Internet Meme Creativity as Everyday Conversation

Abstract

Internet memes are online fads or trends consisting of a combination of image, verbiage, audio, and video that are repeatedly altered by Internet users and shared on the Internet, often in a rapid, viral-like manner. The constant process of mutation that an Internet meme undergoes as it spreads across the Internet typically involves repetition, rhetorical play, pattern reformulation, and punning, among others—all characteristics that Ronald Carter has defined in his analysis of spoken conversation as examples of demotic and ordinary creativity. Drawing upon and extending Carter’s description of the everyday creativity of spoken language, this study seeks to systematically investigate and describe the creative and conversational characteristics of Internet memes and in doing so provide further insights into the nature of both Internet creativity and popular culture.

Social Media Responses to the Pandemic: What Makes a Coronavirus Meme Creative

“…First, the perspectival approach is general enough to be applicable to a wide range of creative artifacts, including memes. Its assumption that a meme reflects various perspectives on a given topic, new and old, is reasonable and in line with existing literature on memes as a communicative genre ( Willmore and Hocking, 2017 ; Miltner, 2018 ). Second, this approach is suitable for analyzing the creation and reception of memes given that these are both meaning-making processes (like familiarization or de/re-familiarization) and, as such, driven by the perspectives people discover in or attribute to a creative artifact.…”

“…In fact, memes serve a series of practical aims, from the pleasure of playing with language and images to displaying identity and fostering belonging (Carter, 2004). Following Zappavigna, Willmore and Hocking (2017) note and exemplify a series of key structural characteristics of memes like phrasal templates, catchphrases, image macros, and initialisms. In their words:…”

“…The notions of remixing and iterations mark the fact that memes are, ultimately, outcomes of creativity that is, at once, individual and cultural; meanwhile, online transmission is an ecological marker of success and real-life “value.” In fact, memes serve a series of practical aims, from the pleasure of playing with language and images to displaying identity and fostering belonging ( Carter, 2004 ). Following Zappavigna, Willmore and Hocking (2017) note and exemplify a series of key structural characteristics of memes like phrasal templates, catchphrases, image macros, and initialisms. In their words:…”

“…There have been, to date, few studies explicitly focused on the creativity of memes. A notable exception is the proposal by Willmore and Hocking (2017) to study memes using a framework for linguistic creativity. Their focus was to identify those markers of the creativity of language—e.g., repetition, rhetorical play, pattern reformulation, and punning—and the way they become manifest in memes.…”

Days of our ‘quarantined’ lives

“…More specifically, when users engage in memetic humour, they signal themselves as individuals playing a game and having fun as well as a sense of belonging to or a membership of a particular group, or more metaphorically speaking "being in the same boat" as others. In fact, humour in internet memes often emerges in a particular group or community and might represent an inside joke (Willmore & Hocking, 2017). Varis and Blommaert (2015:42) view memes as a form of conviviality -"a level of social intercourse characterized by largely 'phatic' and 'polite' engagement in interaction."…”