Hey, I just met you . . .

 Overly-Attached Girlfriend, Viral vs. Memetic

This week, I chose three variations of the overly-attached girlfriend meme heralded as the most popular by various meme-related websites and blogs. The three are prominent examples of Shifman's (2014) ideas on what contributes to the success on viral content, yet still reach success in terms of variation and remix without fully adhering to the proposed definitions of memetic content.

 The three memes chosen highlight Shifman's (2014) ideas on positivity and humor. Typically, the overly-attached girlfriend memes are designed in two lines of text or more, with half positioned on the top of the photo and half positioned on the bottom. The top is typically an innocuous fragment of a statement or question, while the bottom fragments are what contributes to the humorous shock or surprise. The bottom segment of text, generally the most humorous, drives its virality through social networks because it is most interesting and shared to increase sharer perception of being "upbeat and entertaining" (Shifman, 2014, p. 67).

A second piece contributing to its viral success are the meme's packaging (Shifman, 2014). The few sentences in the picture, coupled with the facial expressions of the woman is simple and clear enough to understand the humorous aspect intended. No outside contextual knowledge of the woman, where she gained her famous status, or any other aspects of her personal life is necessary in understanding the message in each photograph.

Lastly, while some aspects of overly-attached girlfriend's characteristics fit memetic definitions proposed by Shifman, (2014) many of the categories detailed must be updated and retooled when considering Laina's success in meme format. She fits Shifman's (2014) argument of memes as ordinary individuals contributing to memetic success as production and fitting the background in the original video is easy. Also, she is considered more of a peer within the online community, especially between others who have had success in meme format. Laina falls into several other memetic characteristics through her shocking, humorous bottom line, as previously mentioned. In the orignal video from which the meme originates, Laina is taking part in comic playfulness, inviting users to take part in the "game" she proposes through her crazy-girlfriend persona. Because of this, each of the memes relate in some way to the persona Laina crafted through her YouTube video.

Relating to design aspects, overly-attached girlfriend takes part in the simplicity precursor to memetics (Shifman, 2014). In the original video, Laina is situated in front of a blank, white wall with a few pictures posted on it. In subsequent remixes or repostings of the meme, each follows the same design cues, including an individual in a plain, light-blue shirt in front of a white wall with photographs. While Laina completely goes against any ideas of masculinity that Shifman (2014) proposes, she highlights the notion that Shifman (2014) fails to encapsulate a large amount of successful memes of the last few years. Perhaps a retooling of this characteristic is needed; while flawed masculinity is present in some memes, overly-attached girlfriend encapsulates stereotypical ideas of femininity in her reinforcement of the "crazy girlfriend."

Week 2

Week 2- Gender & Memes

In continuing with last week's established theme of the irrational, crazy woman, I wanted to find the backgrounds of these two well-known, woman-centered memes, "Big Red," (left) and "Overly-Attached Girlfriend" (right). Big Red is typically remixed as an ultra-feminist, misandrist meme regarding how anything that even has the letters "men" in it triggers her into an angry tirade. She is a photo of Chanty Binx, taken from a video posted to YouTube of her confronting a men's rights protestor in Canada with her stance on feminism. In April of 2013, a video of her yelling to these protestors while reading off of a sheet of paper with responses was posted highlighting the event at the University of Toronto, and the meme began from there.

The overly-attached girlfriend meme is considered an offshoot of the advice animals memes we examined in class this week. The photo stems from a YouTube video submission to Justin Bieber's online sing-off contest where the singer, Laina Morris, parodies his song "boyfriend" to her clingy, fun lyrics of "girlfriend." Less than one day later, a Reddit link was posted to Laina's video and the meme began circulation.

Both of these memes and their remixes and variants build upon the themes presented in the videos. Feminism has been culturally re-appropriated in previous years to equate the term with man-hating. Chanty was in a public space arguing feminism with a group of men's rights protestors, so Chanty was immediately turned into a misandrist in meme form. Similarly, Laina's video on a funny, clingy-girlfriend turned into her being the extreme, possibly mentally-unstable girlfriend. In studying these memes, it's important to examine the context from which they originated to see what themes are present in the original photo or picture, and how they are possibly appropriated and amplified in a male-dominated culture. One can be argued as innocent and fun while the other tends to demean a cultural group, but they both signify a cultural elevation of one gender while negating the importance or mental stability of another.

In taking the time to find the original meme from which remixes and parodies are born, we can fully understand how memes are considered "interconnected content units which share common characteristics," (Shiffman, 2014, p. 53). They may be shared and remixed in certain ways, but there is always the characteristic of theme and the form of the same content, form, and stance (Shiffman, 2014). 

First Meme Post

The First Post

     For my first post, I wanted to go back to a relatively-ancient meme that you could not go one day without seeing on Facebook, the Overly Attached Girlfriend. A lot of my research over the last few years has focused on visual rhetoric regarding the portrayal of gender through social networks and this meme packages my findings through that pretty well. It highlights perfectly how we make snap judgments on an individual, especially a woman, based on pretty basic facial cues and body positioning. Her wide eyes and smile, barring any information regarding personality or context, immediately means "overly-attached" or "psychotic." I look forward to digging deeper into memes similar to this throughout the semester.