Abigail Landskroener

ENG 1020

September 22, 2014

                                                                  Meme Analysis

http://lotoflaughters.com/the-real-faces-behind-popular-memes-14-photos/2/

            Memes have gone from seeing one or two on the internet to now seeing them every time you log onto Facebook. There are so many now that they’ve created their own genre. Most are categorized to be funny but some are also offensive and take on a different meaning. They also can take real world situations like the LeBron James championship rings issue and make it seem like the biggest deal in the world. I chose a meme that is relatable to everyday people. I would put it in the comedy genre of all the memes. It takes something that most people find themselves doing and makes it humorous. But if you look at it from a different perspective can be a sign of bullying and stereotyping.

     Memes to me are a way for people to be creative in their own unique way. Most memes take an awkward looking picture of somebody add a saying of some sort with giant white lettering and call it good. The meme I chose isn’t much different. It’s talking about how you feel like you can’t read and listen to loud music at the same time, which in fact is actually false. I have been known to do this on many occasions, especially when I’m driving to some place new and I turn down my jams to see what house I need, to pull into. It can also appear to be a sign of bullying because let’s face it, it is. They took a picture of someone who looks poor and ratty with a strange expression on his face and are using him as the punch line. Most memes take an awkward looking picture of someone they don’t know personally and make fun of the way their face is. The meme I chose wouldn’t be funny if it was a normal looking person. It’s the facial expressions 99 percent of the time that makes the meme amusing.

            When it came to searching for a meme I tried to find one that had the general characteristics and could be relatable to my life. Then, when it came time for me to create my own I tried to stick with the same pattern. Mine is a picture of a pretty overweight cat laying in a pizza box and on top in big white lettering it says “When you see that last piece and think…” below it will state “TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!”. This fits into the meme genre of comedy because one it’s funny and two it has all the characteristics that you need to be a meme. I gave it a picture of someone doing something silly and used the giant lettering which is what puts it into the meme genre. I decided to use a picture of an animal to stay away from picking fun at someone because I don’t condone bullying.

            My meme compared to mems in other genres is more basic I would say. It’s like the classic version of the iPhone not all spruced up. Some sub-genres for memes are real life problems, humor, classic, music, movie, food. An example of a movie one is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There are hundreds of memes where they use a picture of Willy Wonka and he has a dumb founded look on his face and is usually making fun of the reader. Or a music one is where Michael Jackson is eating popcorn and says I only came here for the comments. These ones are some of the less offensive and can be all around funny. They aren’t singling out a certain person or crowd to get a couple laughs.

     At the end of analyzing memes I feel like I look at them in a different way now. Before I knew a majority of them were bullying but didn’t think much into it. Now all I see is how it’s people picking on other people and they are very stereotypical. For example, they use a photo of what I would categorize a want to be gangster white male and say things that make him appear to be unintelligent. Memes don’t bring the same pleasure to me as before. I just see how they really are a way for people to get away with making someone else feel acute. All in all, memes went from being something people did for fun to this whole new genre that has subgenres that are now being assigned as projects for English classes. I have a feeling they will be here for a while no matter how cruel some are getting.      

Project 2 RD
Project 3 Genre Critique.docx

English Project 4.docx