Political (In)action in the Meme Generation?

Dawkins playing a midi breath controller in Saatchi video. Image Credit: Saatchi.com

This will be the first post in a three-part series in which I will explore the relationship between memes and civic discourse.

What is an internet meme? Though most young people can instantly recognize a picture of Philosoraptor, Feminist Ryan Gosling, or a Lolcat, few know the history of this ubiquitous term. Nevertheless, show a room full of undergraduates an image of Nyan Cat, and you'll immediately elicit laughter and a sense of camaraderie. In that moment of laughter, however, it seems worth asking: what exactly is bringing consumers of memes together? From UC Davis’s “Pepper Spray Cop Meme,” to China’s “Big Yellow Duck” meme, how are memes shaping their viewer’s and creator’s understanding of activism and history? Is a comical form treated with such levity an effective means of communicating about more serious matters?  

The term “meme” was first articulated by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene in order to describe the way some ideas are spread through society in a pattern that is similar to the transmission of genes. At the time of writing The Selfish Gene how could Dawkins have predicted that within a few decades, his words would be used to describe a unique by-product of the digital age, one which has mutated and grown to such an extent that even the proudest luddites are hip to Lolcats? Check out this video of Dawkins for a fun (and highly visual) overview in which Dawkins links his theory of the meme with the other life it has taken on online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GFn-ixX9edg (for more background on the video, click here: : http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/20/new-directors-showcase) In the video he appears bemused, the unwitting but delighted progenitor of a term “hijacked” by internet culture.

Playfully embracing the term’s fluidity he says, “In the hijacked version, mutations are designed, not random. . . In some cases this can take the form of genuinely creative art, but now that I think about it, mightn’t somebody argue that all creative art comes about through something like a mutation in the mind?” These last words echo before a projector displays layered, brightly-colored collage imagery. At one point an owl shoots lazer beams at a cartoon rendering of a purple brain emerging from Dawkin’s head and then he begins playing a riff on an air midi. Hello Pied Piper of the web, here to whisk our generation away to Nyan Cat land.  Eventually the screen is left only with the fluorescent hues of spilled oil. Is this a commentary on the enticing but polluted nature of the internet? Dawkins himself said that memes could be “Good ideas, good poems, as well as driveling mantras.” How do we, as consumers of culture, define the value of internet memes? In next week’s post I’ll look at several popular memes in the context of activist movements and large scale catastrophes and ask whether these are “driveling mantras,” rallying cries, or something in between.

For more on memes, check out this interview with Dr. Simone Sessolo on DWRL’s podcast, Zeugma http://dwrlpodcast.libsyn.com/simone-sessolo-interview-mp3

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