Over the course of the past five years memes have been prominent in my lifetime. While I learned what they were, how they were used and then what I use them for, it's a new way of expressing an emotion, reaction or how I feel to others. That is what I use memes for and I’m not sure that will change moving forward. The two memes that I have chosen were first, one I recently found out about and discovered in around the fall. It’s the “this is fine'' meme with the dog with a burning fire inside the house. Not only did I relate to this meme I also played the What Do You Meme game and our answers were hilarious. The second meme that I also learned about in the fall not from the game, but from a group of friends was the shef meme. I think that in college it's surprising how many small daily things you complete like cooking that makes you feel like you’re doing well in life. So these are the two memes that I will be analyzing and diving deeper into why they are my favorites and how I use them in my daily life.
While these two memes are not the most popular I feel like they are well known and relatable to people around my age. That is why I chose them not only to show my thoughts but also allow others to feel what I am feeling and maybe share the same emotions as a college student. They are so similar in the fact that many people in their 20’s are going through a stage of their lives where there is uncertainty and growth where you have to accept certain paths and choices you are given. The “this is fine” meme really has caught my eye due to the emotion and deeper meaning that you are in a situation and you have accepted the outcome. There is nothing you can do but to accept it, move forward and know that there is little you can do about the situation. For instance this dog is in the kitchen I presume. Drinking coffee in the morning and the house is burning down. The dog just wants to enjoy the morning but the fire has ruined it and there is nothing to do but sit there and contemplate the situation. For me situations like friendships, homework, working a job, even things in your life that just happen you have to just sit there and be like well this is happening so let’s move on with it. While that is not my thought for everything there are things where I feel like I am the dog in the meme. The shef meme is similar in the fact that I am in college and at the point in my life where I’ve been cooking for myself for the last few years and it feels like an accomplishment. Especially after a long day of classes I start to cut vegetables and make a meal and I feel like a chef even though it’s a simple meal. In my perspective I feel like it's the emotion and accomplishment factor to where people do simple things and they are like “I’m a chef” or “I did it!” kind of aspect.
Lastly, bringing some readings into perspective with the topic about memes when Shifman said “...is the meme concept useful for understanding digital culture?” (Shifman, 363) I think that yes, we are able to understand a lot about the generation using these memes. Not only can we get a perspective of how they feel, how they make light of things, how humor is used, but we can try and understand where they are coming from not with text but also with images. And because we are able to see images the “... memes’ impact is on the macro: They shape the mindsets, forms of behavior, and actions of social groups…” (Shifman, 365) we are allowed to see how different groups of people use memes, how they differ from other parts of the world and if there is a relationship between the same meme used in different cultures. By looking at the billions of memes created in this century we can see how memes progress over time, if the humor and emotions change but also what they are used for and how in our daily lives context. And we will look at that so that down the road we can see the “Misconception of what's really going on? We think that the only personal information they have about us is.” (VPRO, 2019, 02:13) and thinking bigger to how we think about a certain meme versus someone else. By someone's background and past how does their brain process and use this meme versus someone else? And that quote from the Youtube video where Zuboff talks about surveillance in our lives, what data does the sharing of a meme create? And how might data collectors take that into consideration when creating an ad? For example if we look at the shef meme will someone's phone produce kitchen appliances or cooking ads? There are so many questions but these two memes are used frequently in my life to express my feelings to friends and family.
With these memes I wanted to create a cohesive conversion between the two. Where before they were just two memes that I enjoyed to see and talk about with my friends or reference because of events that have taken place in my life. These not only are funny and still relatable, but feed off one another.
Both the remixed memes address trying new things in life and doing activities on your own, in this case making food or a drink. The dog meme “This Is Fine” not only addresses and comes from a stance that you wake up in the morning. Your day is just about to get started and so you want to make coffee. So then you use a keurig for example, and it all backfires to the point where you are trying to enjoy this cup of coffee but turns out not working and you’ve burnt your house down. Then you sit there in the dining room and accept the fact that this is now your life and you were just trying to do something positive in your life but this is the end result.
With the shef meme I just wanted to alter the text instead of adding on more text like the previous meme. This is because it's more of a stand alone where this kitchen can be used to create many sentences. Altering the content wasn’t a big choice that I wanted to go through with, it was more about what context this chef would be in and how the viewer would respond. So instead of the water building, I decided to say from my point of view as the creator that as a college student cooking is not always fun. Sometimes you end up being so tired from activities and school that you just want a fast and easy dinner. And so you might come to the conclusion making frozen food. But this meme shows that for once you actually made a meal from scratch.
