Social media has spawned an entire genre called memes and 'viral video' content. Why are memes and ‘silly’ videos so popular? People like to laugh and poke fun at themselves. A simple way of understanding the purpose of a meme, or the kinds of videos voted on during the America's Funniest Video program prove that stupid humor has appeal.
According to the 1stwebdesigner site, “An Internet meme is a cultural phenomenon, spreading like a virus, traveling from one person to another swiftly unit it takes on a life of its own.” That same understanding can be applied to a video that’s gone viral, on the platform that seems synonymous with ‘viral,’ YouTube.
I believe the popularity stems from a few qualities, like shock value, or that it’s fun to see mishaps happen to others. Maybe it makes the viewer feel better, that the accident couldn’t happen to them. Or maybe they see stupid behavior and it triggers a release that involves relating to the mishap and being able to laugh by sheer disassociation from the mishap.
Humor is subjective. What's funny to you may be insulting to me. Take this video for instance. What would you say is amusing about it? The idea of a grown person sitting on a child's swing? Can you tell what's going to happen before it does, and does the idea of the inevitable, (fall, crash, kapow) make the clip funny?
There's no regard for safety in this kind of content. What about liability? Did the swing manufacturer warn about weight limits? If the user disregards the warning, and gets hurt, what then? Oh, I know, I'm a bummer being so serious. It's just a few kids just having a little horseplay.
One aspect of accident or 'fail' videos shows people their most vulnerable. Why that is amusing is beyond me. It's not a new phenomenon. The Three Stooges or the cartoon, Road Runner and even Warner Brothers Looney Tunes Tweety and Sylvester always featured bullying and beating up between the two. Perhaps seeing the worst case scenarios viewers appreciate the safety of their own remote position and could laugh at the absurdity of such intentional acts of attack and self inflicted harm.
I couldn't very well end this post on a down note. Here's a sample of a meme-like video. Funny?
Nice devil's advocate topic. Humor is subjective! That SNL video was priceless. Of course your argument and the organization of the piece was well done. I only saw one or two spelling errors but otherwise good work!
ReplyDeleteHumor is definitely subjective! I don't find half of the meme's funny, or the fail videos. I cringe when people get hurt in them!
ReplyDeleteThis is written very well! I am swayed to believe your argument. I like how you introduced what a meme is in its own paragraph, and have hyperlinks strewn throughout to link to examples. Good job :)
The Devil’s Advocate assignment is about arguing against yourself to make your arguments stronger. It’s also about exploring and challenging your ideas and possibly stumbling across new ones.
ReplyDeleteWriting is drafting. Some students write an essay and it’s just the same idea written thirty times. They are looking for the best way to phrase their thesis.
I think this DA piece and the Adams/process piece are still at the drafting stage. Their theses are not strong enough yet.
Any piece of writing should be about a single idea. Give me a new thought about viral videos. Tell me how I should invent a content workflow or creative process. Your writing is drafting so far because it is not organized under a conclusion.
I brought up Adams in my last critique because I read ahead in your blog. It wasn’t a coincidence. And like I said, Adams didn’t just invent the zone system. He stumbled across a problem he needed to solve. He slowly learned what he wanted his photographs to be and then found a way to do it.
What are your process and meme essays about? Say it in one sentence. Is the process essay about your process? Tablets? Photographic processes? Instagram?
…the user…needs to come to terms with how to implement the machine into [his or her] life.
That is a decent topic to reorganize some of these thoughts under. A number of people have written entire books on this subject lately.
Or do you just want to focus on Adams? Then start with him. I barely see the connection between his photographic process and your learning which technologies to utilize.
I think this is your best thesis in the meme piece…
I believe [meme] popularity stems from…shock value…
But then I need more examples. I need a stronger argument. I need to see you asking and answering the arguments against memes just being about shock value. (And with more time and writing, I bet you could come up with a more unique thesis too.)
Also, do not link by saying look at this “video.” Don’t make me leave your essay. Describe it instead, giving me the option to stick with your writing. In this “video of a grown man bringing down a children’s swingset” the intent is clearly…
Next we will get into instructions. An essay is a good set of instructions for the reader on how to follow your logic. It takes them step-by-step through your arguments for your thesis. One way to build a good argument is to understand the audience’s protests in advance, often by playing the devil’s advocate.
Good work.