Image Macro

## **Image Macros as Memes**

### **Definitions**

The concept of memes has created a lot of discussion in the scholarly world because it comes from the study of evolutionary biological and is often described as “viral,” a human spreading, replicating, and changing of the original message, often leaving the most funny and popular images to “survive and thrive”  in the competitive popular cultures of the world

 Jenkins then goes on to change the term viral to spreadable, which I find more fitting because viruses invade the host, can make you sick, and can spread to other people without the host knowing. People are the main reason that memes survive because they more than often know and purposely pass on the memes. They are technically any information that is transferable or spreadable.

An Image Macro is a specific type of meme that is just a picture, superimposed with added text. All of these derivatives of the same picture are part of the larger “Image Macro.” They are probably one of the most popular types of memes. They can be funny, ironic, a reaction to something that was said online, or to show emotions.

### **Examples**

1. LOLcats
2. Demotivational Posters
3. Bad Luck Brian
4. Advice animals
5. Grumpy Cat
6. Doge

### **Why an Image Macro?**

The appeal of the Image Macro has to do with how easy they are to reproduce. All you have to do is visit this website- http://memegenerator.net/ -, pick a certain picture, put your wanted text into the textboxes and press the generate button.  The fact that people do not have to have a large background in digital design in order to create Image Macros is partially the appeal. You can easily participate in the “conversation” that is going on in a specific image macro. You can express your opinions, emotions or ideas in an anonymous setting, while still belonging to the larger collection of the specific image macro.

Just like any other type of media, people need to keep changing to it, adding their thoughts and new ideas to the larger group that exists. Once something gets boring or not as funny as it once was, people lose interest and then that form of Image Macro will cease to exist. If it disappears, it’s because it is what people want. The people dictate the Image Macro culture.

A certain Image Macro is created from a community of different people. We don’t know who they are, where they are from, what they look like, or anything about them and that is a bonus. It causes people to create freely without the stress of being identified. The result of this is that image macros are produced at a rapid rate.

These anonymous people also create them for a specific audiences, mostly their specific culture. It wouldn't make any sense if all of your followers or friends are American and tailored your memes to an audience in Africa because the creaters often use slang, pop-culture contexts, and culture references. This has now sightly changed due to globalization, but culture will always play a strong part in memes.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chen, Carl. "The Creation and Meaning of Internet Memes in 4chan: Popular Internet Culture in the Age of Online Digital Reproduction."*Institutions Habitus Spring 2012*. Vol. 3. New Haven: Yale U, 2012. 6-17. Print.
2. ↑ Jenkins, Henry. "If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead (Part Two): Sticky and Spreadable — Two Paradigms." Confessions of an AcaFan. Wordpress, 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 24 June 2015.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Davison, Patrick. “The Language of Internet Memes.” The Social Media Reader. Ed. Michael Mandiberg. New York UP, 2012. 120-134. Ebook.