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Having Photoshop or the ability to make a video could help, but anyone with a Twitter account and a dream can strike meme gold. Memes are one of the most democratic forms of media. What is a meme? And where do they come from? They’re reblogged and retweeted into existence by the masses. They’re the building blocks of a grassroots, democratic, 21st-century medium, one that corporations are still struggling to control and capitalize on.
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Memes are typically jokes, but they’re not just jokes. It can be a catchphrase, like “first of all …” or “eyebrows on fleek.” It can be a song, like “Shooting Stars” or “We Are Number One.” And, most abstractly of all, it can be a game: an image or an arrangement of words that compels meme creators to fill in the blanks with their own humor. It can be a dead animal, like the gorilla Harambe (R.I.P.). Once you get it, though, they’re a rich, communal form of entertainment with practically unlimited potential.Ī meme can be a fictional character, like a sad frog named Pepe or a happy one known as “Dat Boi.” It can be a living person, like 2016 presidential debate highlight Ken Bone, who wears a red sweater. Unless you’re not spending much time on Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, trying to understand memes can feel like trying to understand Simpsons references without ever watching the show. Despite this huge reach, memes still provide the enjoyment of mutual recognition and “getting it.” In 2017, kids quote memes to each other in the same casual way that ’90s kids quoted The Simpsons. Once it’s been repeated, reposted, and remixed across social networks until it’s woven into the zeitgeist, it’s a meme.Ī meme has the feeling of an “inside joke,” but it’s shared with thousands or even millions of people, not just your small social circle. It can be an image, a video, a cartoon character, or a Twitter catchphrase-the type of media doesn’t matter as long as people can interact with it and make it their own. An internet meme, however, is something else entirely. You can go ahead and throw those explainers away, though, because the way we use “meme” today is miles away from what Dawkins originally intended, and you don’t need a degree in biology to understand it.ĭawkins envisioned a meme as a thought virus, an idea that seems to spreads naturally and proves more resilient than competing ideas.
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What is a meme? A lot of explainers will begin by telling you that “meme” was a term coined by noted biologist and Twitter crank Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene.