Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque

Abstract

Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque is a comprehensive exploration of grotesque aesthetics that have pervaded the post-digital era. This critical examination spans a variety of digital cultural production, including memes, animated cartoons, music videos, and expressive cultures such as fashion and urban subcultures that emerged between 2016 and 2020. Central to this enquiry is the concept of the grotesque, which captures a distinct moment infused with political and affective significance. Within this period a palpable sense of despair, alienation, and anomie coexist with new-found opportunities for creative experimentation made possible within the digital realm. One of the central assertions of the study is that memes, in their ugly, rapidly made, and amateurish aesthetics and anti-political correctness, epitomise the monsters of the digital sphere. These digital monsters embody a sense of resonance and, while serving as opportunities for creative empowerment, also perpetuate perverse political ideologies. The study posits a distinctive insight to the genre of digital horror wherein memes, horror, and grotesque aesthetics converge as decolonial tools of disobedience. These tools disrupt but also disobey established aesthetics and affective expectations of the digital realm. By exploring the multifaceted nature of grotesque aesthetics in the post-digital era, Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque offers a ground-breaking perspective on informal politics, monstrous aesthetics, and digital media in the post-digital era.