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We've all seen memes on the internet, from Grumpy Cat to Batman smacking Robin to planking and the Ice Bucket Challenge, but have you ever wondered why memes are so funny?
Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary scientist, identified three requirements in the answer.
What Are Memes?
In his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene," English researcher Richard Dawkins invented the term "meme." In the context of evolutionary biology, Dawkins established the notion as part of his theory of how cultural elements spread and evolve over time.
A meme, according to Dawkins, is a cultural aspect such as an idea, behaviour or practise, or style (think clothes, but also art, music, communication, and performance) that spreads by imitation from one person to another. For example, the dab dance, sometimes known as "dabbing," is a popular performative meme that gained popularity in late 2016.
Memes, like biological elements, can be contagious in nature, evolving or mutating as they travel from one person to the next.
What Makes a Meme a Meme?
An internet meme is a digital file that is distributed solely through the internet. If you have any sort of inquiries concerning where and the best ways to utilize actual news, you could contact us at our own page. Picture macros, like this Grumpy Cat meme, are a combination of image and text, but Internet memes now include photos, videos, GIFs, and hashtags.
Internet memes are typically hilarious, sarcastic, or ironic, which is part of what appeals to people and encourages them to share them. Memes aren't just popular because they're funny. Some depict a skill-based performance, such as music, dance, or physical fitness.
Internet memes, like memes as defined by Dawkins, are disseminated from person to person through imitation (or copying). They are digitally reproduced and then spread anew by anyone who shares them online.
Despite what sites like HumorNama would have you believe, a meme isn't just any old image with words slapped on it.
To qualify as a meme, elements of them, such as the image or language, or acts performed in a video or portrayed in a selfie, must be duplicated and circulated widely, with creative changes.
Three Factors Make Memes Go Viral
Memes are disseminated, replicated, and altered from person to person due to three criteria, according to Dawkins.
- Copy-fidelity refers to the possibility of correctly replicating the object in question.
- Longevity, or staying power, is the rate at which anything is replicated.
- Fecundity is the rate at which something is repeated.
To become a meme, any cultural element or artefact must meet all of these requirements.
Something must be repeatable in order to become a meme. This means that many individuals must be able to do it or duplicate it, today news whether it's a real-life behaviour or a digital file, beyond the initial person to accomplish it.
The Ice Bucket Challenge, which became a social media sensation in the summer of 2014, is an example of a meme that existed both offline and online.
Its replicability is predicated on the low level of talent and resources required to replicate it, as well as the fact that it came with a script and step-by-step instructions. These qualities make it easily repeatable, indicating that it possesses the "copy fecundity" that Dawkins claims memes must possess.
To become a meme, something must spread swiftly in order to gain traction in a culture. The video for PSY's "Gangnam Style" song demonstrates how an online meme may spread quickly owing to a variety of circumstances. The YouTube video was widely disseminated in this case (for a time it was the most viewed video on the site).
It took viral thanks to the creation of parody videos, reaction videos, and picture memes based on the original.
Memes, according to Dawkins, have longevity, or staying power. It ceases to exist if something spreads but does not get ingrained in a society as a practise or a constant reference point.
It becomes extinct in biological terms.
Given that it was one of the first internet memes to gain popularity in the early 2000s, the One Does Not Simply meme stands out as one that has had extraordinary longevity.
The One Does Not Simply meme was inspired by a line from the 2001 film "Lord of the Rings," and has since been copied, shared, and reworked many times.
However, as Dawkins has pointed out, the most effective memes-those that perform each of these three qualities better than the competition-respond to a specific cultural need or resonate with current events.
To put it another way, memes that capture the popular zeitgeist are the ones that will capture our attention, inspire a sense of belonging and connectedness with the person who shared it with us, and encourage us to share the meme and the collective experience of viewing and relating to it with others.
The Be Like Bill meme is an example of a meme that possesses all three it-factors: copy-fidelity, fecundity, and longevity. Be Like Bill grew in popularity throughout 2015, peaking in early 2016. It satisfies the societal urge to release irritation through physical and online actions, notably on social media.
These actions are still frequently seen as unpleasant or dumb. By displaying what is described as a fair or pragmatic alternative behaviour, Bill serves as a counterbalance to the in question behaviour.
In this example, the Be Like Bill meme is expressing dissatisfaction with people who get into debates over things they find offensive on the internet.
Rather than having a digital argument over it, one should simply go on.