Memes and Community
- tomaszwojtanek8
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
We live in a digital age where all the information that we consume comes directly or partly from the internet. This has become so common place that the internet has managed cultivated an ecosystem of its own within our lives and the way that the internet communicates is almost a new language. Memes.
According to google, a meme is defined as: 'an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations' . If you have spent more than 30 seconds on the internet you will have seen at least a few of these. One of the earliest ones that I remember is the classic 'Charlie Bit my Finger' from 2007, that as of writing this post, has 887 million views on YouTube alone.
This video of one young boy biting his brothers finger took the internet by storm. In 2007, it was inescapable and what made it even more inescapable was the intertextuality of it. 'Memes operate via a combination of intertextual recognizability and individual creativity' (Varis and Bloommaert, 2015)
If you search up 'Charlie bit my Finger' you won't be suggested just the original video of the brothers. You will be suggested a song based on the video, a remix of said song, other people reuploading the original video and an NFT from the video. This one video sparked a whole community of people to be creative and take this video and make something of their own from it to express their membership in this specific internet community. However, you didn't have to make something to show your membership, according to Varis and Bloommaert: '"like" and "share" are phatiç "identity statements expressing [...] membership of some group" or "community"'This means that simply sharing around a video makes you a member of this internet community. Moreover, memes can also show your involvement in other communities. not related to a wider internet community.
For example, also in 2007, the most viewed video the platform of YouTube was 'Pokémon Theme Music Video' by Smosh. This was a cover of the theme song of the popular cartoon Pokémon. This video has meme-like qualities as 'Charlie bit my Finger' but it never really took off as a meme, however, what it did do is remediated Pokémon and put it on a platform that was new and yet to reach its full potential, that platform being YouTube. Interacting with this video in 2007 would show your love for the Pokémon franchise and created a community around Pokémon on the internet.
On top of that certain memes, you need to be 'in the know' to understand. For example, on a more personal note, one of my favourite bands of all time is Bring Me The Horizon, if I said 'This is Sand-Pit Turtle' to you, you wouldn't think anything of it- unless you knew the band.
'This is Sand-Pit Turtle' is a meme that circulates around the fans of Bring Me The Horizon, usually followed by a picture of a sad looking children's turtle sand pit. It is a misheard lyric from their song 'Shadow Moses', the real lyric is 'This is Sempiternal' but in this community the misheard lyric became a way to identify fellow fans.
On the internet, memes are a way to cultivate a community on the internet. Sharing memes with friends not only brings people together it is also a way to show your love for the things that you love and to share that passion with like-minded people from all corners of the world on the internet.
Biography
DHCYT. Charlie bit my finger - again !. [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM. [Accessed: 13 April 2025].
Smosh. Pokémon Theme Music Video. [Online Video]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkE2lxkw00w. [Accessed: 13 April 2025].
Varis P. , Bloommaert, J. (2015) Conviviality and collectives on social media: Virality, memes, and new social structures. Multilingual Margins, 2(1)
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