What do you meme? — how can memes influence society?
Tags: Memes, Internet Celebrity, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Election, Donald Trump

The term internet celebrity can be attributed to a diverse range of people varying in how and why they found fame. From social media accounts to viral videos, Abidin (2018) suggests that anyone can be an online celebrity with the right characteristics and tactics. One type of internet celebrity that has become a large part of online culture are memes. The term meme was first coined by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene describing them as “small units of culture that spread from person to person by copying or imitation” (Segev et al, 2015, p. 418) and Abidin discusses how memes tend to be based on luck, what might be found humorous in society at that time and it becoming viral for a short amount of time. Memes can also have longer life spans, especially those involved in the meme who can become internet celebrities after gaining fame through their pictures being edited into different funny contexts (Abidin, 2018).

Laina Morris as the Overly-Attached Girlfriend. Copyright [Brown].

An example of a meme character that became an internet celebrity includes the ‘Overly Attached Girlfriend’ played by Laina Morris who released a video in 2012 performing a parody of Justin Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’ pretending to be a clingy girlfriend. The video received over 1.3 million views in just 48 hours and people began making edits of her with different captions related to the meme (knowyourmeme.com, 2012). Morris was known globally as this character on her YouTube channel, also finding fame through interviewing celebrities at the 2012 American Music Awards and appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Smith, 2019). This is an example of how meme characters can quickly find Internet fame through the viral nature of social media, emphasising the wide variety of ways in which someone can become an internet celebrity.

A meme featuring Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Copyright [Pinterest].

The virality of social media means that memes can reach many networks of people quickly and connects people through the same humour and culture. This also leads onto the argument that memes can be influential in engaging people in real life issues. Memes were prominent in the 2016 US presidential election, Trump and Clinton both used memes in order to relate to younger generations and persuade their vote. Whilst Clinton created her own memes to be relatable, Trump used memes created by other people in order to connect with younger people. This came across as more authentic and was still able to win over the majority vote showing how memes do have the ability to influence and persuade groups within society (Taveira & Balfour, 2016). Memes can also challenge negative stereotypes within society from racism to mental health, creating a sense of community that people are not alone in particular situations. Talking about issues in humorous ways can be an easy way for some people to voice their difficult problems and reach out to people in authoritative positions who can help them (VEME, 2018).

The meme phenomenon is unique amongst young people as it is a way for them to build a community and relate to a variety of societal issues. From the examples shown above, it is evident that when authoritative figures and role models use memes to portray particular opinions and views, it can change people perceptions as it is a way for them to relate to particular issues. Considering this, it is important to consider the legitimacy of memes because they can be created by anyone without previous knowledge. Therefore, we can ask the question, is it a good thing to allow memes to influence society so much?

A meme showing Leonardo DiCaprio holding up a glass and smiling. Copyright [Gil].

Bibliography

Abidin, C. (2018). Internet celebrity: Understanding fame online. United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing

Knowyourmeme.com. (2012, June 6). Overly attached girlfriend. Knowyourmeme.com. Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/overly-attached-girlfriend

Segev, E., Nissenbaum, A., Stolero, N., & Shifman, L. (2015). Families and networks of internet memes: The relationship between cohesiveness, uniqueness, and quiddity concreteness. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(4), 417–433.

Taveira, R. & Balfour, E. (2016, November 30). How Donald Trump won the 2016 meme wars. The Conversation. Retrieved from: https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trump-won-the-2016-meme-wars-68580

VEME (2018, December 4). The relationship between memes and social change. Medium. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@VEMEapp/the-relationship-between-memes-and-social-change-dbf168520eb