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Internet

Memes As ANew Visual

Language

Dissertation Draft

By Ana Novakovic

Tutor: Wendy Maekin

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Abstract

The Internet meme is an idea that spreads through World Wide Web in a range of media such

as images (LOLcats, Advice Animals), videos (keyboard cat, Rebecca Black), single words

(spelling more as moar on purpose), etc. The messages they spread may differ drastically one

from another (from humour to stereotypes), but what they all have in common is the way theyconnect people almost if they are sharing an inside joke, the way they are generated and

adopted by internet subcultures. Although being an on-going social phenomenon, they havent

been analysed as much as they deserve. Their significance in popular culture and the impact

they have on ways people communicate online are undeniable, but questions like what turned

them into one of the most approachable way of social commentary and what makes them such

an effective visual language still remain unanswered. Now that they are spreading not only over

the internet, but also to media such as newspapers and billboards, I believe its the right time to

dig deeper into their meaning. This dissertation will try to answer these and similar questions

and hopefully serve as a reference for further research on this topic. But since the world of

Internet memes is too broad to cover, I will focus on the specific group called Advice Animals.

This group is just narrow enough to make it possible to analyse it properly, but it still covers avery wide range of ideas and messages which makes it a legitimate sample of Internet memes.

Introduction

The term meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Geneand it means

"an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture". I plan to look

into this as a starting point, how memes work as a part of evolutionary theory, undertaking

research on the scientific part of the issue. Understanding its origins will give me a better

insight into its current status and it will enable me to draw parallels on how they spread in

different aspects of culture. I believe a psychological aspect should also be considered, and

may help understand the development of internet memes, why imitating some is more effective

than others and how come despite following all the rules of a successful Internet meme,

creating a new one that will stick around can rarely be done on purpose. Furthermore, I will

investigate how visual languages develop and how they grow from a specific to universal mean

of communication. The question I want to answer is: Will the memes still be a way of

communication in 10 (20/50/100) years? I will do this by looking into evolution of visuallanguages in general and analysing why they maintained to exist.

The term meme was modelled on geneis a shortening of mimeme ( Ancient Greek, something

imitated) and it was coined by Richard Dawkins as a concept for discussion of evolutionary

principles that would explain the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples in the book

included fashion, catch-phrases, melodies, etc. Memes act as units for transmitting cultural

ideas, symbols and practices from one mind to another through writing, rituals, gestures, and

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other imitable phenomena (1976). They represent the basic building blocks of culture,

languages, societies and religion (on the macro scale) in the same way gene is the fundamental

building block of biological life. On the micro scale they are building blocks of each human mind.

They parasitize people into propagating them similarly to the way viruses do (Thomas, 1995).

Every time we wear some in fashion we help the idea of that fashion enter other peoples

minds. Every time we hum Beethovens 5th

symphony, or the Happy Birthday song, these ideasare successfully replicating. These memes are not only spreading through millions of minds,

they also managed to leave copies of themselves on paper, in books, on audiotape, and

computer hard-drive (Silby 2000).

What makes memes so different to genes is the fact that they are abstract, intangible and

immeasurable. Genes have grounding in physical substance they replicate with near-perfect

fidelity, and evolution depends on that, but memes are seldom copied exactly. Their boundaries

are always fuzzy and they mutate with a wild flexibility that would be fatal in biology (Gleick,

2011).

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Bibliography

Books

George Silverman, 2001. The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How to Trigger ExponentialSales Through Runaway Word of Mouth. 1 Edition. AMACOM.

Richard Dawkins, 2006. The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by

the Author. 30th Anniversary Edition. Oxford University Press, USA

Susan Blackmore, 1999. The Meme Machine. First Edition Edition. Oxford University Press,

USA.

Essays

Patrick Devison, 2012. The Language of Internet Memes. In: M. Mandiberg The Social Media

Reader. New York: New York University Press. p120-134.

Online articles

Evolution of Technology by Brent Silby. 2012. Evolution of Technology by Brent Silby. [ONLINE]

Available at: http://www.def-logic.com/articles/evolution_of_technology.html. [Accessed 4 May

2012].

Vibrant Living Newsletter - Article: Memes or Values?. 2012. Vibrant Living Newsletter - Article:

Memes or Values?. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://vibrantliving.subtleenergysolutions.com/newsletter-memes-values.html [Accessed 6 May

2012].

What Defines a Meme? | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine. 2012. What Defines a Meme?

| Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/What-Defines-a-Meme.html?c=y&page=4.

[Accessed 4 May 2012].

What is a Meme by Brent Silby. 2012. What is a Meme by Brent Silby. [ONLINE] Available at:

http://www.def-logic.com/articles/what_is_a_meme.html. [Accessed 4 May 2012].

Websites

Know Your Meme. 2008. Know Your Meme - Advice Animals. [ONLINE] Available at:http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/advice-animals. [Accessed 01 May 12].

Sociodestruction. 1995. Memes and Mind Viruses by Brett Thomas. [ONLINE] Available

at:http://asocial.narod.ru/en/articles/memes.htm. [Accessed 04 May 12].

Supporting Images

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Advice Dog

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Socially Awkward Penguin

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Not Sure If.. Meme