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Hola!

My name is Lindsay Feller and I am 20 years old. I attend Indiana University, where I study Arts Management. I live in New York, but for the next 4 months, I get to call Barcelona my home. I have always been interested in traveling and experience different cultures, and I am excited for what this semester abroad has in store for me. My hope is to visit as many different countries as I can and gain a broader perspective on the world.

Social Media Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lindsayilana?lang=es

Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7MHc7_JNx1/

Facebook Article: https://www.facebook.com/mustdotravels/

Website: https://edm.com/

Second Story:
The meme that I have chosen to analyze comes straight from my favorite television show growing up, Spongebob. The comedic cartoon was one of the most popular shows from my generation. Almost everyone within my age demographic has seen an episode of Spongebob, or at least heard of the show. Spongebob can still be seen today on Nickelodeon, as the people who are most frequent on the internet and meme making are the ones who grew up with Spongebob. 

In this meme, Sponebob is standing in a crouched over position with his hands on his face and his eyes rolling around. From his facial expression and body language, you can interpret that the content of this meme has a “mocking” tone. 

On top of the classic Spongebob mocking meme, there is hair on top of Spongebobs head, and the caption saying “FBI. Where are the Emails. Hillary: wHeRe ArE tHe PaPeRs.” Using context clues from the hair and the emails, I can conclude that this meme is poking fun of Hillary Clinton, and the email scandal during the election of 2016. Memes have played a large role in politics, especially in the 2016 US election. This election was one of the most debated and seperated elections, being that both candidates were so controversial. Memes were used to educate people on the election and the current status of each candidate, as well as provide a light hearted humor to such a heated election. 

Although there are many positive aspects in bringing meme culture into politics, this can also be potentially problematic. Memes provide very little content or background to what the situation is about. If someone reading a meme is uneducated on it’s subject matter, a meme can alter someone’s opinion through its appeal. 

Noted by Dawkins, memes have “spreading power” and “infectivity.” Memes are not considered to be a first hand source, and most of the time there is no telling of who created it. Many young people today use non direct social media as their way of collecting political information, rather than because they are easier, more accessible and more entertaining. It is very difficult to tell whether an unverified account is providing legitimate information. There are a wide variety of memes that are based on Spongebob and other characters in the show. There are instagram and twitter accounts dedicated specifically for Spongebob memes that involve all sorts of content. 

From my personal experience with memes, they have had a very powerful influence on me and my opinions. As a daily user of social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat, memes are a part of my daily social media interactions. They play a major role in my sources of entertainment, news and general life updates. I feel that memes should be more involved in a professional sense. This way, younger people would pay for attention on news that is more likely to be accurate. 

Works Cited:

“The True Lord of the Memes (@spongebob_mockingmemes) • Instagram Photos and Videos.” Instagram. Accessed February 7, 2020. https://www.instagram.com/spongebob_mockingmemes/.

Solon, Olivia. “Richard Dawkins on the Internet’s Hijacking of the Word ‘Meme’.” WIRED. WIRED UK, October 4, 2017. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/richard-dawkins-memes

Fazal, Mahmood. “Richard Dawkins Told Us What He Thinks About Memes.” Google. Google, May 8, 2018. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/d35ana/richard-dawkins-told-us-what-he-thinks-about-memes.