As a redditor of a few years now, I'd like to think I have seen just about every meme out there. Reddit is definetly a place where memes come alive and never die. I think its hilarious how we are actually even talking about memes in a college level writing class. lol. Reading Knobel and Lankshear was even more exciting because it was a legit academic paper all about memes. wow I never thought I read such a thing. They do go into a great analysis as to what makes a good meme. Some of their main points they make are that the meme is contagious and has longevity. Another point they make is that memes "encodes a recognizable element of cultural information, where cultural information is defined as some kind of meaningful idea, pattern, or chunk of ‘stuff’ that embodies and/or shapes some aspect of the ways of doing and being that are associated with belonging to a particular practice or group (3)." I never really thought about memes as a way of actually communicating a message but Knobel and Lankshear point out that memes are just as valid as an essay. So here's my attempt to analyze one of my personal favorite memes.
I hope everyone had a good enough childhood that you remember this episode of Spongebob. For those that need a reminder about this episode, Spongebob orders a new TV and then proceeds to throw away the TV and ends up playing in the box. Patrick comes over and the two of them go on a multitude of adventures. Squidward hears all of their journeys: overcoming an avalanche, escaping police, and a trip to Robot Pirate Island. Confused, Squadward goes out to see where all the noise is coming from. Spongebob then tells Squidward that its all "Immmmaaginnaaaaaaation" as a rainbow forms between his hands.
This screenshot of Spongebob is definetly contagious because his facial expression can be for anything really. As this meme has come to be, it is usually used with sarcastic or blunt captions. It also has a very recognizable cultural element that I'm sure anyone around my age can certainly name. It is my generation that relates to this meme and can relate and then reproduce such a an famous meme.
Hey Nick!
ReplyDeleteWhen Professor Flewelling first told us about this blog post, I was a little surprised but also a little excited. I too, never thought that I'd read an academic piece of writing about memes, let alone write a blog post pertaining to and analyzing memes. After a week in this class I realized the part memes play in people's everyday life. Whether we intend to use them or not, we use memes or think about them when certain situations come up in our lives. The meme you chose is also one of my favorite memes. I remember watching this particular Spongebob episode with my younger brother just this past summer, and watching it after being exposed to the meme before seeing the actual episode just made everything funnier since I now know the context of the meme.
- Julianna Duque