Memes give us a vocabulary for our emotions. They offer us a way to channelize the otherwise suppressed hysteria of life.
The power of human imagination is endless and so is the realm of creativity. With greater access to the Internet and social media, more and more people are able to hone and harness their divergent thinking patterns these days. It is the basic human senses that help us observe the world around us. And that panoramic observation often leads to the evolution of the funniest visuals or graphics called ‘memes’.
A meme is like a palette of emotions and intuitions. They work with the idea of playing wicked, but not sleazy; you can connect with memes as easily as a five-year-old connects with any rough sketches. But what’s the best way to describe it? Should it be termed as illustration or skill of using concise words with art to connect with the world?
What makes it so easy for us to connect with memes? Is it the play of emotions, the human element that makes us go, “Oh My God! This meme is so me?” Most of the time, it shows what we, as humans, feel, do or think; things which we may not feel comfortable expressing about, we have memes to do that for us. Be it happiness, sadness, enchantment, admiration, relief, calmness, confusion, nostalgia, entrancement, or boredom, memes help us vent it out. Memes are like a vocabulary for your emotions. They offer us a way to channelize the otherwise suppressed hysteria of life.
Be it in your heart, mind or soul, it straightens all the creases. Memes blend a pinch of ‘sarcasm’ with a punch of ‘humour’. It stimulates your imagination, an exercise that further oils and sharpens your brains. With the changing times, reading books has kept us sane and alive all this while. Yet, one just can’t deny how truly magnetic the field of art is — ‘vast’ and ‘infinite’. Memes are also works of art.
Nevertheless, Richard Dawkins, the man who coined the term ‘meme’ in 1976, must be confused by its constant mutation: ‘memes’. He used the term to refer to an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. According to the gene’s-eye view theory Dawkins propounded, genes possess the required evolutionary longevity and they pass on their structure intact from one generation to the next. The theory of gene mutation finds a parallel in meme mutation.
There is more to what we call memes. Is it just the result of human creativity or something more? The damage the pandemic has wreaked could be irrevocable. Slowly, but steadily, we are all rolling with the punches; somewhere we have found new habits or ways of channelizing our emotions and anxieties. We enhance their appearance by giving them the form of art and presenting them to the world. These are then shared widely and circulated with a general acceptance of variegated human emotions. Sharing memes help each one of us connect with even those living in the most distant parts of planet earth, proving that the world is round.
Meanwhile, social media is doing its job of bridging the big generation gap between Gen X and the Digital natives. Visual arts, memes, and cultural trend reels are helping even those who feel technically crippled.
This has somewhere also increased the touchpoints that exist between the users. When people were homebound during Covid-19 lockdown, the pith and brevity of human creativity and memes kept them sane and uplifted.
In a nutshell, memes tickle our fancy, satiate our artistic appetites, apart from giving us brief moments of laughter and giggling.
(Hina Fatima Khan is an independent multimedia journalist, who thoroughly enjoys writing on social issues, space and world affairs)