Narratives that Promote Responses to Memes

To the right? To the left? Let meme decide for you!

That’s right, this week’s theme is politics and how memes are affecting how we decide, understand, and discuss our political situations. Before I continue with this post I want to take a moment to warn my readers that this post will be about the #MeToo movement, this may trigger specific incidents in which you wish not to think about or remember. Another warning, these memes are condemning this movement, so again if this is going to stir up unpleasant thoughts or feelings perhaps this post is not for you. Please take this moment and decide if you wish to continue reading this. Finally, understand that the memes and analysis of these memes do not represent the thoughts of me, the writer, I am merely completing an assignment.

 What is #MeToo?

As I said this week, I want to focus on memes made of the #MeToo movement. This week I am focusing on gender, primarily those who identify as female and the memes made against them during this movement. This movement has been mostly a political battle as in how to handle these accusations, how there appear to be issues within our justice system in handling these claims, and the public's’ understanding of sexual harassment and assault.

I want to take this time to realize that although the #MeToo movement has been going on for a few months now, it is still a relevant issue and topic that still requires our attention. There are still people utilizing the hashtag and the court cases such as the one with Kavanaugh that speak to the relevance of the movement.

Here is the link to the Time article that was written about The Silence Breakers and the movement. In the article, they discuss how the campaign was one that allowed those who had suffered a safe space to speak their truth and share their story. It allowed for those who were attacked, days months or years ago to come forward, to squash the negative repercussions of sharing what occurred. It is important to note that this hashtag is used by “both” genders, it allows anyone to speak out, however primarily we are seeing a woman speak out.

Meme of the Week

The following memes are those that directly reference the #MeToo movement in their image and can readily be determined to be making fun of or degrading the movement.

Credit: X

This first meme has four people, who most likely identify as female, but would not usually meet the high standards of what females should look like. This is a reference that those opposed to the movement make stating that feminists are ugly women seeking attention, that no one would commit such an act. This meme is poking fun at the movement, more importantly, poking fun at the women affected by these actions and degrading those coming forth.

What does this mean politically? Let me clarify; this is per what Shifman (2013) is discussing in chapter 8. There are three different roles internet memes can play: forms of persuasion, grassroots action, and modes of expression and public discussion (Shifman, 2013).

In this first meme was are seeing the third example of what Shifman is referring to, the expression and public discussion of the meme and movement. As Shifman (2013) says that memes are an inexpensive way for us to express our political opinions while having a laugh. If any of the three examples in this week’s post exemplify the humorous aspect, it would be this one.

 

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The second meme for this week has infamous stock figure Bad Luck Brian as the star of this meme. For those who do not know, Bad Luck Brian is one of the most popular stock characters to grace the internet. This meme features Brian with the top line of text saying something usually positive, and then the bottom line has a twist showing his rotten luck. Why is this meme so important? Simple, it is saying that the man who is accused has suffered from bad luck because of the accusation. This reifies this hegemonic idea that accusers are the ones who suffer most when victims speak up, which is not the case.

I believe that this meme connects with the first function Shifman (2013) discusses, the form of persuasion or political advocacy. The reason I feel this is the case takes this week’s hot debate, Kavanaugh trial, and how these accusations have “totally and permanently destroyed” his name. He, and those who believe him and his train of thought, do not understand the repercussions that victims face when they step forward after any period, let alone in this grand of a capacity. This meme is advocating for the notion that accusers’ lives are forever changed in a negative capacity once these allegations come out. Which in turn, victims may fear what will comes of them, and may hesitate because in the States we typically do not believe the victim.

 

Credit: X

The third and final meme for this week’s post is from the stock image First World Problems and features her crying at the realization of what hashtag was once referred to as, pound. First World Problems, in this case, is not referring to a first world problem except for the fact that we see this movement primarily in first world countries. As I already said, this meme is making fun of the fact that some may say “pound me too” which contradicts the whole sexual harassment and assault idea of #MeToo. This not only belittles the movement, but it finds a way to directly make fun of what the cause is even fighting against. Also, it says “women’s movement” all the sudden disqualifying anyone who identifies as male or nonbinary as victims.

I believe that in this last meme we once again see an example of the third function, expression, and public discussion. Remember Shifman says that memes are a way for us to express our thoughts and engage in conversations with one another (2013). Here we see this function because we see those not in favor of the movement making fun of the creators of the campaign, which are strictly women, and their lack of thought when it came to the name of the action. However, the utilized the hashtag because that is a favorite way in which others share their posts, this has been the case for a while now, so this is not a new concept.

Wrap It Up!

Phew! I know this week was a heavy one, but it is imperative that we look at memes and understand all the implications they have on our culture.

                                                              

                                                               References: 

Shifman, Limor (2013) Memes in Digital Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT 

    

     Press. ISBN: 9780262525435

Zacharek, S., Dockterman, E., & Edwards, H. S. (2017). Silence Breakers TIME Person of the Year 

     2017: How We Chose. Retrieved from http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-

     breakers-choice/