What makes a meme spreadable or viral? Shifman argues, in relation memetic videos, there are characteristics that help make meme popular and one's people are willing to share. She describes these as the 6 Ps: Positivity/humorous, Provoking emotions, Packaging, Prestige of character, Positioning, Participation. I would argue these traits are also ones which help catch people's attention in relation to Internet memes and encourage people to engage and share memes with others.
According to Shifman, there are also some common traits that memes poses which are more likely to become memetic sensations. She argues memetic videos that are successful often include several of the following characteristics: Ordinary people, flawed masculinity/gender roles, Humor, Simplicity, Repetitiveness/Familiarity, Whimsical Content. This week you are also being asked to consider to what extent this might also be true of Internet memes.
In this week's assignment you are asked to pick one of the meme stock character's you looked at last week and collect and post 3-4 memes using these characters that share a common theme. This theme should involve memes addressing issues of race. religion and/or gender. Please post these memes, briefly describe each and explain how they relate to the theme you have chosen to explore.
Then reflect on this week's reading (chapter 5&6) and explain which of the viral traits (the 6Ps) and memetic traits you see as represented in your chosen meme sample and how they are manifest.
If you wish, you can select a new meme stock character to explore, but if you do, you will also need to provide a summary of the stock character origins and meaning as you did in last week's blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment