Are memes art?? Hoenstly I was stumped when Ryan asked us that. Some would say no but personally, I would say yes. First off this is once again the best class ever because memes for homework!??!? What professor ever asks for something like that!!
Most professors are asking us for papers and exam 1 study guides around this time so for this class to be about self expression and memes…
As for memes, they have a long history which goes back as far as 1939 with the Keep calm and carry on meme. The origin of the word meme was also something I didn’t know until now but the fact that it stemmed from a greek word was not surprising. What did surprise me was that dank memes where considered a sub category of memes. I always though of them as just collections of memes unique to ones taste so it feels like I gained some knowledge from the articles we read.
Doing my own research on the topic only strengthened my opinion on the matter. It is true that memes are the medium of the internet which makes it an art form because of its simple use to convey messages. Most people that see memes know the context because the internet is so vast that if you browse even casually, you’ve most likely come across a viral meme or two. Because of this, there are even artists who use memes as art exhibits like the grumpy cat art exhibit we got to read about in the digital trends article.
I found another example of this online also, a puerto rican artist who made an entire gallery exhibit of memes.
But when it comes to the topic at hand, memes are art. Think about it, if art is subjective and up to interpretation then yeah memes are art hands down. Besides, your not gonna tell me that the Everything is Markiplier meme isn’t art, I mean look at this guy.
That’s only one of my favorite memes but anyone whose ever heard of markiplier and seen taken or shrek can still see the resemblance and get the joke. Another would be the mocking spongebob meme.
I love the spongebob memes because I feel like they were a way for most of us to keep our childhood favorites relevant as we grew up. My last meme is a more recent one, the will byers crying meme.
With the hold that Stranger Things is about to have on the internet due to spooky season, a meme from season 4 seemed like a great addition. I would consider all of these memes art because they are all staples that can give context to the state of the internet at the time they were made. Memes are art, a form a digital art to be specific, but art none the less.
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Do you think that a meme or a context that a meme had can evolve over time and have various different meanings across time?
I do for sure! Its kind of like how fashion can come back and re-inspire a new generation, Memes are so transcendent!
Most definitely!!! I think I mentioned how memes like SpongeBob ones or even Tom and Jerry memes are always coming back. Memes evolve over time and alot of the memes from our generation are a testament to that. They evolved from jokes from our childhood into jokes that we relate to now.
Definitely, just to add more Ryan you can reimagine memes in modern times just like fashion and culture as well.
oooooh, that’s true. I think a similar thing would be bucket hats. They were trendy in the 90’s and now you’ll see people wearing them a lot because fashion is something that always comes back.
Great work on this!
Ahh the beauty of contrast! Teaching, itself is an art form, I feel.
Self-expression is a key element in creating rapport in the collective learning environment, I believe.
If a strong group rapport that extends the consistent opportunity for reflection and self expression is established, I believe that learning, sharing, discussing and overall community is developed.
Our class functions modularly, meaning that many parts come together to make up the whole, and when they are all in sync, we all benefit and expand the learning potentials.
Thank you!
More to come!
Hey D’Avionne, this is a very insightful post. I really like that you added the origin of the word meme to your post. And I also want to take a moment to appreciate your meme choices, lol. I could not agree more that memes are art and I like how you broke it down.
WOW!!! I definitely didn’t know the memes first came and started from a Greek word in 1939. Thank you for informing me about this insightful and new information about memes. Memes are really funny and sometimes they are so relative to me on situations or complications that has happened to me during the course of my entire life.