What is a meme really? We tell you all about this phenomenon

You see them every day. You laugh at them, you share them, you save your favorites. But how well do you know what a meme is? Do you know its history, its sociological significance? Read all about them here and become an expert in memesfrom theory to practice.

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What makes a meme a meme?

Although memes seem impossible to understand, chances are you’ve found at least one over the years that makes sense to you. If you participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge or have a mug with the text Keep calm on your desktop you can say that you participated in the meme. These are the key components of what makes a meme a meme.

Although it is difficult to find an absolute definition of a meme, the term is most often associated with an image or video that depicts a specific concept or idea and is shared through social platforms on the Internet. This element is spreading with great speed on social networks, on forums, instant messaging applications and even on news sites. Images and videos that convey a message are often modified and regenerated, turning the original idea into something completely different, or simply posted with a new caption to reflect its altered form.

Context can also have a big impact on what a meme means or how important it is to the recipient.

However, whatever the message, a meme can convey much more information than simple text. Just as emoji were used to convey complex ideas about mood or emotion, a meme can convey a complex idea, mood, or general understanding much faster than simple text.

From dancing babies to the Momo Challenge

Some researchers date the origins of memes back hundreds of years, but their modern interpretation is widely believed to be consistent with a concept coined by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who described the idea of ​​the meme in a book published in 1976.Selfish gene– as a cultural entity or idea that is reproduced, developed and transmitted from person to person. I couldn’t have known it at the time, but the term would later be used to describe the endless number of variations of different phrases, images, sounds and videos distributed on the Internet for the purpose of quickly and concisely exchanging ideas and thoughts. . .

Many people remember the first meme in history – the famous dancing child (known as Baby Cha-Cha), this famous GIF of children dancing, which became a viral hit in 1996. This first meme spread widely via email and even appeared on popular television shows such as Ally McBeal. However, it was only in the 2010s that memes became a cultural phenomenon in their own right. Today they are one of the main ways people communicate online; The most popular of them reach millions of modifications.

There have been so many memes throughout history that it would be impossible to cover them in detail, although yes, they are incredibly varied, constantly changing, and impossible to categorize.

The speed of their exchange and creation is increasing, so trying to remember or understand them all is an impossible task. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to remember the most important things.

How to interpret a meme

Some memes are easier to understand than others. The simplest of these are known as an image macromeme, which usually includes some expressive image and a block of text; They are expressive and designed to help convey an emotional state in a way that is easy to understand. They represent the shared experience of creator and viewer.

Others may be a little more difficult to understand, such as Slender Man, which may seem scary or even dangerous. They can also be strangely sinister when they reference a specific episode of a TV show or movie that aired decades ago. Often the origins of such memes can come from such a deep context that interpreting their origins requires special research.

If you want to know what a meme means, you can turn to Know Your Meme, You Should Have Seen It, and even Wikipedia, which can help you explain where it came from and how it may have changed over time. In any case, memes are constantly evolving, and protecting a person from the effects of the message is difficult because it is something so personal.

The purpose of most memes is humor, and their impact depends entirely on how they are viewed and used by those who create them. If someone you know sends or sees memes that you don’t understand, ask them to explain it to you. You can even create your own if you want, and sites like ImgFlip and Kapwing’s Meme Maker are great places to start.