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Is the Question What Are Memes, or Who Are They?

"Think of the quintessential person, place, item, or activity that represents a generation."

By Lucy HaneyPublished 4 years ago 7 min read
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Picture Via Instagram: @pics_le_reaction

Think of the quintessential person, place, item, or activity that represents a generation. It isn’t that hard to do right? When thinking of the 1920s, one might imagine flapper dresses or incredible jazz. When thinking of the 1960s, one might picture psychedelic patterned shirts, or a young crowd of activists. However eclectic these examples are young adults currently in 2019 have embodied something so unique, and so new, that the world will never forget it.

Memes. They are everywhere. Memes are so mainstream that they can be found on basically any online social media site. Regardless if the site has mainly written content or other forms of media, memes will be there. However, growing in constant popularity, the concept of internet memes is a young form of comedy and communication.

There is not a large variety of “scholarly meme research” available on the internet because of the young age of the topic. It is also problematic when finding articles about meme history because meme content changes so rapidly. Information about the latest meme topics can become irrelevant in the blink of an eye. Also in the field of journalism (as well as in many other professions) Reddit is definitely not a credible source.

After carefully sifting through the commentary non-sense, one may come finally come across an enlightening article about the current young-adults’ creation of a meme phenomenon. Smithsonian.com offers readers a mind bending piece about the history, makeup, and comparisons of memes by author James Gleick. Gleick breaks down a trend that may be completely distant to outsiders (particularly of a generation less keen to the internet) in a scientific, and well researched fashion.

In the article What Defines a Meme?, Gleick intrigues his readers from the get go with a unique subtitle, “Our world is a place where information can behave like human genes and can replicate, mutate and evolve”. The piece combines information theory with a brief synopsis about how human genes work and then finally, gets to the gold. Why do memes hold the power they do to grow and change so quickly? How do people from such seemingly different lifestyles, cultures, and even languages all find these forms of media comical? How did this all begin? After reading Gleick’s work, the concept of a meme and its comparison to human genetics all seem to come together. “The meme is not the dancer but the dance,” says Gleick.

To sum up Gleick’s research rapidly, one must read this short paragraph.

“Memes emerge in brains and travel outward, establishing beachheads on paper and celluloid and silicon and anywhere else information can go. They are not to be thought of as elementary particles but as organisms. The number three is not a meme; nor is the color blue, nor any simple thought, any more than a single nucleotide can be a gene. Memes are complex units, distinct and memorable—units with staying power,” (Gleick).

The research provided by James Gleick closes the gaps of confusion caused by knowledge deficits about the strange comedy of the internet and its ability to become viral. It also provokes many more questions.

After considering all the different factors of meme history (and somewhat of a theory), a very important question is left unanswered. Who is responsible for the physical creation of relevant, quality, memes? By comparing the evolving and multiplying aspects of memes to human genes, the idea hits closer to home. Someone has to be in charge of constantly producing this content. However, the question of “who” is never usually asked first.

When viewing meme accounts or pages on any form of social media, one thing remains relatively consistent. Meme page owners or “admins” stay anonymous. They do not often give much information about themselves or reveal what they look like. Sometimes, followers may not even know what country they come from.

Some of these anonymous meme pages have followers in the hundred thousands, and even millions. One may ponder why someone with such a huge audience would not be interested in promoting themselves and reaping the benefits of the views. Did these people have intentions to anonymously push an agenda through their creations? Maybe they simply did not care. The only way to find the answer was through these individuals themselves.

Instagram was chosen as the representative platform because of its photo based format and extreme popularity with people ages 18-24. Eight popular meme accounts on Instagram were sent a request for an interview and shockingly, seven of the accounts replied with interest. Although not every account admin could make the time frame for the interview, the majority happily obliged. Some of the most anonymous accounts on social media had incredibly friendly responses to media inquiries.

The first featured interview was with an account admin who ran @pics_le_reaction, a “reaction meme” based page with around 21,100 followers. The interviewed admin asked to stay anonymous, however they did say they run the page with another person. Admin 1 is from California. “I’m really into music and the arts. When I’m not drawing or painting or journaling, I’m listening or writing music,” they said.

The unnamed admin seemed to have many talents as well as many responsibilities. They made it clear that they were in school, and that their drive for the account started as a sort of random hobby. “I remember sitting on my couch at the beginning of March of this year and I noticed I had tons of reaction pics saved in my phone. Then I just randomly decided to start this account,” they said.

The admin explained that the account started growing around April when about five pictures in a row went viral. From then on is history. “Every time a new follower appears a smile spreads over my face. Even a simple nice comment about the post makes me realize how grateful I am for the following I’ve built up,” they said. The admin ended with explaining their admiration for a meme’s ability to unite people all over the world from their generation and create a common understanding.

The second featured interview was with an admin that ran popular account @ohwack. This meme creator had a story very different from the first interview. The owner of the account was a “seasoned” admin, owning two other accounts with very large followings. Although @ohwack had around 39,500 followers, the other two accounts had a whopping 73,000 and 128,000 followers. This was an experienced individual.

The individual was again kept anonymous to preserve the integrity of the accounts, however they did speak on some personal details. “I’m from the UK. I play piano. I like Netflix, and football,” they said. From that point, the admin spoke on the joy one receives watching their following and engagement go up, as well as how fun it is to interact with interested followers.

One detail that was interesting about this particular account, is that upon viewing, followers were subject to different kinds of advertisements. It was clear that not only was this account growing incredibly fast, the owner had also found a way to make money. Apparently this marketing strategy is not uncommon for large meme accounts.

Lastly, the third interview was with the owner of @bhooted, an account with around 66,900 followers. The admin of this account was memorably friendly and easy to talk to. “I’m from a small town in Southeast Missouri. I work as an IT professional and also do wedding photography,” he said.

The account’s owner continued by talking a bit about its history. “The account was started in 2016, I saw people posting trendy content and I basically was just following those trends”. After talking a bit about the history, the admin directed the conversation to an important topic that had not yet been discussed in previous interviews. “It’s hard to keep up, especially with a toxic community,” he said. The individual spoke on the vast amount of careless, hate comments that are either directed purely at him, or randomly at other groups of people. Unfortunately even through the joys of meme pages, there is still a darker side. Followers tend to forget there is a person behind the posts, not a content creating robot.

“Memes are like a speakeasy in prohibition America,” said the admin. “As a follower, you submerge yourself in a small community”.

This quote is the very essence of what these satirical meme pages are meant to be. Almost like a large inside joke, memes are extremely unique. They cross cultural boundaries and are constantly evolving. However interesting the meme is itself, it is important not to lose sight of the individuals creating this content. Real, creative young people are driving a new outlet of comedy communication, and there is no stopping them now. They are shaping a generation.

Word count: 1485

Source list:

  1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778/
  2. (@pics_le_reaction) https://www.instagram.com/pics_le_reaction/?igshid=hf685j53a84h
  3. (@ohwack) https://instagram.com/ohwack?igshid=128byx8wxf7io
  4. (@bhooted) https://instagram.com/bhooted?igshid=x38d6af7o8hx

pop culture
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About the Creator

Lucy Haney

- Musician, photographer, and overall lover of words.

- A happy communications major, y hablo espanol.

- Aspiring journalist, cultural diversity enthusiast!

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