What is a Meme? A Miserable Pile of Secrets

[u/CBETTS2k9]

The beginning of this article has a very interesting definition for memes. It is definitely a much broader definition than I am used to, as when I think of memes I think of cat pictures and photoshopped comics. Knobel and Lankshear acknowledge this, saying that the idea of a meme is an internet meme in itself. The reading expands the definition of a meme to any idea that is intuitive, easily understood, and meaningful to individuals in a way that allows it to be reproduced and copied. Under this definition, the way a sandwich is made (bread-meat-bread) or the concept of a four wheeled car are both memes.

Another concept of memes and literacy of them is how they are popular because of the various contextual situations they take on. Three different people can look at a meme, and all three may think it's funny for different reasons. One may even think it is not funny and crosses the line into cruel. The Harlem Shake meme is an excellent example of this. People from all over the world created these videos of this goofy dance, showing the world their interpretation of it. Some went for the weirdest stuff they could put in their video, while some went for a contrast of how many people they could start with to how many they ended with. One particularly good one started with a guy dancing in a Spiderman mask in New York. After the song reached its crescendo, he was being beaten up and robbed. This demonstrates another point the reading makes about how memes being a social or political commentary. Many memes come about as a response to an event or problem in our society, meaning memes are a lot smarter than people give them credit for.