Meme Culture
Lecture Diary: Week 5 – Meme Culture
This week’s lecture focused on meme culture, exploring how digital viral images metastasize from the internet’s periphery to the mainstream. To be honest, I have never really be certain what a meme actually is so this module was particularly informative. I found the concept of memes as “tricksters” particularly fascinating, as it challenges the illusion of control we have over the digital content we create and share and it made me wonder whether the catchphrases and punchlines from the shows I enjoyed as a child, might be considered to be the pre-internet memes – especially, for example, a phrase like ‘Oooh matron’ made famous by Kenneth Williams in the ‘Carry On’ series of films. We explored the theory that memes possess a “mutant energy” that “screws with narrative,” ensuring that every historical event is now inevitably haunted by an uncontrollable – and often viral – meme. Applying this to my “Victorian Smart Bike” project, I want to design interactions within the “Social Velocipede Network” that rely on Victorian-style memes or viral pneumatic pamphlets to critique our modern addiction to algorithmic trends. Moving forward, I plan to explore the Meme Studies Research Network to better understand how I can integrate the visual language of internet memes into the speculative world-building of my 2085 bicycle.
Sources:
- Arkenbout, C., Wilson, J. and de Zeeuw, D. (eds.) (n.d.) Critical Meme Reader: Global Mutations of the Viral Image. INC Reader #15, pp. 8-11.
- Godden, E. (2024) Thinking Digital: A Practical History of Digital Media – Week 5 Meme Culture. [Lecture notes]. MOD007295.
- Meme Studies Research Network (n.d.) Meme Studies Research Network.
Preparation
In advance of the session, I posted the following memes to Emily’s ‘padlet’ site (the ones I posted are marked with a red cross):
The following memes were posted by the class team during the session and it should be noted that energy clearly remains on the question of the University’s backtracking on its promise of a £1 lunch deal:
As this session took place less than 24 hours after the first arrest of a member of the Royal Family since Charles I this meme – which I created – proved irresistible:
Finally, I was working on my project for the Digital Content Creation module yesterday and though I am not entirely sure if this is a meme or not – following the session, I now think that it is – this is a first view of a character in my proposed TikTok video series having taking inspiration from TikTokers who use a homespun approach and play all the characters – of all genders – in their videos.
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