To be honest, I never really considered the social significance of memes before this week—they always just seemed like inside jokes on the internet to me. As a regular user of Reddit, I have often felt bombarded and sometimes overwhelmed by these humorous images. However, after reading some very in-depth analysis in Mashups and Memes and Crisis Memes, I now understand that my relation with these images is socially significant in itself.

Internet jokes might seem commonplace in the year 2015, but they’re actually a pretty revolutionary concept. People from the farthest corners of the world are united by their mutual appreciation of “Success Kid” and their distaste for “Scumbag Steve”. The most interesting part of this phenomenon is the manner in which they come into style—some memes surge in popularity only to be forgotten in a matter of weeks, whereas others are seemingly timeless. However, regardless of a meme’s actual content, they all share a common role as cultural signifiers. This is not because everyone can relate to the goofiness of Keanu Reeves—it’s because people can relate to the situation described in the text, and they can appreciate how Keanu’s image conveys the sensation of this experience. For this reason, memes transcend the boundaries of language and culture. They can tell a story with as few as six words and an image; and then these simple graphics can incite thousands of comments and conversations on internet forums.

With all of this being said, I am still hesitant to dive too deep into the analysis of memes. There is certainly meaning to be found in everything, but that doesn’t mean we should dissect knock-knock jokes and every other form of humor. I believe that memes were simply born as entertainment during the rise of the digital age—they were never intended “as a public voice that sidesteps the constraints of traditional media and as an illustration of freedom of expression” (Rintel 1). In fact, I believe that Rintel’s definition of memes is better suited to the limitless landscape of the internet in general. If someone is a savvy enough Twitter user, they can essential become a self-employed news reporter, capable to reaching hundreds of thousands of followers. However, I believe most creators of memes only do so with the goal of sharing a laugh or telling a personal experience. Memes embody the playful and casual face of the internet—they are pretty much  a standardized, albeit diverse method of storytelling. We are at a point in human history where we are digitizing everything in our daily lives. However, in less than a decade, Facebook went from the “e-Wild West” where people documented their lifestyles, to a Rolodex for maintaining people’s internet presence. I believe that it is essential for us to preserve everything that is lively and “human” on the internet. Memes are currently an outlet for self-expression that is judgment free and anonymous—we can only compromise this by over analyzing them and taking them too seriously.

When did Memes and mashups become more than just this:

Along with probably most of my peers, I never thought of Memes to be more than a picture mocking something or someone. It is interesting how closed my mind has been. I do not think any pop culture event can happen without a meme being produced minutes after the event. Which is probably why Memes are so popular in today’s generation. They go along with our rapidly growing, fast speed, social media consumed culture. For example: Katy Perry at the Super Bowl half time show. Minutes after her performs I went onto Facebook and saw this:

“From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content” A meme is “unit of cultural information that replicates while still remaining whole” (78). I think it was better explained in the Ted talk as, a replications of objects or ideas that are presented in our society. However, after watching the Ted talk about Memes my ideas shifted. Comparing chairs as a meme and the meme mocking Katy Perry blew my mind. 

The use of the word “Mashup” made me associate the term with videos like this: 

DJ Earworm Mashup – United State of Pop 2014 (Do What You Wanna Do)

or this: 

Top Hits of 2014 in 2.5 Minutes – Us The Duo

I associate the word “Mashup” with music. However, after reading “From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content” and watching the Michael Jackson, Mario mashup I realize that Mashup’s are everywhere.“From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content” Mashups have not just come about in our generation like memes. “From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content” mashups are explained as “remixing predates the Internet and even the emergence of Western popular music; some say it may even date back as long ago as the beginning of human existence” (76). “From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content” backs up that very heavy statement that mashups can date to the beginning of human existence, with stating that musical mashups in the United States can be traced back to the 1910s, when record companies remixed operas to fit onto 78- r.p.m discs (76). I would have to say that between memes and mashups, mashups intrigue me more. The complex meaning behind the question of “what is a meme” is too complication to classify as a simple picture with bold white lettering. However, in mashups there seems to be more meaning and thought to the message. In the Michael Jackson and Mario video, there were a variety of different messages. That video hit topics of gender, race and feminism. Memes to me do not normally hit many messages other than a grumpy cat or a sarcastic saying.

In class we discussed the rapid speed of the internet and if memes will die out. I feel that memes will continue to move along with the growth of internet for a certain extend. I do not think memes will die out anytime soon because of how rapid memes hit the internet as a constant new trend. People will find different forms and types of memes to make as social media grows. I  think mashups will always be present in our generation and generations to come.

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.