In the aftermath of the election, one of the only things that kept me sane was the circulation of the amazingly hilarious Obama-Biden memes on my Facebook newsfeed. From pictures of Biden plotting against Trump’s impending entrance to the White House to images featuring Obama and Biden’s epic friendship, these Internet works of art never failed to make me laugh and provide much needed relief from the political tension filling the rest of my Facebook account.
Memes are extremely common in this day and age — over half of what I consume on a daily basis on Facebook is memes. A meme from Thanksgiving depicts a family eating a classic turkey dinner, with the caption:
Mom: “What are you thankful for?”
Dad: “Family.”
Sister: “Our home.”
Me: “Memes.”
This image has over 12,000 comments by people (albeit sometimes sarcastically) appreciating the role of memes in their lives.
One of the magical things about memes is that they are simultaneously universally applicable and equally specific to each individual. A meme can be very simple — a picture of a bowl of guacamole, for example, with a caption about the power of good guac. But this minimalistic image means different things to all of us — for example, when my best friend tagged me in this, I knew immediately it was a joke, because she knows how much I detest guacamole. I thought back to high school, when she would excitedly fill paper cups with guacamole and eat the spread without anything to accompany it, and of my ensuing disgust at her eating habits. But I would imagine when many other people see this meme, they’re filled with a genuine love for guacamole.
Why do we love memes so much? Part of the appeal of this phenomenon may be how easy they are to consume — in a culture where we find increasingly faster ways to relate to those around us (telephone calls became text messages, which became Snapchat) memes are the ultimate form of rapid communication. We can digest them in less than 10 seconds and “communicate” by simply writing the name of a friend or relative in a comment below the meme.
I recently had an argument with a friend who felt that sensations like Internet memes were undermining more meaningful forms of communication like the written word. I can understand this position. I wrote an entire essay for a college application about the word “petrichor,” or the smell of the earth after it rains, and why words and language are so beautiful and important. My dorm wall is adorned with quotes from my favorite books and poems, which never cease to provide me with inspiration. Language is inarguably a profoundly important way to communicate with our fellow human beings.
But I would argue that the existence of memes as a form of communication in our modern-day society doesn’t inherently undermine other forms of communication. I use memes to keep in touch with high school friends — tagging people in memes has become a way to maintain relationships, to remind people that they’re on my mind and that I love them and am thinking about them. Far from replacing meaningful communication with my loved ones, memes are a way to supplement this communication by reminding friends of hilarious times we’ve shared together or of television shows we’ve laughed and cried over together.
The written language allows us to communicate with each other in many wonderful ways. We can engage deeply in a philosophical argument, express our deep appreciation for a friend, or communicate scholarly research. Memes are a different category of communication. In the morning, when I check Facebook on my phone, memes are what bring me a smile of comfort or gratitude as I’m reminded of a friend I haven’t seen in awhile, or as I see a reference to my favorite scene in Harry Potter. These small nuggets of connection are important in their own right, serving as a positive or simply relatable image to latch on to as we scroll through our social media feeds.
Contact Julie Plummer at jplummer ‘at’ stanford.edu.