After flipping through some of the images that others have posted, I couldn't help but notice the absence of a good internet meme; so, I thought I’d take this post to draw out some of the conventions of the genre--of course, there are many, many sub-genres within the internet meme genre, but that’s probably for another day.
Internet memes are great examples of visual texts that academics and students alike will scoff at--some of the humor, images, and topics are probably considered low-brow by most audiences. For the most part, internet memes speak to contemporary social and cultural issues of the day--and when I say day, I mean literally today. The distribution of memes through social networks allow for memes to be both created and distributed within the same moments. Further, because memes have become so pervasive in our culture, the content frames arguments that influence or shape how viewers may experience the world.
This meme I stumbled upon in stumbleupon.com--a site that allows users to surf the web based on the interests of that user. The image that this meme depicts is from my alma mater: Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. The statue is of our mascot, the Golden Bear, in the center of campus. The meme itself is significant to me and others from KU because of the cultural assumptions that someone from KU has about our place in the world: we are not a large, Divison I school; we are not a research school; we are a small, liberal arts, rural university--we only had one main road that split north/south side of campus, and there was only one way to cross it. The distribution of internet memes allowed for this image to circulate on the global internet community through stumbleupon.com, but also is a way to share an aspect of Kutztown culture with the world--taking a picture in the arms of the bear. Here’s an image of me with the same bear in the summer of 2008 (before my freshman year)
Just like everyone from Penn State has to take a picture with the Nittany Lion, Kutztown people have to take a picture in the arms of the bear (in any variation). This meme is more significant, then, to Kutztown alum because most of us have done the same act; thus, we feel as though we have participated in this cultural act that has seen global attention (even if that attention was for just 15 minutes).
In terms of shaping how I, personally, see the world--I never noticed that the statue could work in the interpretation that the producer of the image displays the statue. To me, the statue has always just looked like a bear growling on it’s legs with it’s arms out, but the way this meme works (coupled with the words) offers a new perspective in how to view the statue itself. But it’s also worth noting that this image reminds me of others such as the following:
I guess what I’m trying to do is trace how this image has been significant to me personally--through my own participation of the Kutztown culture of images in the arms of the bear, but also other memes or images that this image draws upon such as Darth Vadar. I could definitely flesh more of these ideas, but this is a good snapshot of what I was generally thinking.
Some of the questions I have:
Has anyone else seen this image?
How do others, who haven’t gone to Kutztown and are not familiar with the culture, view this image?
Are there other micro cultures that may view this image with similar significance?
How do the words enhance the image’s meaning?
If the text was in a different font, how would the image function differently? Would it be still considered in the internet meme genre? (I didn’t discuss this earlier due to length, but it’s an interesting one to consider)
Since I always love a good meme as well, I'll join the fun. I definitely haven't seen this image before (in pure or meme form), though I'm plenty familiar with the meme itself. In terms of the first image, I simply see it as a clever play on the usual meme template, and if that were absent, I wouldn't see it in the same way. There's just something about that meme font (I want to say it's Impact, but I'm no font pro) that catches my eye and feels like a cue to laugh. In a way, framing an image that way and using that font instantly makes me look for the joke. And if I don't see it, I assume there's a meme I'm behind on, not that someone picked that font for a random picture and used it by chance. A great example of typography taking over the meaning of an image and/or contributing to its meaning equally.
ReplyDeleteI, for many of the reasons you described, find memes incredibly interesting. I think one of the most interesting aspects of memes is, like Jason mentioned, is that we become aware that this is a meme because of the familiar font (and Jason, you are correct, it's Impact Bold). We see the text, and we know that we're supposed to laugh, but at the same time, (at least for me) we know that, because it's a meme, it's drawing on something else to be funny. Even though I wasn't familiar with what the bear was, I knew that it was a play on Darth Vader before I saw the video Joe posted. Then when we see the bear, there's that humorous aspect as well.
ReplyDeleteJason mentions the typography taking over/contributing to an images meaning, but we are now getting to the point where images from an established meme can be placed on another image, and even without the text, we know what the joke is (for examples see: Xzibit's face, and Scumbag Steve's hat).