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Let's talk about memes? Or even better: let's talk about "Internet memes as a textual genre"?

6/25/2017

Internet meme is a content or idea that spreads very fast on internet as a hyperlink, an image, a video, a sentence or word, or a combination of all these elements. This “thing” spreads organically through voluntary sharing of the users from a network. It can evolve and be used by anyone. Despite its large impact, internet memes have not been studied as a textual genre. Analyzing what characterizes a genre and its origins, we can conceive the idea that memes can be seen as multimodal texts and, therefore, studied as textual genres.

Since the beginning of human history, people have felt the need to convey a message in order to communicate among themselves. One way of doing it was, and still is, through a written register. Over time, these registers were studied and classified into textual genres. However, textual genres also have varied according to the different tools that were used when writing.

With different approaches towards textual genres, the concept of text that used to comprise written and sentences features has changed. Costa Val (2004) states that “it is possible, nowadays, to define text as any linguistic production, spoken or written, of any size, which makes sense in a human communicative situation, in other words, in an interlocutory situation.” (COSTA VAL, 2004)[1]. As texts can include different features, the concept of multimodal texts emerged among scholars. Dionísio (2007) defines multimodal texts as texts that combines various types of representation, including oral and written language, images, etc.

According to the definition of textual genres from Marcuschi (2007), “[…] textual genres are historical phenomena, deeply linked to cultural and social life.”[2] (MARCUSCHI, 2007, p. 19). Therefore, they are intrinsically connected to the context we live in.

Considering our modern life in which the internet has taken on a big role, one can assume that it has affected textual genres considerably. In fact, it modified old textual genres and even created new ones. It is the case of the genre “e-mail” that was based on the genre “letter” but it has its own features which allow us to understand it as an independent genre.
The literature in textual genres has explored digital genres widely. There are studies about blogs (PRIMO, 2008), chats (ARAÚJO, 2003), e-mails (BONINI, 2000), websites (BEZERRA, 2007), etc. However, there is one specific textual genre that seems unexplored, and this genre is the internet meme.

The term "meme" was first mentioned in the work of Richard Dawkins, in a book entitled “The Selfish Gene” (1976). Dawkins, a biologist, compares the cultural evolution to the genetic one. He states that in the same way genes are the DNA of humankind, memes are the DNA of ideas. They have one objective: spread themselves. The main characteristic of memes is the imitation features, for this is how behavior patterns are established (RECUERO, 2006).

In the internet context, memes are easily recognized for their humorous appeal, even though their format is not always static. They can be in form of images or in form of tweets. Sometimes, they are derived from videos which became very popular. Also, they are linked to some social media, many times they migrate from one to another. Therefore, memes are relatively new, once social medias emerged during the last decade.

Because this textual genre is diversified, instantaneous and for entertainment purposes, there is little research on internet memes as a textual genre. Thus, this is the niche which this research is based on.

[1]Author’s translation. Original: “pode-se definir texto, hoje, como qualquer produção linguística, falada ou escrita, de qualquer tamanho, que possa fazer sentido numa situação de comunicação humana, isto é, numa situação de interlocução”.
[2] Author’s translation. Original: “[...]os gêneros textuais são fenômenos históricos, profundamente vinculados à vida cultural e social”.

Regarding the usage of social media, research says that “72% of online 18 - 29 year old use social networking websites, nearly identical to the rate among teens” (LENHART et al., 2010). That is to say, a big part of population who has access to internet uses social media. Considering this fact, one can argue that those people are directly or indirectly exposed to memes, once social media is where memes become viral.

Because it is very present in people’s life, memes are also capable of creating an identity community. Barreto (2015) argues that “collective performance of ritual practices may lead to identity recognition of a group, once the actions, which are replicated by each participant of the group, demonstrate the group’s support to the practices and pre-established requirements in this group. These actions reflect the group’s values, world knowledge shared by them, etc. It is through these ritual practices that individuals start to act as a group” (BARRETO, 2015, p. 109, author’s emphasis)[1]. One evidence is the <9gag> community in which people call themselves as 9gaggers (BARRETO, 2015).

Beyond that, there is the linguistic aspect that must be considered. Almost every meme uses a linguistic feature in its composition, such as humor and/or puns. In addition to that, there is the usage of image that helps to construct the meaning and this image may vary according to the effect one wants to cause.

In summary, the reasons why this area must be under investigated is not only because it affects people’s life and it creates a notion of identity, but also because of linguistic aspects and memes productivity.

[1] Author’s translation. Original: “A performance coletiva das práticas rituais pode levar ao reconhecimento identitário de um grupo, visto que são ações que, ao serem replicadas pelos participantes, demonstram seu suporte às práticas e exigências pré-estabelecidas neste grupo, refletindo seus valores, seus conhecimentos de mundo compartilhados, etc. É através dos rituais que os indivíduos passam a agir como um grupo” (author’s emphasis).

This research aims to map different internet memes and to approach them using textual genre theories.

1.2.1 Specific aims

To classify internet memes according to the concept of textual genres of Bakhtin (2010);
To identify the linguistic aspects that differs one meme from other;
To identify the motivations behind internet memes.

ARAÚJO, J. C. R. Chat na web: um estudo de gênero hipertextual. 2003. 179 p. Dissertação (Mestrado em Linguística) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2003.
BAKHTIN, M. M. Os gêneros do discurso. In: Estética da criação verbal. (1ª edição 1992). Tradução: Paulo Bezerra. 5. ed. São Paulo: Editora WMF Martins Fontes, 2010, p. 262-306.
BARRETO, K. H. Os memes e as interações sociais na internet: Uma interface entre práticas rituais e estudos de face. 2015. 147 f. Tese (Doutorado em Linguística) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, 2015.
BEZERRA, B. Gêneros Introdutórios Mediados Pela Web: O Caso Da Homepage. Hipertextus Revista Digital, v. 1, p. 1–10, 2007.
BONINI, A. Entrevista Por E-Mail : Pragmática De Um Gênero (Des) Conhecido Ou Problemas Comunicativos Na Variação Do Gênero. Revista de Letras - UFC. v. 1, p. 5–13, 2000.
COSTA VAL, M. G. F. Texto, textualidade e textualização. Pedagogia Cidadã – Cadernos de Formação Língua Portuguesa, Unesp – São Paulo, v. 1, p. 113-124, 2004.
DAWKINS, R. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.
DIONISIO, A. P. Multimodalidade discursiva na atividade oral e escrita (atividades). In: MARCUSCHI, L. A.; DIONISIO, A. P. (org.). Fala e Escrita. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2007.
LENHART, A. et al. Social Media & Mobile Internet Use among Teens and Young Adults. Millennials. Pew Internet & American Life Project, v. 1, p. 1–16, 2010.
MARCUSCHI, L. A. Gêneros textuais : definição e funcionalidade. In: DIONÍSIO, A. R. M.; BEZERRA, M. A. (org.) Gêneros textuais e ensino. Rio de Janeiro: Lucerna, 2007.
PORFIRIO, S.; SOUZA, F. E. F.; CIPRIANO, L. C. Textos multimodais: a nova tendência na comunicação. Observatório da imprensa, edição 861, 2015. Disponível em: <http://observatoriodaimprensa.com.br/diretorio-academico/textos-multimodais-a-nova-tendencia-na-comunicacao/>. Acesso em: 18/06/2017.
PRIMO, A. Blogs e seus gêneros : Avaliação estatística dos 50 blogs mais populares em língua portuguesa 1. XXXI Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação, n. November, p. 1–17, 2008.
RECUERO, R. C. Memes e dinâmicas sociais em weblogs: informação, capital social e interação em redes sociais na Internet. Intexto, Porto Alegre: UFRGS, v. 2, n. 15, p. 1-16, julho/dezembro 2006.

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The Heroine’s Journey in Brave (2012)

5/1/2017

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Before reading this text, write down a list of the ten best movies you have ever watched. How many of them have a woman as a strong leading character? I bet that there is a disproportion and that there are more movies in which a man is the leading character than a woman. We know that The Hero’s Journey is behind many (or even all the) plots. Thus, if we cannot find movies that follow this structure and have women as the main characters, it can be said that this journey does not include heroines. This was what Maureen Murdock, one of Campbell’s student, concluded. Murdock created a different theory to bridge the gap of the previous one and published her book called The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness (1990).
The Heroine’s Journey is composed of ten stages:

In order to explain and illustrate this theory, I chose to present it using Brave (2012) as an example. Brave is a production of Disney and Pixar and it innovates on different levels. One is the princess’ appearance, Merida is the first ginger and curly Disney princess (you can see it in the beginning of this post). The other and most important to our analysis is in terms of plot. We are going to see that this story is peculiar and very different from other Disney princess movies and it has to do with the Heroine’s Journey.

The first stage is The Separation from Feminine. To begin with, it is important to clarify what “feminine” stands for here. Traditionally, women are considered sensitive creatures who have as the main social function motherhood and marriage. This view has changed during time. However, not only until recently can we see this change portrayed in movies. Brave was one of the first animated movies that showed a princess declining this role. Merida, the princess, does not want to get married and starts a big fight with her mother. The queen, Elinor, has raised Merida to become the perfect princess, therefore she does not accept Merida’s rebellion.

The following stage represents The Identification with the Masculine. This idea comes from the structure of our modern society. In addition to the traditional role, women also need to work and compete with men for a career. To be successful, women acquire characteristics considered masculine such as aggressiveness, assertiveness, and confidence. When Merida starts to compete for her own hand as if she was one of the princes, this heroine is clearly in this stage.

Once she had won the archery competition, Merida and her mother have a big fight after which Merida flees into the forest. This is the third stage, The Road of Trials. In this stage, the heroine faces the tasks that will make her develop her ego. In this moment of the story, Merida meets a witch that offers her a solution to her problem.

The enchanted cake Merida receives from the witch represents The Illusory Boon of Success. Acting as “man”, Merida found what she believes to be the perfect solution to change her fate. However, this is not true, the spell transforms her mother into a bear.

This moment is also the mark of the next stage, The Initiation and Descent to the Goddess. According to Murdock, “the task here is to reclaim the discarded parts of the self that were split off in the original separation from the feminine–– parts that have been ignored, devalued, and repressed, words and feelings swallowed in her quest for success”. Therefore, Merida gets back to the witch’s cottage and discovers that she needs to “mend the bond torn by pride”.

Merida realizes her Urgent Yearning to Reconnect with the Feminine, in order words, she needs to reconnect with her mother until the second sunrise, otherwise Elinor is going to be a bear forever. The princess thinks automatically about the tapestry and goes back to fix it. For our analysis, we can think of the tapestry as the feminine side, and the archery as the male side.

This movie does not follow the stages chronologically and the stage nine comes before the stage number eight. Merida starts a speech to choose one of the suitors to get married, showing her wounded masculine and following the tradition, but her mother stops her. This sets Merida free from her fate as princess

After, as the Integration of Masculine and Feminine, we see Merida working on a new tapestry and later Merida riding a horse, combining male and female activities.

This structure, The Heroine's Journey, is not widely explored yet as The Hero’s Journey is. However, if you would like to see another example, I recommend The Hunger Games (2012). I believe it is important to have alternatives in which we can see women as a strong leading character, especially in movies that have children as the target audience. This representativeness is important and helpful because it allows our young girls to project a future in which their happiness is not measured by romantic relationships.

References:

FREITAS, A. (2016). Jornada da heroína: como é a narrativa mítica baseada nas necessidades e aspirações da mulher. Retrieved from: https://www.nexojornal.com.br/expresso/2016/08/20/Jornada-da-hero%C3%ADna-como-%C3%A9-a-narrativa-m%C3%ADtica-baseada-nas-necessidades-e-aspira%C3%A7%C3%B5es-da-mulher

MURDOCK, M. (2016). The Heroine’s Journey. Retrieved from: http://www.maureenmurdock.com/articles/articles-the-heroines-journey/

SARAFIAN, K., & Andrews, M., Chapman, B. (2012) Brave. United States: Pixar Animation Studios.

THE HEROINE JOURNEYS PROJECT. (2016) Heroine’s Journey. Retrieved from: https://heroinejourneys.com/heroines-journey/

ZAYKOVA, A. (2015). The Heroine’s Journey in Fantasy Film – An Essay. Retrieved from: https://midnightmediamusings.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/the-heroines-journey-in-fantasy-film-an-essay/

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3 movies to understand “The Hero’s Journey”

4/22/2017

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I am convinced that you know what the hero’s journey is, only do not you know it by name. The Hero’s Journey or Monomyth is a formula or a structure presented by Joseph Campbell in his book called The Hero of a Thousand Faces (1949). In this book, Campbell describes twelve stages of a narrative, and comes up with a conclusion that in famous and successful narratives, the characters are all the same. Therefore, these stages can be applied in (almost) every narrative, in cinema or literature.
The following picture is going to clarify what are the twelve stages.

Now it is time to know a few narratives in which “The Hero’s Journey” is present.

1 The Lord of the Rings

This story is a classic example of The Hero’s Journey. As the story happens in a different world, at the very beginning the world is presented and later we meet the hero. It is important to mention that the ordinary world of a story does not necessarily correspond to our ordinary world. Frodo is chosen by Gandalf, his mentor, to destroy the One ring. At first, he refuses the adventure. We cannot forget he is a hobbit, so this is expected. In Rivendell, he finally accepts it and the stage 5 starts. Along his path, he meets different creatures and faces challenges. Different from expected, Frodo is unable to destroy the ring and this is the hook for the following movies. However, he changes during the narrative and when he comes back home, he is not the same.

2 Star Wars

In the same way that The Lord of The Rings, a distinct world is shown in Star Wars and we are introduced to Luke, the hero of the movie. After receiving Princess Leia’s message and not without thinking twice, Luke escapes Tatooine. When the stage 5 beginnings, Luke meets Chewbacca and Han Solo and starts his trainee to become a Jedi. The rescue of Princess Leia corresponds to stage number 8 and this action has a consequence: the death of Obi-Wan. The stage number 10 simply does not happen in this story. Instead, Luke decides to go back to Death Star. In the stage 12, Luke is finally home and it was not as he had left. His return represents the certainty that he and his friends will survive to keep fighting against the Empire.

3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Another good example of the Hero’s Journey is the first movie of the franchise created by J. K. Rowling. We are presented to Harry’s ordinary world, and he receives the letter to Hogwarts. In this movie, Harry refuses to believe that he is a wizard and the mentor, Hagrid, is responsible for proving this to him and for leading Harry through stage 5. Once in the school, the stages 6 and 7 flows naturally. The stage 8 is when Harry finally faces Lord Voldemort, the man who killed his parents and Harry, therefore, his biggest fear. After had defeated the enemy, at least for now, Harry recovers and with a picture of his parents (the reward) in his possessions, he goes back to the initial point, but not the same as he was. It is very interesting to notice that even though the other movies are not about the beginning of the story, the stages of the Hero’s Journey are there.

This list is composed by movies based on literary works. However, we can find this structure in many other narratives, such as superhero’s movies, action movies and, even, in romantic movies. In addition to that, we have to keep in mind that the stages are not fixed and can be presented in different orders.
To conclude, this theory is important to all of those people who are going to work with story telling, script, etc. Moreover, it is interesting to normal people to understand the process of the stories we read or watch. Its one tool that can be used to analyse works, and even to start a conversation.

References:
VOGLER, C. (1980). The memo that started it all. Retrieved from http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm.
OMELETEVE. (2017). Jornada do Heroi: Luke, Katniss e Harry são a mesma pessoa? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-oT7upunUw&t=301s.
IMDb. (2013). Monomyth or "The Hero's Journey" in Movies. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/list/ls052754941/.

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Money is the start of happiness

4/13/2017

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Very often money and happiness are described as opposites, but the truth is that they have more in common than we think. Defined by many people as “the root of all evil”, money, unfortunately or not, plays a very important role in our society in general. It provides since basic needs to extreme comfort. Of course money does not necessarily lead to happiness, but it definitely is part of it. It provides basic needs and empowers people, and no one can be happy without one of these two.
For us, people who were born in big cities, facilities such as electricity and drinking water are part of our lives since forever. Those things are only possible because once someone installed them and we pay for them monthly. However, it is not like that to everybody, there are many people who do not have access to them. Non-governmental organizations such as Liter of Light and Waves for Water are changing this scenario, but the raw material is not for free, someone needs to pay for it. Therefore, money is on the basis of these ideas and is the essential key to allow people to live a worthy life.
Another way money can make a difference in people’s lives is very clear in the TED Talk called “A Smart Loan for People with No Credit History (yet)”, by Shivani Siroya. To make it short, Siroya created a mobile app to build credit scores and lend money to people who were not considered trustworthy by regular banks. As a result, these people, around 2.5 billion, cannot make a loan in order to improve their lives. Siroya gives as an example Jenipher, a kenyan business woman, who was able to improve her business because of Siroya’s loan. Jenipher now owns three food stalls and is thinking about open a restaurant, and it was only possible because someone believed in her potential.
In conclusion, money well used can bring a lot of joy to many people. I would not say the richer you are, the happier you are. However, it is impossible to not recognize its importance. I believe that the problem is not money itself, but the value some people give to it. When money starts to be the first and only priority of your live, then is time to take a step back and reevaluate your life.

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Let's talk about memes? Or even better: let's talk about "Internet memes as a textual genre"?

The Heroine’s Journey in Brave (2012)

3 movies to understand “The Hero’s Journey”

Money is the start of happiness

Sabrina Anhaia

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