Human species have been around on earth for thousands of years, doing things that animals typically do: reproduce, learn, grow, survive, mate, and so on. One thing that always think of when it comes to human are these two words combined, creating a phrase that probably most of us have heard at least once in a lifetime: social creature. The presence of the word “social” means that we humans live in communities and the need for interaction with another human being is essential to our survival. Of course, we can all easily agree to this conclusion when it comes to physical things. For example we know that at least to survive we need to earn money from others, right? (corporate slave spirit intensifies, #justhumanlythings, ha!). But when it comes to other than physical things, we know that we also need something to maintain stability inside that abstract (sometimes absurd) domain. But what is it about that abstract thing blabbering? As old fashioned as it is, let’s take a look at Mr. Maslow’s infamous pyramid, known as “Hierarchy of Human Needs”
Starting from the second floor, which is labeled “Safety needs”, upwards, I think it’s safe for me to assume that we all don’t share the same mental image or ideas about the written terms (I know that when I say “Physiological needs”, pretty sure we also don’t see the exact same things in our mind but hey at least they’re still countable or perceivable by “physical sensors”, unlike the other higher needs). The keyword here is “idea”. For a human being to survive as a social creature, one must have the ability of sharing his/her idea(s) to other human(s) and of course that privilege of “being able to share ideas” comes with a responsibility called “trying to understand ideas of others”. And guess what do we have to do to satisfy them both, passing ideas to one another? Yes, thank you Mr./Ms. Obvious: we must communicate them!
Communication is inevitable as long as your consciousness is stuck inside a functioning human body. You hate it? There’s always an option to “get yourself out of the picture”, ha! Anyway, as usual, let’s agree to the definition of a few terms here, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary:
Definition of “communication”
1a : a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior
; also : exchange of information
b : personal rapport
2a : information communicated : information transmitted or conveyed
b : a verbal or written message
Definition of “idea”
1a : a transcendent entity that is a real pattern of which existing things are imperfect representations
b : a standard of perfection : ideal
c : a plan for action : design
2archaic : a visible representation of a conception : a replica of a pattern
3a obsolete : an image recalled by memory
b : an indefinite or unformed conception
c : an entity (such as a thought, concept, sensation, or image) actually or potentially present to consciousness
4: a formulated thought or opinion
5: whatever is known or supposed about something
6: the central meaning or chief end of a particular action or situation
Now with all those stuff written earlier, let’s carry on with one important and (presumably, although self-proclaimed, hm) well-deduced, concluded-assumption; humans as social creatures experience various culture and even more culture changes and each of the case is different than the other, but with nowadays technology, those who are exposed to the same technology are currently moving to a “singularity point” in the culture space, meaning the birth of a globally accepted culture is on progress. Communication is highly tied to culture since it requires semiotics, semantics, pragmatics, practice, agreements from related people of course, etc (Sanders & Peirce stuff, no, not on this post). Thanks to the internet, a new method of communication emerged from the depth of the digital domain, a new form of information packaging, a tool to communicate our ideas; meme.
Yes, those goddamn memes. What is a meme anyway?
Definition of meme
1: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture
2: an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media
Definition number 2 is easily the one we’re interested to discuss about and explore in this post (and by ”we’re” I mean “I’m”, you all my beloved and respected readers just happen to have no other option than to accept if you still want to proceed on reading this shit). After all, definition number 2 is the one perceptible in our daily life, right? I mean, definition number 1 doesn’t even always have physical form, unlike definition number 2 (picture or video, 2D tho).
So now let’s raise this question: why are memes considered handy when it comes to communicating ideas? Well, semiotics taught me that memes are visual objects which can easily sensed using eyes; simply said, we can see memes as long as we’re not blind. Things are going to be a bit more tricky when it comes to breaking them down to separate their components. Assuming memes are considered art incarnated in the form of visual objects, let’s come to the aspects that we physically available to perceive:
- colors
- tones
- shapes
- patterns
- lines
- textures
- forms
- texts (writings in certain language)
The first seven creates certain signs which consists of a number of couples of signifier and signified in visual art context, according to Saussure’s structural approach (no, no Peirce, he’s an asshole for inventing tryadic models of semiotics). Of course the accurate or acceptable interpretation of those signs wouldn’t be possible without a certain degree of knowledge about textual and contextual elements that are accepted (and not) in the internet society. For example, memes about communism are often colored red, memes about throwbacks are often served gray-scale style, etc. You can study further about all of this in semiotics which I, once again, am not going to talk about deeper here. But all that components are often dull and prone to multiple interpretations. That’s where the texts step in. The texts written in certain language can play multiple roles on multiple memes or even at one meme. Their presence can emphasize a point, make things pointless, distract us from our current interpretations of the images, strengthen our belief on the image’s contexts, you name it. These words play circles around us most of the time. I don’t think I need to explain any further about the power of words, hm? I assume all of us here already see the riches behind memes (despite clearly or blurry). Now this is where I expect the realization nuke bomb comes and blow your minds off like Hiroshima back then. Try searching on Google by typing the word “memes” in the search box then click images. Of course you’ll see tons of memes, no shit, Sherlock. But now I want you to look at them as you’re reading this statement which I’ve concluded just now: almost all of them features at least one human figure. May it be a man, a woman, a kid, an elderly, happy person, sad person, photograph, sketch, cartoon, etc. Most memes contain human figures in them. And as usual; why?
For your information, there hasn’t been any solid answer to this question. I don’t think there’s even someone who question about this specific side of memes. Therefore, I’m going to deduce it myself. Maybe, just maybe, despite all the benefits and disadvantages of memes as a form of communication tool through 2D mediums, humans still crave for the presence of another human figure in their communication process; no matter as an icon on the profile picture, as a part of the delivered content, or anything else. Maybe it’s something about human’s body language, facial expressions, gestures, etc. which we must admit that no proper replacement for all that humanly features had been found so far. For example, take a look at any of those memes you’ve just seen moments ago. See the background, see the written text, then relate it to the featured human figure. Now try imagining that meme without the presence of that human figure. Feels different, right? Of course we’re going to see them differently, both in literal and figurative terms. No wonder, since the displayed human figure in a meme also contributes to the semiotics and semantics of that meme which we agreed to be considered as a visual object in the name of art. Again, of course, the interpretation of the human figure’s role in a meme put a certain degree of social knowledge and agreements as prerequisite.
I guess humans are social creatures indeed after all. No matter how advanced we’ve become on making communication more effective and efficient, there’s still that little ancient program featured in our mind which makes us all animals and not robots/computers. Cultures may change, people may come and go, ideas may emerge or die, but the need of seeing another human figure aside from yourself was, is, and will always be right there, deep in the most fragile region of your mind. Let us take a brief moment to contemplate about the people around us. Take a break from the internet. Ask yourself how precious are those closest to you? How long have you been away from some of them? Or feeling that it’s enough to keep in touch via internet? Don’t wait anymore, meet them personally. Do the old-fashioned style, face-to-face communication. Interact directly with them. Don’t let your sense of a real human-to-human interaction be bludgeoned by the sweet seduction of technology-assisted interaction. Maybe some of you think that it will only give you an experience of seeing a 3D meme with words being spoken instead of written. Well, that’s not wrong either (sometimes I see people in real life as 3D memes too). But when it comes to seeing your loved ones and talking to them, trust me, it’s a lot deeper than just memes :-)
source:
