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The Tributes of District 504

Session 10: Making Meaningful Memes

W h a t     i s    a    m e m e  ? 

If you have a facebook account or have ever been on facebook, then you have probably seen a meme. 

Let's look at Wikipedia's definition of a meme: 

A meme ( /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with “cream”¹), a relatively newly coined term, identifies ideas or beliefs that are transmitted from one person or group of people to another. The concept comes from an analogy: as genes transmit biological information, memes can be said to transmit idea and belief information.

A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.²

(format courtesy of John Wick's website Revogogy)

S o     w h a t    d o e s    t h a t    m e a n  ?
(group dialogue)
Memes provide commentary on events that are going on in contemporary culture, politics, entertainment. And cats. Lots of cats. Like this guy:  

They are often meant to be funny by making a joke, pun or by pointing out the irony of a situation. The tone of a meme itself can also be ironic. 

They can also be serious and raise awareness of an issue/s that the creator thinks is/are important: 

The National Resource Defense Council built this meme as a call to action to raise awareness about the budget cuts Congress will be voting on soon. They transmitted it on their facebook wall, then included a link to a petition supporting educational funding in their facebook status. 

* * *

Whether you are making a funny meme or a serious meme, one thing is for sure: 

courtesy knowyourmeme.com

Boromir's right. 

Memes are created with the intention of being shared and spread through the internet and therefore should have the following: 

• A specific message intended for a specific audience
• Text that supports the image(s) and vice versa

It makes sense that most memes utilize the font style called "impact" - in order to make a meme that people will want to share online, you have to create one that has both visual and textual (written) impact. 

* * *

M E M E      C R I T I Q U E

So keeping that all in mind, let's take a look at some examples of memes below and
determine are they a meh meme  (not much impact) or a mad meme (lots of impact)?

Consider the following to make your determination: 

1. What are you seeing in the meme? 

- Consider colors, composition, scale, font style, etc.

2. What is the message? 

- What does it mean?
- Who is the intended audience of this message?
- Does the message seem biased to you?

3. Is the meme "working"? 

- Why or why not? 

- Does it make you feel a certain way or create a certain response for you: happy, sad, hopeful, angry, laughing, disbelief, etc.

4. What would you have done differently if you were the designer?
- Would you use any of the elements of this meme in your own? 
- Are you inspired to take any sort of reaction as a result of this piece?

Example 1: 

Example 2: 

Example 3: 

Example 4:

Now let's take a look at the meme Kristina designed as an example of the exericse you will be doing today and go through the same critique questions: 

Session 10, Part 2: "We Came, We Saw, We Memed": Making Meaningful Memes Workshop

We can think of memes as an inverted form of propaganda, as they are created by citizens, and anyone with the internet has the ability to create and disseminate (share) them, rather than being owned by a powerful elite or regime that has absolute control over their dissemination (Think propos or examples of propaganda from World War II).

Instructions for creating a meme with a laptop are here.*

Instructions for creating a meme with a tablet are here.*

* to be added to blog

M E A N I N G F U L     M E M E S    W O R K S H O P    R E S U L T S: 

Designer: Aileen

Designer: Amy

Designer: Wary

Designer: Patrycja

Some Food For Thought

"Activism is my rent for living on this planet."

                                                             ~ Alice Walker

"Justice is what love looks like in public."

                                               ~ Dr. Cornel West

• What do you think Ms. Walker and Dr. West are saying with these quotes?

• What quote(s) inspire you and provide you with a sense of hope for our world?

These people and organizations are working on changing the world by addressing head on many of the issues that we have talked about during our unit. This is just the beginning. More will be added . . . 

1. Human Trafficking - Call + Response:

callandresponse.com

A movement to end modern day slavery

2. Violence - Cure Violence:

cureviolence.org

The organization for which the Interrupters work. They see violence as a disease and believe that it needs to be treated like one. 

3. Human Rights Violations/Injustice - Amnesty International:

amnestyusa.org

A global movement of people fighting injustice and promoting human rights. They work to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

Week 8: Promethean Graffiti Wall & Media Slam

Week 8: Promethean Graffiti Wall & Media Slam

Week 7: Promethean Graffiti Wall & Media Slam