By Giulia Giorgi
Twitter: @GiuliaGiorgi14
Among the different functions ascribed to memes, the impact on the creation and expression of collective identities is probably one of the most studied aspects of memetic culture. In this context, memes are mostly conceived as either a shared code between members of online communities or as a social practice underlying the mechanisms of cultural production. Specifically, scholars agree that memes contribute to shaping “the mindsets, forms of behaviour, and actions of social groups” (Shifman 2014, p. 18). This statement has two major implications: on the one hand, assuming a (theoretically open) logic of participation, users are expected to actively engage in the moulding of collective identities; on the other hand, as output of the continuous reinterpretation of cultural artifacts and their elements, memes contribute to forging shared norms and values.
In this light, user-driven practices of meme repackaging have become an essential and valued component of the digital participatory culture: patterns of intertextual referencing to other memes may produce a sense of belonging to online communities, as they leverage on subcultural competences to be deciphered and reappropriated (Laineste and Voolaid, 2016). Quoting Shifman (2014), memes can thus be regarded as the cultural embodiment of the so-called “networked individualism”, as they enable users to develop and express their identities within and in relation to online groups.
In addition to intertextuality, many memes employ ironic humour to enhance social and communitarian bonds. According to Gal (2019), polysemic meanings incorporated in ironic utterances relies on sets of shared knowledge to be understood: while their correct decoding creates a sense of communion, failure may lead to social exclusion. This argument resonates with the findings obtained by Miltner (2014), whose qualitative inquiry demonstrates how LOLCats memes are employed by online groups members as in-group boundary establishment and policing. In particular, the scholar noted that LOLCats memes developed as parts of a world with recurring personas and intertwining narratives, thus creating elaborate in-jokes, which rely on complex and stratified subcultural knowledge. One of the most recognizable features of these memes is ‘lolspeak’, a fabricated slang made of incorrect grammar and a childlike tone. Over time, this dialect was adopted by members of different social networking and community sites as a code for in-group interactions, which ultimately contributed to the creation and reinforcement of group boundaries. Participants of the study also reported using LOLCats memes and lolspeak to express their feelings, especially difficult ones, or to convey emotional support. Along this line, the conceptualization of memes as performative acts advanced by Gal et al. (2016) indicates how their initial emotional supportive function may give rise to negotiation practices over collective identityand group membership. Examining the participatory YouTube LGBTQ+-supportive campaign ‘It Gets Better’, the scholars noticed a tendency towards conformist patterns of participation to the LGBTQ identitarian discourse, from which marginal demographics and minorities were almost absent. Contextually, users’ compliance or violation with respect to the norms of memetic production contributed to validate or subvert the conveyed narratives.
To date, existing literature exploring the identitarian function of memes has mostly focused on single case studies, choosing subcultural and/or platform-specific communities as objects of studies.From this perspective, memes are employed by subcultural and highly reactionary online groups to spread the anti-feminist and racist messages promoted by the so-called ‘toxic-technocultures’ (Massanari, 2017). For instance, Nagle (2017) describes memes originated from 4chan as the symbol of anti-establishment online culture wars raging over issues like feminism, free speech, and political correctness. Similarly, Tuters and Hagen (2019) have explored how strategies of memetic antagonism adopted by 4chan users are used to both target a ‘nebulous othering’ and contextually signal belonging to the community of /pol/. While mostly linked to the subcultural logics of fringe websites like 4chan and Reddit, the use of memes in support of controversial identities has recently spread to mainstream social media as well. Such is the case of the alt-right affiliated account The Proud Boys on Instagram, which harnesses the power of different performative and linguistic practices (like memes) as a form of political propaganda and recruitment (DeCook, 2018). According to the author, acculturation into the community requires becoming familiar with such practices, which in turn strengthen the identity and the boundaries of the group. In this context, memes are also used to imbue the far-right extremist ideology with a recognizable aesthetic, featuring famous memetic characters like Pepe The Frog, vapor wave layouts, as well as ad-hoc created logos and slogans.
Aside from practices of meme creation and circulation, users can engage in discussions around the value of memes to mark their allegiance to specific communities. With this respect, Literat and Van Der Berg (2019) maintain that processes of ‘vernacular criticism’ on Reddit MemeEconomy challenge the memetic features typically praised by mainstream culture. In particular, the three determinants of value of a meme include: the positioning with respect to mainstream culture, its versatility, and its cultural relevance. Put another way, a meme’s perceived quality is higher when it is not ‘too’ popular (or normie), yet has a good potential for expansion and has a good balance between immediate social resonance and long-term popularity. Ultimately, this critical appraisal of memes accomplishes an identitarian function, in that it secures the users’ position within the MemeEconomy community, while legitimating the differences between “insiders, newcomers and ‘normies’ (those who appear to insiders as oblivious to this specialized discourse on memes)” (p.13).
Similar observations have called into question the modalities through which users participate in memetic culture. Overall, it is argued that participation in meme collectives intertwine openness and restriction. According to Milner (2016), memes could be the “quintessential participatory artefact” (p. 12), because the technology required to produce them is free and easy. Moreover, participation in meme production is facilitated by a number of apps and websites like Imgur and Memegenerator providing ready-to-use templates. However, this does not necessarily mean that memes are also socially accessible: in fact, scholars like Jenkins (2006) contend that subcultural knowledge is necessary in order to engage in participatory culture. If the level of technical skills required to create and manipulate memes is lowered by user-friendly softwares, the same does not apply for the transformative competence, intended as the ability to play with language and image to create innovative artifacts. This, in fact, implies a wider subcultural literacy, which covers the knowledge of the cultural text and, crucially, of the memetic conventions.
Therefore, the chances to access online communities depend on how users are able to prove specific competences, also referred to as meme literacy (Milner, 2016). This competence, which involves the knowledge of both meme formal conventions and the logics regulating specific groups or communities (Knobel and Lankshear, 2007), is shared by members of meme collectives and – as elaborated by Literat and van der Berg (2019) – continuously negotiated through intergroup discussions. Meme literacy also marks the boundary between in-group members ‘in the know’ and outsiders. Recalling Thornton (1996), Angela Nagle claims that: “subcultural capital is earned through being ‘in the know’, using obscure slang and using the particularities of the subculture to differentiate yourself from mainstream culture and mass society” (Nagle 2017, p. 96).
Thus, established social conventions not only dictate the norms for transformative creation, but also function as gatekeepers, excluding the uninitiated. Nissenbaum and Shifman (2017) go further in arguing that meme literacy has a direct influence on members’ status within the community – thus conceptualising them as a form of ‘cultural capital’. As a result, users who manage to rightfully interpret the cultural conventions underpinning memetic culture are respected by others, while those who fail are downgraded and mocked at (Massanari, 2013). Moreover, memes are regarded as a form of ‘contested’ capital: their ‘unstable form’, torn between innovation and convention, reinforces the community ties, as it keeps the discourse over ‘meme literacy’ active (Nissensbaum and Shifman, 2017). To summarize, even though the technical processes by which memes are created, circulated, and transformed are open and participatory, the culture regulating their production and circulation is far from being democratic and inclusive. In this context, the notion of ‘meme literacy’ has become a cornerstone of meme theory, as the prism through which the flow of interactions surrounding memetic culture can be observed (cfr. Kanai, 2016; Procházka, 2018).
References
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Gal, N. (2019). Ironic humor on social media as participatory boundary work. New Media & Society, 21(3), 729-749.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New
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