For one of my linguistic classes during grad school, I wrote a paper analyzing memes as a genre, particularly of Doge (RIP Kabosu). My professor, Professor Roeder, regarded me with amusement when I told her I was going to write a paper on Internet memes, but she nevertheless approved it. I conducted extensive research, combing through Reddit forums and Know Your Meme pages, while finding credible academic sources on Internet memes in the UNC Charlotte database. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of scholarly literature on them, but I hope that my paper was a nice addition to it.
Abstract:
When billionaire Elon Musk first tweeted about Dogecoin in late 2020, the Bitcoin rival’s worth shot up 20%. This was part of the resurgence of a decade-long meme that remains a staple in the general internet community, especially when Internet memes tend to lose popularity after a certain amount of time, or when they are made visible to the mainstream eye; in other words, the more obscure an internet meme is, the more paradoxically popular and “dank” a meme is to the internet meme community. It’s important to note that memes are a growing form of communication amongst internet users, as their intertextuality offers layers upon layers of contexts in their semiotics. Internet humor, particularly memes, is a staple for communities to communicate certain ideas and narratives, which are often products of their time. The meme reflects the community and vice versa. Therefore, by analyzing the evolution of a meme, one might be able to determine the kind of humor a community might have at any given point. This essay will focus on post-ironic Doge memes, but I will give detailed context on otherwise obscure concepts. I will examine the text, format, and function of the meme at its stages, and argue that intertextuality is important to the understanding and effectiveness of a meme.
Comments