I’d like to consider myself a “meme connoisseur” in the most basic sense of the term. To me, memes and internet culture have become a staple of who I identify myself as. Everything from Baby Yoda to the latest Tik Tok trend are things that I pride myself on knowing about at any given time and I attribute it to my heavy use of social media in my everyday life.
When you try to flirt but you accidentally roasted them pic.twitter.com/osRzKAKlMZ
— Baby Yoda™ (@BossBabyYoda) January 25, 2020
According to knowyourmeme.com, a meme is defined as “culturally transmitted information, or ideas and beliefs that can be spread from one organism, or group of organisms, to another” which I think transmits beautifully into Internet meme culture today. To me, as long as what’s being shared conveys some sort of information, be it a relatable joke or commentary on a social movement, it can be considered a meme. I often find myself consuming and often times creating “memes” that serve both purposes on my social media accounts, particularly Twitter (i.e. my Brockhampton tweet we talked about in class).
A perfect example of a creator making both types of “meme” content is Australian street artist LushSux. While much of the content he creates and posts online does have to do with more comical types of memes, he will also oftentimes create murals commemorating celebrities who have passed away and will often times even place social commentary in his art. Within the past couple of months, some of his pieces have dealt with the lack of attention given to Australian wildfires and, as seen in the post below, the privacy worries while using sites like Amazon and Facebook.
This mixing of comedy and commentary is often what makes memes so popular. Sure, a meme could only have comedic purposes, but in today’s climate, what’s the point in that?
Reference Used: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/memes
Sam, I love how you highlight the versatility of memes in their content, and specifically state that memes can be much more than just comedic in their form. Your selection of the Australian street artist LushSux as a meme creator was a very unique, unpopular example of what memes are, and I totally agree with you. I like how you thought outside of the box when creating this blog post, and strayed away from being generic and obvious in your definition of a meme. By the way, your Brockhampton tweet was stellar and deserves more recognition.