OLJ Task 1: Social Media and Society – Journal article analysis
de Saint Laurent, C., Glăveanu, V. P., & Literat, I. (2021). Internet memes as partial stories: Identifying political narratives in Coronavirus memes. Social Media and Society, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988932
The de Saint Laurent et al., (2021) journal article’s aim is to discuss and explore the ‘partial’ political narratives that are rooted within COVID-19 memes as shared through the internet and social media. The article analyses how memes, that are ‘primarily associated with humorous or ironic takes on events or topics’ (Laineste & Vollaid, 2017; Shifman, 2014), require other memes or contextual information to be appropriately understood in a broader narrative, with particular emphasis on the characters, roles and scenarios of world political leaders towards and about the pandemic.
Figure 1: Trump as a Fool (meme 62; 8 March 2020)
241 coronavirus memes were analytically evaluated from Reddit between January and May 2020. Analysis revealed five main storylines, the first four portrayed a common narrative of protest against the incompetence and/or malevolence of world political leaders such as Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Xi Jinping and Kin Jong-un – while the fifth storyline identified a social category unveiled by the pandemic of those people who either respect or don’t respect measures in place as manifested by uncertainty and profound changes in our social and professional routines (Outley et al., 2020).
Figure 2: Xi Jinping as Persecutor and Fool (meme 72; 10 March 2020)
The results uncovered that Coronavirus memes that use text-based content embedded within images, both moving and still, use narrative constructs of character, role, and scenario to tell partial political stories about and around the pandemic. Outley et al., 2020 argues that memes offer all internet and social media users a form of coping, resistance, and connection, while making light of absurd situations (MacDonald, 2020). My concern with this is that while memes can make light of uncertain times and offer comfort and connection is it at the cost of quality information? Could the meme cause tension and be biased in presenting mis/and disinformation? Perhaps there should be a definition within the meme online space that gives responsibility to best practice of free speech. Encouraging a flexible thinking approach so that the ‘in joke’ connection of memes can offer all civil citizens an opportunity to either promote or analyse the social and political narrative objectively.
Figure 3. People who lost their jobs as Victims (meme 257; 10 April 2020)
The study further revealed that by focusing on the characters and roles of the partial story embedded in the meme the viewer can attempt to integrate it into a wider narrative. It defines these roles as either the Persecutor, Victim, Hero, and Fool. Contextually users can identify with these characters and express their viewpoints by liking, sharing, or contributing to the storyline. Whether individuals will influence any significant changes to the broader political narrative is debatable but if memes offer some light comic relief or a deeper connection to the broader political narratives then it may serve a purpose to tell its part of a collective story. The concern is whether it is at the cost of quality information!
References
de Saint Laurent, C., Glăveanu, V. P., & Literat, I. (2021). Internet memes as partial stories: Identifying political narratives in Coronavirus memes. Social Media and Society, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305121988932
Laineste, L., & Voolaid, P. (2017). Laughing across borders: Intertextuality of internet memes. The European Journal of Humour Research, 4(4), 26–49.
Outley, C., Bowen, S., & Pinckney, H. (2020). Laughing while black: Resistance, coping and the use of humor as a pandemic pastime among blacks. Leisure Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1774449
Hi Michelle,
I’m glad I’m not the only one who chose this article! I found it quite interesting and it really challenged the way I thought about stories and what actually classifies as a story.
I thought your questions were quite relevant, particularly about the quality information / misinformation. I’d like to think that these memes, along with any other source, have to be taken with a grain of salt. History is always written by the winners, and so too are memes it seems. They are definitely presenting the narrative as seen by the creator, not necessarily trying to be politically correct or accurate, but rather presenting the truth as they see it.
Tess 🙂
Thanks Tess. Yes very true history is often written by winners and memes are not immune to this!
I think the use of memes allows for a visual way to express opinion and attitude in a manner that people can relate to. Quite often the witticism contained within the message makes the information easy to convey to different levels of society.
Memes can implant well into societal cultures and particularly in cumulative culture, that is information passed down the generations.
I particularly liked this from Psychology Today:
Why do memes spread so effectively online?
The Internet has proven to be a platform where memes spread like wildfire. This is because information becomes more believable when 1) accompanied by an image 2) seen repeatedly 3) consumers aren’t engaged in critical thinking. All three of these factors come into play when coming across new memes on social media.
What makes a meme go viral?
The source of a meme’s power may be the emotions tied to it. People are more likely to share videos, research suggests, when they elicit a strong emotional reaction, such as being extremely funny, angering, or disgusting. Being closer with the person who shared the content may also play a role in the likelihood that you spread it.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/memes
I agree Denise information can become a lot more believable when it is accompanied by an image as seen in a meme, which is then posted and reposted on social media and the viewers as form of entertainment rather than information they need to critically engage with. Thanks for your feedback.