows exactly where this meme began, however its first notable appearance was on a website called MyLittleBrony.com and made fun of Hasbro. Corporate Logic is still a fairly new meme, thus its spread has not yet been as wide as some other memes, but it is quickly gaining popularity. While the original mocked Hasbro, it has spread to take aim at Sonic, Facebook, the entire Music Industry and other large corporations. As far as variation is concerned, typically the first panel depicts some board member in a meeting making a logical suggestion about the company, the second panel shows the boss rejecting the idea by simply saying “No”, and then the third panel shows the board members looking confused but not saying anything. Now however, a variation has emerged where in the first panel, the worker poses a question to the boss, in the second panel the boss comes up with an illogical answer, and in the third panel the workers, despite the ridiculousness of the idea, applaud the boss for his brilliant suggestion.

If we look at this meme more closely we realize that it opens up a space for average citizens to questions the choices of the companies that dominate the capitalist marketplace we live in today. This meme is beneficial because it sparks the idea that these corporations are not all powerful; they are run by people like us, who are capable of making bad decisions. This meme opens up a space for people to critique big corporations and discuss the downfalls of capitalism.

While this is commendable, the way the meme does this is problematic because although it opens up a space for discussion, it is not a serious discussion. These memes are seen as funny and ironic and the people writing them are thus not seen as being radical and going against the dominant system. Just like the workers in the comic, we might be confused about the corporations’ decisions, we may even comment on them by making our own meme, but in the end we simply accept the boss’ decision and continue to work in (live in) the corporation (capitalist system) that we don’t understand or necessarily agree with.

This meme is a place to voice our confusions and concerns, but because it is satirical, it is not really a call to arms to make a change but simply a way to pacify unhappy individuals into acceptance of the capitalist system.

Blog Post #1 - Socially Awkward Penguin

Socially Awkward Penguin is an “advice animal” (“Socially Awkward Penguin”) meme that began in 2009 with George Mobley’s Adéli penguin picture. The penguin spread quickly, soon achieving a 4chan, blog, Reddit, Buzzfeed and Smosh presence, and even an android app. As of 2012 over 32,000 people like its facebook page and the phrase has become a popular hash tag on Twitter. The meme has been modified to become Socially Awesome/Hybrid/Average/Terrifying Penguin.

To critique this meme it is useful to refer to the findings of Knobel and Lankshear. They found that successful online memes tended to have three key characteristics: Fidelity, Fecundity, and Longevity (3). Socially Awkward Penguin has great fidelity; it is a simple image that is easy to reproduce accurately. The meme also has impressive fecundity; it was copied at a high rate of speed in its beginning stages and continues to be copied and widely enjoyed online today. Finally, Socially Awkward Penguin has achieved a certain amount of longevity and is still going strong five years after its creation. Of course, time will only tell if this meme is able to maintain relevance in the future.

It is my prediction though that it will, since it has what Knobel and Lankshear called a “rich intertextuality” (15). This meme is not specific to an exact historical or cultural moment in time. It is simply a platform upon which people can express their anxieties. In the future, there will still be people who harbor anxieties about fitting into society. Socially Awkward Penguin has the ability to stay relevant because it is not specific to a certain event or time period, but to this widespread feeling experienced by everyone. By appealing to this shared experience, Socially Awkward Penguin encourages a “participatory culture” (Shifman 23). People become involved in creating new memes and this results in greater dissemination. It is an anonymous way that people can express their anxieties about the world, and in doing so feel a sense of community through the meme.

However, while this meme does provide an outlet for unspoken anxieties, it is slightly problematic to define it as a “true” meme because it has not really evolved over time. Shifman argues that a meme must be not only imitated, but remixed and made into something new yet related to the original (19). Socially Awkward Penguin has spread like wildfire, but there has been little variation to it over the past five years. Although the background may change colours and the penguin change directions, the basic layout of the meme – the image of a penguin on a coloured background with text – has not really changed or morphed into anything greater than its original state.

Ultimately, Socially Awkward Penguin is more than just a picture of a penguin; it is the stage on which citizens can anonymously voice their concerns about living in today’s society.

Works Cited

Knobel, Michele, and Colin Lankshear. “Online Memes, Affinities and Cultural Production.” In A New Literacies Sampler, 199-227. New York: P. Lang, 2007. Print.

Shifman, Limor. Memes in Digital Culture. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2014. Print.

“Socially Awkward Penguin.” KnowYourMeme. Cheezburger Inc., 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

MIT 3652Student