Although one may assume the virality of social media is a concern of merely the “new age” or “Web 2.0,” social media virality has been present since the 18th century (it just manifested in a different way). Common Sense is a specific media ecology that was created by Thomas Paine in 1776. This pamphlet that was created was a message that supported the American Revolution and widely spread within 10 days. Keeping in mind that this was the 17th century, the the reach in terms of distance the information that this pamphlet contained was viral and became so by bridging multiple networks. Confused Black Girl is “an image macro series featuring a teenager with an incredulous expression on her face. The overlaid text generally centers around a frustrating or confounding situation” (KnowYourMeme, 2015).
*****If you're not familiar with Confused Black Girl (which you should be) but you might know her as "Da Fuq" girl (which is what I knew her as although her "official" meme name is Confused Black Girl) Check her out here! ... Or Here! *****
The first articulation concerns itself with the idea that these media modes of production are modes of communication, modes of affect, and modes of accumulation. Common Sense is a mode of communication because the pamphlet holds symbolic/subjective meaning. Confused Black Girl memes are a mode of communication because they hold also hold meaning and both these mediums involve encoding and decoding when they are received. The modes of affect also apply to both these mediums because they produce an emotional response from the reader. The modes of accumulation moreso apply to Common Sense than Confused Black Girl because the pamphlet is attempting to gain power via social control by promoting the American Revolution.
The second articulation is concerned with the mode of production, distribution and reception. The production, distribution and reception of Common Sense allowed one message/idea to easily manifest since it was creatively produced, widely circulated and distributed because of its creative mode of production and therefore was easy to consume/interpret. The Confused Black Girl media artifact/meme was spread through internet culture due to the creative means of production behind the original meme, and was therefore widely circulated to many communities online and once they had received this assemblage of media it created an environment in which people perceived the idea behind the meme(s). The Confused Black Girl was widely circulated because it was able to be modified but still portray the same message. Although the text of the actual meme might change based on the mode of production/user the ultimate message that one would decode is that the girl is very confused. (and it’s usually for a really funny reason.. see below) The success of Common Sense, also relied heavily on the opinion of others, therefore it was a mode of accumulation.
Therefore, I would argue that the virality of social media of the 18th century differs from the virality of that in the 21st century mainly because the means of production and distribution for the media forms of these two times are very different from each other. (Face-to-face communication and written text VS digital production and digital distribution)
Hi Heather! Great post, and great read! I love your comparison of "Confused Black Girl" and "Common Sense". I think meme's in general are a great way of sharing a message, because the image itself holds meaning. The words merely provide a setting for the meme's message to take relevance to.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the message is "DaFuq..." where is the texts explain why you are saying "DaFuq", such as when someone asks you "Guess What?" The message always is, and always will be "DaFuq". Even when there is no texts that accompany the message, the message is still the same, and understandable. For example, if you message someone saying something like, "omfg I hate Laurier Students" you could respond with just the image and the "DaFuq..." image and the message would be clear.
I think that this is what sets memes apart from other forms of communication such as a pamphlet. It is a unique medium of communication, one of few that combines images with texts (others being comic books and advertisements). The difference is that within memes the image is the message, instead of a supplementary to the words. The images stand alone without any pretext. In a comic or advertisement you can take away the text and the image has a completely different meaning, however that is not the case with a meme.