Senior Project Advisor

Simon, Richard B., 1971-

Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Winter 2019

Keywords

meme culture, metamodernism, media, internet culture

Abstract

As smartphones and social media become increasingly pervasive in a technology-dominated world, a new medium of discourse is rising: internet memes. Internet memes evolve and become more self-referential and self-conscious, and new subcultures and genres of memes develop. Memes that address controversial and emotionally provocative subjects are becoming increasingly more popular, and a contradiction emerges from this: the medium of memes, one of humor, is at odds with its content. Analyzing memes through a lens of metamodernism helps us to understand how the medium operates interstitially, as memes oscillate between sincerity and irony. Additionally, a metamodern understanding of memes illuminates how memes can be used to manipulate groups of people, but also how memes can be used to facilitate community in a socially fragmented world.

Department

American Cultural Studies

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Memes; Digital media--Social aspects; Internet--Social aspects; Culture diffusion; Memetics

Genre/Form

student projects; term papers

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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