My meme dream: A defense of memes
My response to an article “ Memes You Probably Helped Spread Are Secretly Propaganda “
Funnily enough, this article inadvertently outlines the very reason why I so profoundly desire to mold myself into a meme: to become a counter-counterculture symbol ; to subvert this homogenizing corporate machine that masquerades as a subversive force. How exactly do I plan on hijacking this Goliath? Simple: a return to simpler times, in other words, a revival of that sweet, fresh 2008 meme scene, or at least the values behind it. I intend to bring back an evolved version of, as author Davis C. Bell (who goes buy the questionable pseudonym of GarbageHaus) so eloquently puts it, “Dumbass memes”.
Lol Cats, Bold Faced text, Ermahgerd girl, Rage faces … there’s a certain antiquarian, even idyllic appeal to them all. They’re the Rome to our Renaissance. However, the memescape of the time was by no means unblemished. As this “GarageHose” guy or whatever so astutely points out, the meme makers (and viewers) of the time falsely assumed the source images of many of the memes they made/ viewed were completely genuine and were not self-aware. In fact (again, the article is super smug about this) these original images were in fact... self-aware!!! What a shocking revelation! But maybe..just maybe... this assumption added to the appeal of the memes.
At least, that’s what I believe, and to take it a step further, it’s that very assumption that I plan to zero-in on and amp up when I (probably maybe) become a meme. Because constantly fixating on how “self-aware” something is becomes reductive, especially within an overarching cultural phenomenon like memes. Soon enough, you just bury whatever there was of substance, of soul, in endless layers of irony. When everything is a planned out, hyper-intentional joke you lose that refulgent glimmer of the genuine, of the heartfelt. In fact, though were coming at it at different sides, that seems to be at the root of “GarbanzoHoes’s” critique (in combination with meme commercialization).
Well, I for one say (with my hands on my hips and as self-righteously as possible) nooooooo thank you today’s post-post-modern meme world! The meme-based clock of self-awareness has circled back to 0. Call me old-fashioned, but I’d rather plant my feet firmly in the no-man's-man's of memedom (6 on the clock I guess though now the metaphor is starting to fall apart): not fully self-aware, but not someone so lost you feel guilty making fun of them. When the World someday sees my memes, I want people to wonder in complete befuddlement "is this for real, does this person know how bad this is?".
Because here’s to thing, as much as I’d like to derisively snort at all of reality, I care about things! I want that kinda vibe mirrored in my (future) memes. Truth is, most of the time irl I’m not sure whether I’m being serious or not. Sometimes I just impulsively say or do things, but I prefer that grey area (balanced with just a dab’ll-do-ya of introspection so it doesn’t go too far), than overly thought-out and convoluted “irony” or some shit. Yeesh.
Imagine a salad, equal parts self aware joke and raw and unadulterated truth. Now, imagined that blended (max power) into an inseparable whole. That is my dream. My meme dream, if you will.
