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8 mar 20215 minut(y) czytania

Memes, sweet memes


What exactly are you?


Some time ago I was sitting on my phone and suddenly I saw a picture like this:



I can't say that I laughed out loud, but I smiled.

The absurdity of this reaction hit me hours later, when I went to bed. What the heck is funny about a shrimp in poor resolution, signed "where my shrimps"!?

It was the first time in my life that I asked myself: what exactly are memes and why do we consider them as something funny?


The answer to this question will probably seem obvious to many people, because funny pictures and videos are a huge part of our everyday life (and I also take into account memes which are funnier than the one of the shrimp). The truth is, however, that the term “meme” was introduced by one English biologist, and is not really defined as “funny picture, gif or video”.


What exactly are memes?

So what is the exact definition of a meme?

The term “meme” was introduced by an English biologist Richard Dawkins and comes from Greek “mimeme” (something that is imitated). It also brings to mind words like English “memory” and the French “meme” (the same).

Dawkins described meme as a kind of replicator - unit with the ability to mutate and select. He thus showed that there are some interesting analogies between memes and genes.

Okay, at first glance, Dawkins’s definition might seem a bit... overcomplicated. In fact, Dawkins is a biologist so maybe he just had strange associations. But Dawkins did not say that memes are analogous to genes, he said something more like: hey, why do we only talk about genes and biology in the context of replication? After all, there are also other types of replicators on earth that are a product of human culture, which too are subject to selection and mutation.

It is important to mention that the Dawkins’s “meme” includes much more than just funny pictures from the internet.A meme is every piece of information that is copied from person to person by imitation. Speaking in your native language, dressing in a certain fashion, even singing a fragment of your favorite song you spread the memes. It work just like in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Only instead of a genetic evolution we have an evolution of elements of culture.


Let’s take a look at the spread pattern of internet memes (actually the whole article was supposed to be about internet memes, but I felt like I had to expand on it). When people find the meme that makes them laugh, they sometimes edit it to suit a specific situation, or simply show a sense of humor through their associations with it. As an example, let’s take a look at a few memes that are modified versions of not funny shrimp meme.





Those pictures are somewhat varied replicators of shrimp meme, which through the imitations and mutations of the original, spread even more widely on the internet. As a result, it is really possible, that someone will replicate these memes one day.


Why do we consider internet memes as something funny?


Once we know more or less what a meme is, we can focus on the second issue: Why do internet memes amuse us? Well, I find it very difficult to answer that question. Try to recall your favorite internet meme. What is it about its content or appearance that makes you laugh? A sense of humour (especially regarding memes) is something that scientist have long been unable to explain. However, there are several theories about this topic. One of them says that people are amused when information from different areas of life is mixed together. To “get” such a meme-mix we need to have enough clues of all the information its made of.

This may sound quite vague, so let me show an example:





In this meme you can see a popular photo of the running girl sighed “When you get a snack in the fridge at night and you hear someone”. The photo used here is intended to reflect the authors’s alleged feeling in the situation described. Although the girl’s photo and the situation description are elements that came from completely different sources, together they form a meme. If the caption had appeared without the photo it wouldn’t be funny at all.


There are also memes in which you can’t find the logical link between the information elements they’re made of. Thing called “absurd humour” appears in them.Here is an example:





Some meme-mixes are collections of information so randomly selected, that they make no sense at all. It seem so illogical to us that we can’t help but laugh. That’s probably why some peopleenjoy absurd memes like this one.


Do we enjoy internet memes just because they’re funny?


In her work “KEEP CALM AND STUDY MEMES (2015) ” Ashley Dainas wrote: “I questioned whether or not humor was the appropriate scale by which to rate enjoyment of memes. Another possible scale would be “share-ability” or how likely a participant would be to “share” a given meme with their friends, family or co-workers.” Dainas argued that when we “get” the meme we realize that we belong to a particular group of people who also “get” this kind of a joke. In this respect our meme sense of humour also influences our social status.The more a meme is made for a specific group, the greater the possibility that it will amuse its members. For example if you are a fan of a particular game or book series, you will probably be amused by the memes about them, and you may show them toyour friends who like the same subjects that you do.



Running little girl - a meme with a reference to Harry Potter



To sum up, it cannot be denied that internet memes make our daily routine more colorful. It is not clear why we enjoy them so much - so far we can only speculate.

As it turns out, it's not just about internet pictures. Imitated, selected andmutated memes have become a huge part of our culture. Just look around - how much of what you can see is actually a meme?



Marta Mycielska





Sources:


Dainas, A. R. (2015). Keep calm and study memes (Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University).


Susan Blackmore 2008 „Memes and "temes"”, TED Derived from


Marshall, G. (1998). The Internet and memetics. School of Computing Science, Middlesex University. Retrieved August, 22, 2013.


Blackmore, S. (2006). Memetics by another name?


Giovanni Sabato, 2019. „What’s So Funny? The Science of Why We Laugh”Scientific American.


„Teksty z Ulicy. Zeszyt memetyczny” 2014

Derived from: https://www.memetyka.us.edu.pl/ 21.01.2021


Jay Hathaway „What is a meme in 2018? Richard Dawkins' definition of a meme no longer works with today's internet culture.” Daily Dot









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