After the Oscars took place a few weeks ago, the most talked about event was the slap delivered by the best actor - Will Smith - to Chris Rock. The internet was quick to capture this iconic moment in Oscar history by minting it into a meme. The most common meme format cropped the moment when Smith’s open hand contacted Rock’s left cheek. Users were quick to add their own quips directly onto the image by inserting political, cultural, and even video game references to the confrontation. Regardless of the variety of internet niches being referenced, the meme’s comedic structure allows for communication in the digital era that transcends language, ethnic, and geopolitical boundaries.
When it comes to virality, memes “can be replicated and transmitted in two ways: the same content in different forms, and the same form with different contents” (Ziran He). In the first case, a meme’s form or format can vary, but its content is a direct reference to an event that is “The Slap”. On the other hand, the format of the meme is the literal slap, leaving the content open to interpretation.
Figure #1
The memes in figure 1 have no set format but the event that took place is referenced as its key message. By having a malleable format, the meme allows for a wide range of creativity to be implemented in conveying the “slap heard around the world”. One image of the confrontation between Rock and Smith left two snooping camera boys flabbergasted. And another Image captures Rock wisely admonishing the need to “turn the other cheek”; a witty reference to Rock being slapped.
Figure #2
Contrarily, Figure 2 has a set format, which is the representation (visual) of the slap. The content that the strict “Slap” conveys, varies on account of how the slap is presented. In one meme, the slap references a duel between Rock and Smith in a classic Pokemon setting. In another, the format of the slap conveys a political lament that hard-working Australians had towards high taxes.
In other words, the format of the meme is highly malleable. The Meme’s malleable structure - specifically of the same form and different content - allow for a range of niches and internet subcultures to participate. Pokemon, Basketball, and Political enthusiasts are all given access to a communicative language via their own creativity. Moreover, Meme’s “open to all” structure contributes to the modern phenomenon of “internet virality”.
Format aside, the semantics of memes themselves also provide a new order of seemingly universal communication. English and Roman languages are Phonemic, composed of individual phonemes or letters of the “smallest possible meaningless bit” (Living in Acoustic world). Memes on the other hand are more ideogrammatic and Morphemic. Relying not on meaningless bits (phoneme), but rather on bits of sensory and abstract meaning (morphemes).
While the meme may employ an English label in the picture, the label serves as a secondary “ideogram” to the overarching abstract sense, feeling, and the idea conveyed. The political meme (Figure 2) interacts with the viewer by engaging his/her physical senses of being “slapped” along with a supplemented abstract political concept of high taxes on hard workers. The Camera boys (figure 1) convey a message of shock, and the English label supplements the message with context. Transforming shock to “shock at the Oscars”.
The pictures of the memes themselves are key in conveying messages. The image in its ideogrammatic form allows a variety of languages and labels to be supplemented, granting its universal appeal on two levels.
The First level is the meme’s standalone sensory ideogram. The sensory ideogram is conveyed through a minimal medium which is the meme. Engaging the viewer’s senses directly without an intermediary like the written language. The second level is - once again - the meme’s inclusive structure. Very much like how various subcultures and internet niches are included via the meme’s malleable form, cultures of spoken languages are no exception. Otherwise, an Italian individual is able to add his own quips to the meme in his native tongue, and a Chinese individual is no less the same.
In this manner, the meme is a transcendent form of communication. An emerging language whereby all individuals with an electronic device endlessly contribute to its cultural formation. Put differently, “The new electronic independence re-creates the world in the image of a global village” (McLuhan) and memes are its official language.
Memes definitely transcend our traditional views of language- I'm able to understand certain memes in other languages just by knowing just one of the words, because the format communicates so much itself. The problem is, you sort of have to "learn" how to read them, especially the more advanced ones that are basically referencing other memes or certain aspects of internet culture that come a lot more naturally to young people. If I tried to show my mom half of these, she wouldn't understand them.
I completely agree with you. In communication today there is so much tension, so much pressure as eyes are ALWAYS on you; memes are a good way to transcend that. Not only do they provide a sense of comedic relief from the mundane act of communication that so many despise, but it also gets the message across in a way that is digestible for all.
As a Communications major, I have had many lectures discussing certain memes or trends as a way of viewing society. Memes serve as somewhat of an anthropological record of human culture. Looking at the memes that are popular on any given day of the past could show us the current events and attitudes of that time.
Prior to reading your post I had not given memes a much deeper thought. I find this interesting because as someone who consumes social media multiple times a day, I see memes almost every day. They have fully integrated themselves into modern society's communication pattern. The Will Smith/Chris Rock Oscars slap was the perfect example because the only content on my feed the following week were memes about that night. I agree that they are a transcendent form of communication because if you are familiar with what the image means in your language, you can understand the meme in a foreign language.