Tag Archives: image macro

Anthropomorphism

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Anthropomorphism is name given to the process by which we ascribe human feelings, form and/or motivations to anything that is not human. On the internet, this commonly takes the form of a  meme in which an animal expresses a human emotion. These images are usually a result of a coincidental capturing of the animal in a position that resembles human emotion (a la the badger ‘frowning’ in the included image). Other times, the meme might be playing off of impressions already in place in popular culture (Bachelor Frog is a frog due to its allusion to the ‘Prince Charming’ myth, frogs being generally gross, etc). Perhaps it is easier for the average internet user to empathize with a neutral animal given human emotions, than a human who they can judge and categorize based on any number of physical & social markers.

Templatability

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Templatability refers to the feature of having a set structure that is easily manipulated to fit new situations. This allows for content creators to comment upon new situations while alluding to already popular memes on the internet, mainly through image macros or snowclones. In addition, having a set form to work off of makes the process of content creation much easier for users, increasing the fecundity of the templated meme. According to Sean Rintel, this makes the feature of templatability  “the heart of online memes.”

Multiple sites, including “Meme Generator” or “Rage Comic Builder“, make this process even easier by storing templates and making them intuitive and available to those with no access to editing software. They are so easy to produce, in fact, that Rintel notes that they are some of the first methods of expression used to respond to a crisis (for better or for worse.)

Works Cited:

Rintel, Sean.  ”Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 2 (2). <http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=202/>

Image Macro

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An image macro is an expressive template involving the pairing of image with a caption/catchphrase.  The meaning expressed correlates with the emotion or idea that the picture displays, often resulting in very iconic images becoming memes (i.e. “Scumbag Steve” or “Overly Attached Girlfriend”). The text that is superimposed over the image is usually in large capitalized bold letters, and the phrasing usually follows an easily identifiable and modifiable structure (also known as a snowclone) (Rintel, Crisis Memes).

Some well-known groups of image macros would be LOLcats, Advice Animals, Rage Faces, and Demotivational Posters.

Works Cited:

“Image Macro.” Know Your Meme. Cheeseburger Network, n.d. Web. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros>.

Rintel, Sean.  ”Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 2 (2). <http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=202/>

Snowclone

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A snowclone is a recognizable and formulaic sentence frame that references a piece of popular and/or internet culture. The template is often used to comment upon any situation which expresses the sentiment of the original snowclone.  It is not to be confused with languages like LOLSpeak, which have certain grammatical and content rules; rather, it is a more “direct verbal template” (Rintel, Crisis Memes). Snowclones are most often attached to an image macro, but will still be recognizable by the sentence structure if represented on a different image or with no image at all.

An example of this is “one does not simply” meme.  The original is from the Lord of the Rings movie franchise (A), but the snowclone has been used for various other memes (B), recognizable from it’s “one does not simply {X}” structure. It still retains the sentiment of cynical expressions of impossibility, even when divorced from its iconic image macro (C).

(A)           (B)                               (C)

According to multiple reports, the term was first coined by Glen Whitman on the blog Agoraphilia in 2004. Since then, the term has grown within internet scholarship, spawning its own site (http://snowclones.org/) which collects snowclones from around the web.

Citations:

Rintel, Sean.  “Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 2 (2). <http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=202/>

Whitman, Glen. “Phrases for Lazy Writers in Kit Form Are the New Clichés.” Web log post.Agoraphilia. Blogspot, 14 Jan. 2004. Web. <http://agoraphilia.blogspot.com/2004_01_11_agoraphilia_archive.html#107412842921919301>.