Meme

For this project I have chosen two memes, one of which is considered a “classic,” in my opinion, and the other one which is slightly strange and random, but I still found to be pretty funny when I first discovered it in 2018. As I mentioned earlier, memes today are not a very significant part of my life. I don’t often find myself seeking them out, however upon receiving this assignment I went back into my old Instagram likes and discovered some old laughs, memes that I had saved many years ago and still find funny today. An interesting point that Limor Shifman makes in his writing has to do with the quantity of memes that exist out there on the internet today. He mentions a quote that memes “have been said to ‘replicate at rates that make even fruit flies and yeast cells look glacial in comparison’’’ (Shifman, 362). Although I find this to be very accurate, with new memes popping up every day, I have still chosen to work with some original ones that have not grown old.

The first meme I chose is of the Willy Wonka character from the early years of film, in which the humor has translated over very clearly ever after almost 50 years of culture evolution. This photo has been used for countless amounts of memes over many years and still remains funny when it is paired with a good caption. Here, I chose one with text that is relatable as a student, more so in the earlier stages of education like middle and high school. That being said the feelings behind what the message is relaying still resonate with me as I was once a younger student eager to work with my friends in the classroom and remember very clearly the look that we would give each other when the opportunity presented itself.

For the second meme, I chose one that I had discovered back in my early years of college and since then completely forgot about. However, as a college student still today I continue to see the relevance and humor in it. In addition, I find the image to be slightly uncomfortable to look at, which is intriguing at the same time. It makes me think about who would put this scene together and for what reason, other than perhaps to actually create this meme. Or, maybe, the person actually ran out of cups, was too lazy to clean one, and happened to have an extra bell pepper laying around the house. Either way, it is relatable as a college student living with roommates and minimal dishes and often dreading having to wash a cup or utensil just in order to enjoy a meal.

The memes I chose are not very thoughtful or “deep.” This could potentially reflect on my preferred humor, which tends to be fairly light with some exceptions. They are, however, both pretty relatable. The Willy Wonka meme more so to students in grade school, and the bell pepper one to kids in or recently out of college, living a somewhat minimal lifestyle. In addition to the content, the two memes are also somewhat similar in form. I would consider a simple, typed text sitting above and describing a photograph to be a fairly standard meme layout on. Both of these memes fit that layout exactly.

Shifman talks about three positions within which memes can be studied: “mentalist-driven, behavior-driven, and inclusive” (Shifman, 366). This was slightly confusing to me at first, however in the case of the second meme I believe it would be considered behavior-driven, due to the abnormality of the photo. He defines this position as one where “The meme has no existence outside the events, practices, and texts in which it appears… if memes were indeed only abstract units of information, it would be impossible to identify them separately from their manifestation in the outside world.” (Shifman, 367). Overall, I found this meme appealing because of its odd nature of inability to be recognized outside of the meme world.

To view the Meme Remix assignment, click here

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