My Original Meme

You: How is ur relationship with Jesus?

Me:

Visually this replicates @HoodJesusYo's Twitter Memes because the sample I have selected all use pop culture television or movie images, and many have a direct movie quote on them. This Meme at the bottom has the exact movie quote used from the movie. @HoodJesusYo uses captions to complete his Meme, and the top portion of the Meme is considered the caption. Rhetorically @HoodJesusYo always uses some sort of slang, such as "u," instead of "you." So I used "Tha," and "Razed." These mimic the way that @HoodJesusYo speaks in his Memes.

The message about religion I am attempting to communicate through this Meme, is the idea that Jesus should be an important part of everyones lives, and we should have a relationship with him. This is the main goal of @HoodJesusYo. He uses the Twitter page as a humorous ministry reaching Christians and Non-Christians. By sharing the Gospel in a humorous way in his Memes, people are able to understand Christianity who have never heard it in such a manner. Because the Memes are focused to religious insiders AND outsiders, the Memes are versatile and able to be understood across large spectrums. 

Meme Comparison: This is not the only example of social media being used for this purpose of reaching Christian audiences. Allyson Winkley's blog is taken from Pinterest and depicts "First world problems," from Christian perspective. Here she says, "These examples...give a sense of the type of memes these groups use to unite those in their lived religion. These memes all portray 'Christian Problems' which are similar to the commonly known 'First World Problems'. These memes depict small issues or annoyances that occur within Christian life, and coincide them with a graphic that gives the problem some detrimental feel." (Winkley, 2012, http://allysonwinkley.blogspot.com/) The difference between our two blogs would be the focus of who is being reached. Allyson's blog is targeted towards the in-group of Christians. Whereas @HoodJesusYo's target is both the in-group and the out-group of Christians. @HoodJesusYo makes it clear that he is using his Twitter as a ministry opportunity. This being said, the Christian understands these Memes and finds them funny. So I argue that the target for @HoodJesusYo is both Christians and Non-Christians alike, while Allyson's is focused on Christians and aiding them in their life because they point out these 'Christian problems,' which shouldn't really be a problem at all.

Blog Post 5

In chapter six, Limor Shifman discusses different elements of memetic and viral success. Each Meme compromises at least one of the elements that is discussed. Last week I discussed humor which so I will discuss the concept of prestige and strong emotions. Prestige means that individuals that are involved in the Meme have some sort of importance. Whether it's the subject of the people invoked. The other concept, strong emotions means that the Memes carry some sort of strong emotion in them. This could be a positive or negative emotion. Things like Abortion, Gay Rights, and other things are examples of these strong emotions. I am going to analyze each Meme according to why they encompass these two things. 

The first Meme includes Drake from the TV show, Drake and Josh. The second Meme is Simba from The Lion King. The third Meme is Will Ferrel and John Reilly. Every character in these Memes are recognizable to someone who is in tune with pop culture. 

The strong emotion comes in with the subject matter that is present. For the reader, they are seeking to experience a relationship with God/Jesus, through these humorous Memes. For example, the second Meme presented brings us back to when Mufasa dies in The Lion King, but the reader would be able to relate this to Jesus. The Christian reader is reminded that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. This content evokes strong emotions from the reader. The first Meme where Drake is presented retelling the story of Moses, the reader feels strong emotions remembering the story of Moses and him splitting the Red Sea. I believe that these strong emotions are simply evoked because of the content that is present in each of the Memes.

There are also different Meme genres. The Meme genre I'm going to discuss is LOLCats, which means the type of language that is used is different. Things like, "I haz Cheezburger." Though @HoodJesusYo does not encompass this language, it is similar in the words he uses. He never types out the word "you," instead he says, "U." Another example is one that is in the third Meme below which is a picture from Step Brothers, he states, "When u stop trippin and give ur problems to Jesus u be like." Though this is different from LOLCats I believe it is similar. 

If I could make a new type of Meme Genre I would make it "Humor Mission Meme." The reason I would choose this is because every Meme uses humor to get their point across. The mission of @HoodJesusYo is to spread his ministry, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So making Memes that are humorous, yet meet their mission of spreading the Gospel. 

Blog Post 4

The key thing that I have seen in all of my memes is the idea that all have to do with having a personal relationship with God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. They are all also affirming of the Bible and the idea of Christianity in general. To the Christian, having a relationship with God is the most important thing that can happen besides salvation. This relationship takes many different forms. The concept of the Trinity is the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. This meaning that the Father, God, Jesus Christ the son, and the Holy Spirit is what lives "inside" every Christian once they have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. The key element to this is the Christian believes that this Trinity is, "three in one," and that they are all the same entity. With this given background, approaching the Memes makes more sense. 

The first Meme that I will analyze in this shadow is the meme that says, "When u memorize a long passage of scripture u be like, Kobe." The target audience Christian generally believes that the Bible is the word of God, and to know Him more you must read His word. The second Meme states that Jesus is with Michelle Tanner, "Every day. All day. Anywhere. Anytime." This is an image of the Holy Spirit, which is part of the Trinity and showing that you can be in constant communication and in relationship with God. The third Meme is a little different in that it is talking about Satan who is considered the enemy to Christians. Though this Meme is not directly talking about God, it is referring to someone with a relationship with God. That they can not associate with Satan because of their relationship with God.

The humor that I have seen most prevalent with the Memes has been Playfulness and Incongruity. In each of the Memes playfulness is shown with the language he uses. For example, Looking at each of the Memes below the word "you," is spelled out, "u." He also uses other language such as in the third Meme where he uses playful language saying, "When Satan tryna get involved in yo life u be like..." This language is meant to be playful and funny. The other use of humor that is most prevalent is incongruity which Limor Shifman describes as, "Comedy derives from an unexpected cognitive encounter between two incongruent elements, as in a pun, a man in a women's clothing, or a dancing banana." (80) This incongruence is in each of the Memes by the use of current pop culture being turned into a Christian Ministry. The first Meme below is from Black Swan which is a movie that is completely opposite from the Christian values. But this movie is being used as a Ministry device by using the scene from the movie or television show, and in some cases such as the second and third Meme using the exact verbiage.

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