Memes (Dat Boi)

            Memes are the most popular and up-coming trend that is facilitated by a rapidly communicating and interconnected society. They rise and fall quickly, and have developed their own weird, unique meta-culture. They often revolve around satire, self-reference, and reference to the outside world. However, they do have their own forms and structures that rely on past memes- the meaning of each meme comes from the medium in which it is based.

            This analysis is clearly different than the analysis of Kurosawa. Kurosawa intends to send a vaguer message that relies on inference and study of the formal structure to obtain. Memes are quite the opposite, flaunting their meaning and making it extremely obvious. In fact, the characteristic of memes to do so is a defining characteristic of their meaning.

"Dat Boi"

 

            Posted above is the typical sequence of the life of a meme. It starts with something quirky or odd, like an animated frog mysteriously called “dat boi.” Then, that original idea is spammed on to every cultural reference and other meme there is, eventually exhausting everything there is to post and thus the meme dies. First is a poster that is a rip-off of E.T. made into D.B. (dat boi). The integration of other pop-culture icons helps spread it- now the viewer, who probably knows E.T., has the idea of the new meme attached to it. Memes, in this way, are a kind of virus which doesn’t really exist for any other purpose than to spread itself. It is borderline satirical the level of obsession which exists, but the satire is mainly focused towards the culture itself. As my friend Douglas Hofstadter would say, it is a strange loop. If you don’t know Hofstadter I would highly recommend acquainting yourself and reading Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.

            The form of the meme is difficult to approach. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain an objective explanation of, a goal of the formal method. However, I have attempted to construe some concrete meaning that is derived from the form and vicissitudes of the meme culture. The meaning of a meme, as we are interpreting it, is to satirize its own culture. This can be gotten from the fact that every meme makes a statement about the memes before it, while sharing a central theme, image, or figure- really the essence of a meme, something that is shared and travels quickly online. The body of text, the entire meme culture, builds on top of itself, it is hyperaware of every meme that came before it. We are made aware that the creator of the meme has the knowledge of the meme community and checks up regularly; if they were not up to date, they would not be posting the "correct" meme for that time and place. 

            This is similar to previous literary culture, but different in some critical ways. Deep knowledge of the field used to be something cultivated and gained slowly; now it doesn't take much dedication or skill to be knowledgeable enough to create your own text. Also, the pace is different- memes must be posted as quick as possible to keep up with the break-neck pace of posting and interactions. In the literate era, authors could take considerable amounts of time to create competing works. It is a consequence of the increasingly fragmented and disassociated culture that we get these new texts. Analysis must shift with the medium of text.