Appearance of Memes

Memes.

We have all seen memes in our lives, and with no doubt, have spent hours laughing at these ironic, entertaining, controversial pictures with some apparent relatable caption.

Throughout all these adverse pictures and captions, no matter how much they make us laugh, have you ever thought to yourself the deeper meaning behind these seemingly harmless pictures? Through the work of Huntington, we have the ability to understand the real power that memes have in media.

Huntington organizes her document into 4 sections, each being a different analysis of the function of memes. Although I do agree with some statements, as a Gen Z, I believe she is overcomplicating memes to be more than they are. She categorizes the first section as a brief introduction, stating how “internet memes are a form of representational discourse” and how visual rhetoric can be used “for research on internet memes as a form of public discourse.” In the next section, Huntington expands more into memes themselves and how “democratic societies, memes have implications for identity building, public discourse, and commentary.” These statements seem pretty straightforward, so I have no conflicts with them. Personally, I have never viewed memes as more than a source of humor, but when she stated this, I began to realize the effects memes actually have on society and the deeper meanings behind them. Memes are able to bring more participation into an issue, which is something positive to think about, but I do believe that when she expands on this, she is again overcomplicating the issue by bringing in argumentative terms that are exponentially deeper than surface level intelligence, which is just overdoing her analysis. Although part of the appeal of memes does seem to be through their subversive nature and although meme creators are able to transition this appeal to more serious topics, such as politics, it isn’t extremely likely.

With all that being said I’ll be analyzing a meme format we all know, the classic: Bad Luck Brian

Bad Luck Brian is one of the classic, titans of the meme industry. This meme is one of the founders of what all memes are like. Through a funny picture and an ironic caption, this meme reflects onto the audience immediate humor. The target audience seems to be a younger crowd, around my age, who has watched this movie or read the book, because the template for the meme and the movie, The Hunger Games, both released in 2012. The message sent with this meme is only understood through knowing what The Hunger Games is about, and understanding that normally, winning a raffle is considered a good thing. However, in this scenario, the message is negative, as competing in the hunger games means sure death, as there is only one winner, so as stated within the template, he has bad luck.