![]() ![]() There was an assumption that everyone in the room “got it,” that they understood who was being satirized-the racists and the homophobes-and that everything was just for lulz.īut the blizzard of memes didn’t allow any time to distinguish between the cute and the offensive, the innocuous and the hateful. Phillips remembers laughing until she cried at a repeat performance the next year. The first Meme Factory show began with a disclaimer about its offensive content, delivered in front of a picture of a white cat captioned with what was a popular phrase at the time: Internet. There were “fails” there were “owns” the viewers didn’t have to think much about the people who were the butt of the joke. Three young men sat in front of microphones, talking deliberately fast, occasionally projecting pictures onto the screen behind them. In 2009, she attended a live show called Meme Factory, which aimed to explain this new language of the internet. Sexism, racism, and other hatreds were being invoked for nothing more than shock value. The casual sadism of trolling was just “lulz,” which shouldn’t be taken seriously. (The founders of social networks-primarily young, carefree, middle-class white Americans-agreed.) Okay, the argument went, this outpouring of creativity had its darker elements, but that was part of its countercultural charm. In the 2000s and early 2010s, Phillips was one of a group of academics, activists, and intellectuals who studied memes, and promoted the idea of the web as a space of unfettered, anarchic creation. “HALP,” “OHRLY,” “KTHXBYE.” Adorable cat GIFs. Blocky white letter captions on pictures of exaggerated facial expressions. ![]() The look was lo-fi and absurdist, and the tone was eye-rolling, cynical, self-aware. ![]() If you’ve spent any time online, you will have imbibed both the aesthetic and, perhaps, the ethics of “meme culture” or “internet culture.” This is the mashed-up jumble of images, jargon, and folk art that gushed out of sites such as 4chan, Reddit, and Tumblr from the late 2000s. And more sneering mockery of an old man hooked up to an oxygen tank. The thread began, she wrote recently, “with a lighthearted meme about Hitler.” After that was “dehumanizing mockery of a child with disabilities. A guy Photoshopped to have mouths for eyes. The first comment described the era as “a more simple time,” and sure enough, the pictures were weird, silly, and creative. The digital anthropologist was recently looking through a huge set of images from the late 2000s that had been posted to Reddit. Instead, go through this awesome collection and reminisce all the special times they made you laugh.R emember when the internet used to be fun? Whitney Phillips does. In fact, a well-known meme maker tool mentioned that about 2,000 memes are created on their platform daily. For in their death, a new meme can be born. Sad as it may be, but out there in cyberspace lies memes by the thousands – all floating about as their times have passed. Remember the motivational baby meme for instance? That one has outlived its purpose apparently, and has been replaced by its funnier, more popular counterparts. Thanks to the Internet and the resourcefulness of common folk, memes come and go quite quickly. In meme speak, ‘dank’ is used to describe a joke that’s been overdone or no longer trending. ‘Dank’ can also be used to depict weed that has a strong smell or overpowering nature. On the web, especially when used in game lingo, ‘dank’ means awesome or excellent. The actual meaning of course, is to describe something that’s moist, clammy, musty, or cold. The word ‘dank’ can have several meanings, based on context. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |