Memes, Trojan horses and the discursive power of audience

• Authors: Vladimír P. Polách
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The study focuses on the phenomenon known as internet memes and their possible use in the creation and re-creation of media discourse. The main materials used are photos of Vladimir Putin and the famous Situation Room photo released by the White House. The stance taken in the study is based on the familiar and simple assumption that thanks to the new media we are facing the end of classical photography, sometimes described as the post-photography era. In post-photography, the connotations and context are more important than the content itself. Internet memes, a phenomena typical for the new media, can then also be used in a political context, where the “original” photographs of politicians and political events, usually officially released by PR departments, are altered not only to change the content, but above all the connotations. While regarded by most as jokes and puns, user-generated re-interpretations of Vladimir Putin and Obama’s war on terror can also have deeper meanings and impacts

Keywords

EN

memes; internet memes; Obama; Putin; new media; discourse; politics

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Human Affairs
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 189-203

Dates

published

2015-04-01

online

2015-04-07

Contributors

author

Vladimír P. Polách

• Department of Czech Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University, Křížkovského 10, 771 80 Olomouc, Czech Republic Tel.: [phone]

References

• Baudrillard, J. (1988). Selected writings. Ed. M. Poster. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Baudrillard, J. (1995). The Gulf War did not take place. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Bell, M. (2011, May 9). Hillary Clinton, Audrey Tomason go missing in Situation Room photo in Di Tzeitung [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/hillary-clinton-audrey-tomason-go-missing-in-situation-room-photo-in-der-tzitung-newspaper/2011/05/09/AFfJbVYG_blog.html
• Bird, S. E. (2011): Are we all produsers now? Cultural Studies, 25(4-5), 502-516.
• Blackmore, S. (2000). The meme machine. Oxford - New York: Oxford UP.
• Dawkins, R. (1989). The selfish gene. Oxford - New York: Oxford UP.
• Dawkins, R. (1999). The extended phenotype: The long reach of the gene. Oxford - New York: Oxford Gatherer, D. (1998). Why the ´thought contagion´ metaphor is retarding the progress of memetics. Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2. Retrieved from http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1998/vol2/gatherer_d.html
• Hickey, W., & Ingersol, G. (2013). 43 Photos that show Vladimir Putin doesn’t mess around. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/43-pictures-vladimir-putin-tough-2013-9
• Hickman, L. (2001, November 30). Tracking down the tourist of death. theguardian.com. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/nov/30/september112001.ethicalliving?commentpage=1
• Jenkins, H. (2008). Convergence culture. New York - London: New York University Press.
• Lievrouw, L. (2011). Alternative and activist new media. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge - London: The MIT Press.
• Nöth, W. (2007). The death of photography and the birth of the postphotographic era. In W. Nöth & N. Bishara (Eds.), Self-reference in the media. Berlin - New York: DeGruyter.
• Poster, M. (2006). Information please: Culture and politics in the age of digital machines. Durham - London: Duke University Press. [Reuters’s gallery] at http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/putins-macho-image
• Romenesko, J. (2013, January 7). Polish TV shows Obama with playstation controller while watching Osama bin Laden milion [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://jimromenesko.com/2013/01/07/polish-tv-shows-obama-with-playstation-controller-while-watching-osama-bin-laden-mission/.
• Ronay, B. (2009, August 5). Vladimir Putin’s tough-guy swimming technique. theguardian.com. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/06/vladimir-putin-butterfly-stroke;
• Shuster, S. (2013, March 5). No more laughs: Russian TV Yanks Putin Cartoon on NYE, Mocks Obama Instead. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-shuster/putin-newyears-_b_1179231.html
• Tsotsis, A. (2011). Obama ‘Situation Room’ photo is already half way to becoming Flickr’s most viewed pic. Techcrunch.com. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/03/obama-situationroom-photo-is-already-half-way-to-becoming-flickrs-most-viewed-pic/
• van Dijk, J. (2012). The network society. (3rd ed.) London - Thousand Oaks - New Delhi - Singapore: SAGE Publications.
• Watercutter, A. (2011, June 5). The best of the Situation Room LOL Pics. wired.com. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/05/situation-room-lol-pics/

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/humaff-2015-0017