What is a meme?
Memes are cultural symbols and social ideas that spread virally, primarily with the intent to make people laugh. There are hundreds of memes circulating the internet across all social media platforms every single day. I would say that Twitter is the most popular place to find memes circulating constantly. My friends and I share memes daily by sending them via Twitter DMs. I would argue that internet memes’ sole intentions are to be taken lightly for humor and a good laugh. However, I do think there are some people that take memes to a bit of an extreme when it comes to political propaganda, and that is when I believe it would be important to take them a bit more seriously. I think it’s easy for memes to influence a group of people especially with how fast things spread on the internet and can go viral.
Underage me looking at the bouncer like: pic.twitter.com/EM5hIyVr4f
— Baby Yoda™ (@BossBabyYoda) December 5, 2019
Baby Yoda Meme
One of my favorite more recent memes is the Baby Yoda meme. Not only does the meme do a great job at evoking emotion because it is both adorable and humorous, but it also gives Star Wars earned media attention as more people are likely to want to watch the movie knowing they will see baby Yoda. There is a collection of different memes involving Baby Yoda in different scenarios/situations, however, the one I chose to include in my blog is very relevant and humorous to the average college-aged student.
Me: I hate drama
Also me when there’s drama: pic.twitter.com/sCyKFgnzZK
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) January 27, 2020
Billy Porter Grammy’s Meme
Another very recent meme that I’ve seen trending on Twitter over the past few days is from the 2020 Grammy Awards. Billy Porter is seen wearing a full blue crystal jumpsuit with a hat that has crystal fringe hanging off of it to cover Billy’s face. The hat opened automatically to reveal Billy’s face in a slow-moving fashion, prompting the internet to jump to create a meme out of it. Similar to that of the Baby Yoda meme, there are several different humorous captions surrounding this meme. I thought this particular caption was funny because I think everyone knows that one person that claims they hate drama but are usually the first to tell everyone when they hear of something juicy.
Hi Meghan,
I really enjoyed reading your post. I agreed with you in the way in which we both believe that memes are primarily used for comedic value. I also had a similar thought when it came to more serious ideas behind memes so I was happy to see that you had a similar thought. When it comes to politics, there are many things that can be put in a funny meme but also the content of the meme should be taken on the more seriously. It is amazing how much memes have circulated throughout all social media platforms, I find myself constantly looking at a new meme. I really loved the baby Yoda meme that you put on here, I myself love all the Baby Yoda memes and I haven’t seen this one so I really enjoyed it. Overall, I think this was a really great blog post I really enjoyed reading it and finding out abut what you think is the meaning behind a meme.