So I had posted my idea of using memes for my final in English. This is what I have so far. A World of Mimes When people think of mimes they think of silent men, and sometimes women, dressed in black and white clothing imitating passersbys. Yet, little do most people know that the word mime came from the Latin word “mimos†to imitate, or “mimema,†something imitated. Richard Dawkins chose the word “mimema†as the word to describe the cultural gene: the meme. Two variations, however, of the word meme exist today. Unbeknownst to us, memes permeate our lives, affecting our decisions, making us laugh, and changing our lives. The first variation of the meme is the original meme, which corresponds to the quote, “A meme identifies ideas or beliefs that are transmitted from one person or group of people to another. The concept comes from an analogy: as genes transmit biological information, memes can be said to transmit idea and belief information (Meme). In short a meme is something that people imitate. “The term and concept of meme is from the 1976 book by Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. Though Dawkins defined the meme as “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation,†memeticists vary in their definitions of meme†(What is a Meme). An example of the meme can be found the health of people today. Instead of having to sneeze into a hand people are now seen sneezing into their sleeves. The second kind of meme is internet meme. “In its most basic form, an Internet meme is simply an idea that is propagated through the World Wide Web. This idea may take the form of a hyperlink, video, website, hashtag, or even just a word or phrase. This meme may spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, news sources, and other web-based services†(Internet Meme). The internet meme is used to induce laughter, so it is seen that the internet meme is actually a mutation of the original meme. These memes are generated more commonly by people, companies, and celebrities who have posted anything from videos to pictures to stories on the internet and less commonly by the media and video games of today. Television has changed since the dawn of the original black and white screens, so as long as it has been around television has supplied its own memes. Star Trek, in particular, has a very common meme. The famous quote “Beam me up, Scotty†was actually never a quote. “Beam me up, Scotty†is the title given to memes that have wrongly said quotes or, “Lines that people associate with something or someone by way of Popcultural Osmosis, despite the face that they are never uttered by them…†(Beam Me Up). Another famous misread quote would be, “Luke, I am your father,†which was made famous by Star Wars, has been parodied countless times. Saturday Night Live as a meme generator because of the vast amounts it has created. The term “We are from France†is a “Blatant Lie,†another type of meme. The “Blatant Lie†is a lie that is extremely obvious, yet fools most the most basic characters and is most likely known to anyone watching the show. Another example of the “Blatant Lie†is the actual theme song from Family Guy which says that other shows and movies are terrible and this one is much better. Family Guy is also a major host of the meme, “All Just a Dream,†where events from previous episodes do not affect the future episodes. The “Blatant Lie,†a meme that mostly appears in television shows, also roots itself in movies, such as the Family Guy movies, Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story. Movies play a part in the creating and spreading of memes. Most of them, however, are just catch phrases repeated until they either become a nuisance, in that by saying it aggravates others, or by becoming a phrase that everyone could associate with the film. The movie The Dark Knight in particular did not need many of its vast quantity of memes to be looped endlessly for them to become well known. The famous magic trick scene is an easily recognizable meme to anyone if someone asks while holding a pencil, “Would you like to see a magic trick?†The interrogation scene is also a famous scene in the sense of a “Narm†or: “A moment that is supposed to be serious, but loses its drama to, over-sappiness, poor execution, excessive melodrama, or the sheer absurdity of the situation, to the point of becoming unintentionally funny (Narm). Another movie with a “Narm†is the legendary movie Star Wars. In actuality, it is home to many memes including, “That’s No Moon†and “It’s a Trap.†A landscape or terrain that is not actually what it appears to be but is actually something much larger in scale and functionality would be a simple way to describe “That’s No Moon.†“It’s a Trap†is a “Narm†that can also be called a “Captain Obvious†due to the fact that at the time of the line being spoken it was very obvious that it was indeed a trap. The entire movie 300 is influenced by the meme, “It Was His Sled.†“It Was His Sled†is, “A Twist Ending that used to be guarded carful as a Spoiler, but thanks to Popcultural Osmosis, everyone within the target demographic knows the ending already, even those who haven’t even see the showâ€(His Sled). The reason 300 falls into this category is that it is based on a historical moment. Even though the entire movie falls under a meme it gives one of the most widely known memes, “This! Is! SPARTA!†People fall under this category of meme whenever they speak with emphasis. This meme also has a second part where people shout “This is Sparta†whenever someone says or ends a sentence with the word madness. This meme also features the face of King Leonidas, the main character of the movie, being “pasted†onto another person’s body and doing the most outrageous activities and saying the most awkward of phrases such as “This is Dataaaa!†and “This is NOT Sparta.†Yet the most apprehended meme is the This is Sparta techno remix. This video showcase’s King Leonidas repeating “This is Sparta†numerous times to a techno rave song and having his head pasted onto dancing bodies. “This! Is! SPARTA!†takes its place in the top internet memes for its many different spawn of memes. Many memes are spread on the internet, but the most notable are “Lolcats†and “Rickrollingâ€. These memes are mostly seen as comedy and are imitated for comedic affect. Originating on the website 4chan in 2005, “Lolcats†became sensational on January 11, 2007 (Lolcat). “Lolcats†are comical pictures of cats in funny positions “speaking†in grammatically incorrect text. Lolcats are unique in the fact that they only can be mutated from other memes. The joke of “Lolcats†is that the meme that they might represent or a mutation of the meme itself. “Rickrolling†is a trick meme. It mutated from the meme called “duckrolling†where people were pranked into clicking a link that took them to an edited picture of a duck with wheels; “Rickrollingâ€, however, takes the user to a video of Rick Astley’s song, Never Gonna Give You Up. “It was estimated by a poll taken in 2008 that at least 18 million American adults had been rickrolled†(Rickrolling). While these are the most well known memes, other memes that have gain infamy are Oolong the Pancake Rabbit and the “O Rly†Owl. Oolong the Pancake Rabbit was a rabbit that was trained to balance stuff onto its head. One picture of Oolong was turned into a meme that said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, so here’s a bunny with a pancake on its head†(Top Memes). The “O Rly†Owl is a picture used on the SomethingAwful forums of an owl that is an expression that when word “O Rly†was added it formed a hilarious image macro, or a picture with text composed to induce laughter. The “O Rly Owl†has added two other memes with owl images featuring the phrases “Ya Rly†and the other “No Wai!!!†Please tell me if this is confusing. It's hard to explain this stuff.
