In Defence of Memes

Memes, meant in the sense of those internet jokes very fond of cats and stylised shouting faces, are often misunderstood.They are seen as part of a nerdy, self-referential culture keen on meta-humour and pushed beyond the limits of common human discourse by its anonymity, and while all of this is absolutely true, they do display some characteristics that can be associated with art. I do not wish to imply that they are at the same level of Dante, Shakespeare and Tchaikovsky, but perhaps they deserve more love and respect than they are currently given.

For example, advice animals are the modern day equivalent of stock characters: in the same way that the crafty, smart servant and the miserly old man and many others in classical comedies can be identified within their first two lines on stage and convey a certain set of characteristics to the audience, so the mememakers know which animal they need to use in order to give the idea of social awkwardness, foul bachelorhood and bad jokesmanship. Regardless of cultural background and language barriers, all denizens of the internet can recognise the trait these characters are supposed to represent, getting remarkably specific at times.

Not only do these characters help express emotions and situations better than words could, they also allow everyone to tell their own version of the story. Again, this is not dissimilar to the artists of the past giving their personal rendition of mythological or Bible tales: any given event can be retold in different ways, and because all macros and images are public domain and easily modifiable, sharing them is very easy.

This is perhaps the greatest achievement of the internet culture: the establishment of a common language, a common set of rules and conventions. Art has helped the spread of ideas throughout the ages thanks to its ability to entertain as well as educate, and much progress has been had due to art making people come together. While memes obviously cannot do this in the same capacity, they do offer a convenient, bite-sized, standardised tool to communicate, and this shared culture can do many great things.

There are misogynistic memes, and racist ones, and an official mascot for paedophilia, that’s true: when given anonymity, many will turn to their dark side. But they are merely a few of the possible expressions of the internet, which, by and large, are of creativity, ingenuity, cleverness and humour. Memes can be the shared language that the web needs to talk to each other on level pegging, and they should be treated with respect.

Except for Dolan. That thing is an abomination.