The Cultural Utility of Memes

One of the more popular posts which appears on my Facebook feed is an image of Mr. Krabbs, a character from Spongebob, surrounded by an angry mob of people. Often, this image is accompanied by a caption which describes a situation which is shocking and a little bit stressful. These appear on my feed quite regularly, and are starting to get a little old. But every time I check Facebook, there’s a new variation on the Mr. Krabbs picture and caption combo. This type of internet joke is called a meme, and it is one of the things that makes up Internet culture.

Memes have been around since the dawn of the Internet. One of the first was the ‘dancing baby,’ which depicted a computer generated image of a terrifying baby doing a cha-cha. This was before there were even viable chatrooms; this meme was spread through email. Since then, other Internet jokes have exploded in popularity and have been shared through many different platforms.

Pépe, for example, is a prolific recent meme that is found in several different mediums. He stars in his own dedicated images and gifs, and also is incorporated into other images. Because the muscular frog is found in so many mediums, his exposure has been quite massive, and is recognizable to many Internet users.

Internet memes have no set template for success; anything could get popular at any time. Most jokes are meant for a small target audience, such as a group of friends, but become popular via sharing through social media sites. They are overshared and edited to the point of hatred, and some memes which were once funny and original become the scourge of blogging websites. Due to the odd nature of Internet humor, memes have developed a cult following among users of social media sites.

Though memes are usually funny, they also reflect the times and the emotions of their posters. Captions are heavily ironic, and somewhat depressing, as they make small, everyday annoyances into cataclysmic world events. In a popular meme, a burglar threatens to shoot a woman unless she gives him her purse. She has to stop and think, because if she dies, she will not have to pay her college loans. It reflects the anxiety that young people have about paying off an unpayable loan, that death would be even better than perpetual poverty. But it does so in a funny way that makes it relatable to its young audience.

Memes are meant to share information in a funny and topical way. They allow people to enjoy the jokes that others have made and for others to enjoy the jokes that they have made. Memes bring the Internet together, and though they are a little bit annoying, are a staple to Internet culture and interactions online.