The Value of the Internet Meme in the Post Modern Era
Memes function as a form of discourse in our digital culture spaces. With the rise of digital social platforms, internet memes create a new form of written and spoken language. Memes are defined by Dawkins as something that determines the behavior of an organism. They are taught or learned and heavily rely on the mental processes of observation and learning in order to replicate. Internet memes combine the use of rapid dissemination of information with human behavior to create an entirely new discourse within online culture.
An internet meme is defined as “a piece of culture, typically a joke, which gains influence through online transmission”. The speed of transmission is extremely heightened on the internet, mainly due to the use of copy and paste features. On platforms like 4Chan, memes are easily replicated and manipulated to broaden the message and impact of the original meme. Creators and watchers are constantly collaborating in attempts to build a large body that celebrates common experience and humor. Many of these platforms where memes originated and replicate are anonymous platforms. The use of pseudonyms enables freedoms on these platforms, such as freedom of speech. These freedoms make the users collectively accountable for themselves and each other and hinders and prevents authorship of intellectual property. Because the reproduction of memes is so quick in this day and age, there is no time to copyright or trademark photos and drawings. What people place on the internet is for public use, whether they like it or not.
An example of a meme that began as something innocent and simply as a source of humor is Pepe the Frog. The creator of the cartoon, Matt Furie, put a cartoon of a frog he created onto social networking sites and the character was instantly memed. Over time, the frog shifted from a figure of dirty college humor to a hate symbol representing extremist views on white supremacy, anti-semitism, and politics. The meme was easily reproduced with copy and paste and manipulated to fit into different discourses within the digital sphere. The meme became an instant entry point into any form of radicalism. In the 2016 presidential election, some people will say that candidate Donald Trump was “memed into the White House” because of the influence the Pepe the Frog meme had on his political campaign, as white supremesits were a key target market for the meme on websites like Reddit and 4Chan. Over time, the creator tried to do what he could to disassociate Pepe from the extremists, but he had lost all power and control of his artwork to the creative commons. He initially tried to reform Pepe’s image by creating a Pepe Peace Campaign, where Pepe was written as a symbol of peace and love. When that did not work and the election drama ensued, Furie killed Pepe off in a comic post-election.
In today’s day and age, Pepe is not as common as he once was. Perhaps that is because of his ties to extremists, or maybe it is because the trend ended after some time and people shifted their attention elsewhere. Memes go just as quickly as they come. Each year, users on twitter create a sort of “meme calendar” where it outlines to meme trends from month to month. In 2017 for example, the meme for the month of January was the “salt bae” meme and for February it was the “blinking white guy” meme. These memes are not as common anymore, but they do still circulate the web. One day they may resurface, as trends tend to repeat themselves, but new content is constantly being created and circulated.
In essence, memes die just as quickly as they proliferate. They are fueled by digital, public consumption and reproduction. The audience is mainly composed on blind trend followers, who are able to self express through their usage and in turn, express collective digital culture on sharing websites. Conformity in these situations allows people to feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves and shows that people value those strong senses of community. When someone creates a meme, the feeling of viral success from likes, shares, and retweets instills confidence and feelings of belonging in users. Internet memes are an authentic product of everyday internet users. Without the sense of authenticity, memes would not be nearly as popular in today’s digital culture. The fact that someone can create something so simple, free of charge, and influence the masses with their creation is an impressive feat.
