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The radical elegance of memes for hard-to-describe feelings
Meme creators are just modern-day collage artists.
These 8 words drive modern-day friendships: Did you see the meme I sent you? Online communities with millions of people bond over repurposed images with new captions. The 5–10 seconds of a co-worker interpreting an image, gif, or video of a meme precedes a shared chuckle. Big brands are now leveraging memes for virality and reach.
Underneath the informal tones of memes, there’s a level of sophistication and elegance to how hard-to-describe emotions are communicated. How are memes shaping the way we communicate and process information? What do their spinoff narratives say about current times?
If we boil it down, memes are just modern-day collages that use similar tactics as contemporary collage-artists like German Dada artist Hannah Höch.
How are memes and photo collages similar?
Memes often use the iconic Impact typeface in all caps with a thin black outline (Vox did a deep-dive on the origin of this “de facto font”). They are widely circulated on the Internet that often have imagery or components found in mainstream media. Whether the inside joke or understanding is within college students or any person living through a pandemic, the niche of people who can join in is limitless.
More recently, we’ve seen Coronavirus memes that have spread important public health recommendations with internet humor. The Wash Your Lyrics website mashes up the lyrics of your favorite song to a handwashing infographic detailing the appropriate time length.
The rapid virality of internet meme culture was shown after the 2020 Vice President Debates. The infamous fly that landed on Mike Pence’s head led to the creation of a meme account @MichealsFly in less than an hour after the debate ended. Joe Biden’s Presidential campaign store jumped on this…
