How the Memes Communicate to the Reader

How the Memes Communicate to the Reader

Repackaging: The three Memes that I have chosen to focus on this week all engage in repackaging. Limor Shifman in his book, Memes In Digital Culture, states, "In oral communication, people become aware of memes through their senses, process them in their minds, and then 'repackage' them in order to pass them along to others." (19)

All the Memes that I have chosen today, directly quote the movie that they originally appeared in, they are then repackaged to include @HoodJesusYo's caption that is now a part of the Meme.

For example:

  Here we see Sam the Onion Man, from Holes the movie. In the movie he repeatedly says, "I can fix that."@HoodJesusYo has chosen to change the meme and add "U: I'm really broken" "Jesus:". This addition to the Meme makes Sam the Onion Man appear as a Jesus figure by saying he can fix what is broken, and that is, "U." This Meme also exemplifies the Communicative Function of emotive. The person who is looking at this Meme is meant to recognize that they are broken, an emotion that Christians often feel because of their belief that they are born sinners, this emotion quickly turns into  hope when they see that Jesus, depicted as Sam the Onion Man, can in fact "Fix that."

This Meme depicts the Joker from the Dark Knight Rises. The joker states, "Do I really look like a guy with a plan?" He states this when talking to Harvey Denton when he is in the hospital due to a serious injury that the Joker's people caused. In this Meme, the intended purpose is that the joker would be a reflection of the reader. That the Christian does not have a good plan, because they believe the only good plan that exists is from God. The Christian reader would read this Meme and would experience the Communicative Function of emotive because the reader feels hope in Jesus because he has a plan, and they are reminded of this in a silly and humorous way.

This is another scene from Holes the movie. Shown is "X-Ray" on the right, and "Caveman" on the left. In this Meme the use of the Communicative Function, Metalingual comes into play. According to Shifman Metalingual is used, "To establish mutual agreement on the code (for example, a definition)." The code that is shown is when @HoodJesusYo mentions an "accountability partner." In the Christian culture, an accountability partner is someone who you are supposed to be completely honest, and vulnerable with who knows everything about you. You meet with this person weekly, and together you reach goals of becoming more like Jesus Christ by holding each other to what this goal is. If you did not understand this code, you would not understand the full purpose of the Meme.