Until today’s class I never put much thought into what a meme was. In “From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content” a Meme is defined as “a unit of cultural information that replicates while still remaining whole” (78). While reading this, I was completely lost, I did not understand that a meme was not just something that was on the internet, a picture with some witty phrase underneath it in bold white letters. Though, in class, after we watched the Ted Talk, it all kind of clicked for me that memes were nothing more than the replication of an idea in society. I finally realized that most of the language that we use, most abbreviation in texts are memes. “LOL” is a meme. This was crazy to me.

This is when the idea of a mashup really clicked for me as well. A mashup, in my words, is a combination of any memes to create a final product. In “From Memes to Mashups…”, mashups are said to “not have to be high in quality to have important cultural meanings” (80). This especially pertains to video mashups. I found it helpful then to think back to the video that we watched in class with Peach and Daisy from the old Nintendo games trying to save the day themselves. This mashup comprised of references to Michael Jackson’s alleged child molester status, to different action movies using music and weapons, to the famous show Pokemon, all while commenting on the rights of women and their oppression. This mashup has Peach get angry with Mario trying to save her, claiming that she is perfectly capable of saving herself. This is extremely relevant to the current fight for gender equality throughout the world, despite some of its outdated content.

The use of the “Mashup” is to get across these points, and to change the meaning of the original format of the game or movie or any other media to convey a new and important cultural meaning. The article “From Memes to Mashups…” discusses a range of other silly to serious video mashups and also how some “studios are encouraging the engagement of fan with their movies… providing clips and tools on [their] web site[s]” (81). This gives many people a new platform for expression. It allows people to express themselves using recognizable media that allows for connections to be made between them and others. It becomes like a new form of art in a way that opens up new doors for self expression and the reflection of society itself.

The video that we viewed in class clearly was dated and was a reflection of society at a specific point in time. If I were to make a mashup at this moment to express gender equality, I would probably use completely different content in my video that would be dated in only a couple of months. I think that it is very important to note that the memes and mashups that are created using internet media are consistently being filtered in and out of circulation and it makes it hard (even for me) to remain up to date with all the new sensations in the internet world (call me an old soul). I feel that as the internet keeps growing that this type of media will also continue to grow with it, and we will see new forms of memes and mashups with every new step the internet takes.