Memes & Digital Culture

BP 3: Project focus on theory of science

Roskilde University

Department of Communication and Arts

International Bachelor in Humanities

Group member: Student number: Exam deadline:

Jamila Bendix 65888 17/12/2019

Malte M. Kofoed-Christensen 65852

Aliya Jensen-Darko 65821

Alina-Stefana Pohariu 65856

Giacomo Venturoli 66621

Matilde Tomasini 65827

Genevieve S. Højelsen 65851

Supervisor:

Remzi Ates Gürsimsek

Institut for Kommunikation og Humanistisk Videnskab

Kommunikation

Abstract

In a time where digital culture is moving faster than the research investigating it, it can be

difficult to grasp the events occurring and tracking their lifecycle. The event of ‘Storm Area

51’ has been one of the more recent examples of this. Through memes from said event we will

be using a social constructivist perspective to ground our ontological position. This position

will also be the grounding point for our theories which include, but not limited to,

multimodality and social semiotics. The chosen memes have been analysed using the

aforementioned theories. An aspect of memes that are revealed during the analysis, is the fact

that they possess underlying themes such as power relations. The conclusion to the analysis

reveals that memes are complex signs that cover different aspects of digital culture such as the

constant stream and spread of content that either goes on and fade or gets recontextualized in

different contexts with new meanings.

Keywords: multimodality, social semiotics, memes, digital culture, participatory culture

  

 
Indholdsfortegnelse 
 ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 4 
2. PROBLEM FORMULATION ............................................................................................................................... 6 
3. MEMES AND DIGITAL CULTURE .................................................................................................................... 7 
3.1. Layering in Memes ................................................................................................................................ 9 
3.2. Memes Online ...................................................................................................................................... 12 
4 AREA 51 AND ITS HISTORY ........................................................................................................................... 13 
 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 17 
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................. 17 
1. SOCIAL SEMIOTICS ...................................................................................................................................... 17 
1.1.  Interpretive Communities ................................................................................................................... 19 
2. MULTIMODALITY ......................................................................................................................................... 20 
3. INTERTEXTUALITY ....................................................................................................................................... 26 
4. SPEAKING INTO THE SYSTEM ....................................................................................................................... 28 
5. CULTURE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD .............................................................................................................. 32 
5.1. Digital Culture .................................................................................................................................... 32 
5.2. Participation ........................................................................................................................................ 32 
5.3. Remediation ......................................................................................................................................... 33 
5.4. Bricolage ............................................................................................................................................. 34 
5.5. Principal Components ......................................................................................................................... 35 
6. SUMMARY OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................. 35 
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................... 36 
1. THEORY OF SCIENCE: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH ....................................................................... 36 
1.1. Dimension - Text & Sign ..................................................................................................................... 37 
2. RESEARCH DESIGN ...................................................................................................................................... 38 
3. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ......................................................................................................................... 39 
 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 39 
DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................... 39 
1. BEFORE AREA 51 - MEME 1 ......................................................................................................................... 40 
2. DURING AREA 51 - MEME 2......................................................................................................................... 47 
3. AFTER AREA 51 - MEME 3 ........................................................................................................................... 55 
4. ANALYSIS CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 60 
 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 63 
DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................................... 63 
 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 68 
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 68 
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................ 70 

1. INTRODUCTION

This project aims at identifying the various semiotic resources of a meme and at

explaining the way in which these create meaning within a specific social context of the digital

culture. By identifying the multimodal and intertextual elements of an image-macro and the

ways in which an image-macro is assembled through the processes of remediation and

bricolage, this paper has the intention of achieving a better understanding of the subjectivities

belonging to a culture of participation and of the meanings that these subjectivities build and

share.

Rage comics scattered around 9gag, the SuperWhoLock fandom located in Tumblr, content

created from Reddit, spread around Facebook and Instagram. All these mentioned examples,

manifest the creation, spreading, and overall enjoyment; of what generally could be called

memes. Memes can be seen spread across platforms on the Internet, whether it be a popular

social media platforms such as Instagram, or down to the niché site of 4chan. In these contexts,

memes can be viewed as communicative tool as a part of a larger digital culture. A form of

communication spread through different media, most commonly seen as pictures, but can also

be created through other media such as; gifs, videos, texts, sound samples, with more. Many

popular memes are in the form of a picture with a text, at the top and bottom, corresponding to

what the picture or memes is trying to communicate. Often the purpose of the communication

is something relatable, which then turns into something humorous for the individual, as it is

accompanied by an image that expressed this relatable emotion. Some exemplary memes from

Reddit are shown below as examples of relatability. These have been chosen on the basis of

showing different ways of constructing memes. The memes are showing their relatability by

appealing to emotions in the subjects via screenshots and texts.

Reddit, 2019

Memes have been transformed, and keep transforming, from making comics, to using

stills taken from popular culture, such as a screenshot from SpongeBob SquarePants or the

movie How to Train Your Dragon. Memes have grown with the Internet and the digital culture

and are generally associated with them. They have existed for as long as there has been popular

culture, that can be recreated and spread. An example of this is the secrecy of Area 51. The

base has a renowned reputation for being a secret military base with information about alien

activity, and possibly also alien life within the base. The scale to which the conspiracy theory

surrounding Area 51 has spread, has created an idea of it being common knowledge. Though

this narrative was not told through memes in the beginning, it could be seen through rumors

and film, which equates to popular culture. Look at Independence Day, a fictional American

movie where they defend Earth or the United States of America (from hereon; the US) from an

alien attack, with the use of technology from Area 51. This is one of the better known examples,

but this idea of Area 51 keeping secrets can also be seen in TV shows such as The Simpsons,

which has been around since 1989, or the popular TV-series about extra-terrestrial occurrences

such as The X-files, and the list goes on with pop culture reproducing this theory.

More recently in June 2019, an event was posted on Facebook called “Storm Area 51 -

They can’t stop all of us”. The event gained around 2 million who had pressed the “attending”

button, and more than 1 million who pressed interested. The event was to take place on the

20th of September, where they were supposed to storm the secret military base in the Nevada

desert. This spawned countless memes based on people

either wanting to kidnap or have sex with the alien life

within the base. An example of this is shown here

(Knowyourmeme, n.d.), with a screenshot from the movie

Arrival, where Amy Adams’ character tries to

communicate with aliens. In the context of Area 51 and

the raid, it gains the meaning of trying to communicate

with aliens, asking if they wish to participate in sexual

intercourse.

Because of the rich history of the Area 51 memes, as well as the contemporary nature

of the raid event, this case will be focused on the phenomenon of the Area 51 raid and the

memes surrounding it. For the report we want to give the reader and overview of this case,

what is prior to the event, and what memes followed it. As well as giving a better understanding

of what a meme is, and how it can be defined as complex signs seen through a social semiotics

analysis which includes the multimodal perspective. These will be used to analyse our chosen

memes. The chosen memes have been picked from the ‘Hot’ page of the subreddit ‘memes’,

meaning they have been picked from the major factor of popularity.

1.2. Problem formulation

How does the ‘Storm Area 51’ phenomenon provide insights, through memes,

about the multimodal, intertextual and participatory character of the digital culture?

Sub questions:

- Multimodality: How do the sign-makers make use of the available semiotic resources?

- Intertextuality: Where do the memes borrow their semiotic resources, and in what ways

do they re-mediate these resources to produce new meaning potentials?

- Participation: How do the spread of these memes enable participation and

communication about the Area 51 raid phenomenon?

1.3. Memes and Digital Culture

As mentioned, memes are something that have been around for as long as anyone can

remember. Before technology and the Internet, older generations had their own form of meme,

for example: “(insert name) was here”. These were graffitied or drawn in various places and

each meme varied depending on your location and culture. Then the Internet was born. Memes

are spreading to an online and digital platform where they are constantly shared around the

world. There is yet to be a definitive description of the term ‘meme’, as its form keeps changing,

but in this report, and this section we will attempt to come up with a definition based on our

chosen literature.

Limor Shifman

attempts to dissect memes and fully understand its culture in her book

Memes in Digital Culture (Shifman, 2014). In the introduction chapter, Shifman mentions

different definitions of the word ‘memes’. The first description says the following: “small units

of culture that spread from person to person by copying or imitation” (Shifman, 2014, p. 3).

This quote was coined by Richard Dawkins

in 1976 from his book The Selfish Gene. A quote

from his book can help to further understand his definition of a meme:

“Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are

to life. Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene

pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes.” (Dawkins, 1976, p. 3)

As an evolutionist, Dawkins believes that memes are the equivalent of genes in culture.

In other words, as we evolve there are certain things, we know but were not necessarily taught

to us. Memes are something that is built into us and there is a certain knowledge about certain

events that we never learned, but we know because of memes. This will also be visible

throughout our report, as there will be some knowledge that is built into us because we have

grown up with memes. Another description that is mentioned by Shifman, has been adjusted

to fit with the Internet, and digital culture, which says the following “the tag “Internet meme”

is commonly applied to describe the propagation of items such as jokes, rumors, videos, and

websites from person to person via the Internet” (Shifman, 2014, p. 3). Both descriptions

describe memes as something that is shared and transmitted from person to person, and in this

Professor at the Department of Communication and Journalism (Limor Shifman, n.d.)

An ethologist, the study of behaviour (Richard Dawkins, n.d.)

case, it is shared via the Internet. The word used by Shifman, propagation

. The word itself

relates back to the idea of memes as genes, as something that can spread and evolve. These

descriptions of what a meme is, will be our base for what a meme is. The next section of this

chapter will discuss some examples of memes and how they have evolved.

The following example of a meme is based on a screencap from the film trilogy Lord

of the Rings, where the character says, ‘One does not simply walk into Mordor’.

Knowyourmeme, 2019

The above visual is a prime example of how memes looked a few years ago, from around 2004

(One does not…, 2019). The main components of those memes were a picture and text in the

font, Impact

. This specific meme has, since the origination of the scene, been changed by

users, where they altered the text, and or picture, to fit a template of: “One does not simply X

into Y”, as seen below.

Knowyourmeme, 2019

Which is generally the life of a meme. In contemporary digital culture, memes have changed

their appearances, to that of the example above, to something else.

The act of; spreading, increasing or enlarging/extenting (Propagation, n.d.)

The font used for texts in memes

Knowyourmeme, 2019

This meme can be seen as an example of a different way of constructing memes. Still keeping

the simple template of a short text and a picture or two. If you have not been following the

evolution of memes, or have experienced the message its trying to convey, then the examples

might not make a lot of sense. The main inspiration for memes are based on universal

experiences but with some form of exaggeration. Using the picture above as an example, most

people have experienced helping an adult fix a car by holding a light. The image on the left is

meant to portray the adult being frustrated with the car or not figuring out what the problem is.

While the image on the right is meant to portray the child being intimidated and on the verge

of tears while holding the light to help the adult. These messages are conveyed through the

usage of signs, such as the usage of the red colour, and the referent, of the text directly referring

to something in real life. The category of memes that the aforementioned example falls on, are

based on universal and relatable experiences which are also exaggerated to a certain extent.

1.3.1. Layering in Memes

To further discuss and elaborate on different meme types, this part will put a deeper focus on

what is in a meme. We will be discussing the different physical attributes of memes as well as

look into the different ways that people can create or reproduce them. Shifman describes these

attributes in her book as user-created derivatives and intertextuality (Shifman, 2014). The first

attribute, user-created derivative, describes how people take a meme, to then mimic or change

it into something else, also shown with the example of “One does not simply…”, and Shifman

describes that there are two ways to do this. Before further elaborating on this, we must have a

meme to repackage and reproduce. The image below is from an anime called Naruto. The

meme in it self stems from the main character, Naruto, and is the way that he is running, dubbed

the ‘Naruto run’.

Naruto: Shippuden - Various Episodes

Taking this meme as a starting point for examples on mimicry and remix. Mimicry, according

to Shifman, is to recreate a meme, such as doing the run in real life. As she states: “Mimicry

involves the practice of “redoing” - the re-creation of a specific text by other people and/or by

other means. In its essence, mimicry is not new - people have always engaged in impersonation

others - whether these were domineering parents, annoying teachers or hypocrite politicians”

(Shifman, 2014, p. 7). Shifman states that mimicry is nothing new, and has been done,

especially within comedy where it is used for humor. Mimicking the picture of the Naruto run

above would mean that people would recreate it in real life. As shown by the picture below.

ABC action news, 20th September 2019

This image portrays a boy recreating the Naruto run behind a reporter, who is there to cover

the events of the raid on Area 51. This scene can, by Shifman’s description, be defined as a

mimicry of a meme. The scene, and the boy has since then been remixed into other memes and

creates new meaning behind it.

Remixing is the second method of reproducing memes as described by Shifman. It is

just as popular as mimicry and can often be viewed as the same, but there exists a difference.

Remixing is mostly known from the music industry where artists would take sound bites from

different tracks and fuse them together, remixing. Shifman describes remix as: “It involves

technology-based manipulation, for instance by Photoshopping an image or adding a new

soundtrack. A plethora of user-friendly applications that enable people to download and re-edit

content have turned remixing into an extremely popular practice” (Shifman, 2014, p. 7). The

act of remixing can be shown in the example below.

Knowyourmeme, 2019

A scene from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy added with the Naruto running man

In this example, the image of the Naruto runner is now photoshopped onto another meme,

which makes it a remix, by definition of Shifman’s theory. This meme is also building on the

buzz created before the event of the raid on Area 51. Where it had been discussed in detail how

everyone involved should Naruto run into the secret military base. Correlating with the above

seen meme of the running man, is seen as cool, or other intertextual references such as;

legendary

or breathtaking

. Making this meme a great example of the layering done by

remixing, and all the references to be found within. To sum up Shifman’s idea of the

construction of a meme, there are two major ways to repackage and reproduce memes. Mimicry

being the act of re-acting a certain meme, as the Naruto run, and remixing as a way to layer

and create new meaning by taking existing memes and remixing them together.

Often referring to the catchphrase of the protagonist's friend Barney Stinson in the TV-show How I Met Your Mother

Referring to Keanu Reeves yelling “You’re breathtaking” back to an audience member for the reveal of an anticipated game. Which later

turned into a meme

As mentioned earlier, Shifman stated that memes possess two attributes and the second

attribute is intertextuality. The concept of intertextuality helps describing how things can

contain references to other sources. An example of intertextuality could be how there has been

shown examples of the Naruto runner above. Intertextuality is essentially texts referring to each

other, building on existing meaning, and from that creating something new. Through

researching on how these attributes collaborate to create memes, we can gain a better

understanding of memes and their role in contemporary digital culture. There will be further

explanation and elaboration on intertextuality in the theoretical framework section.

1.3.2. Memes Online

In Memes in Digital Culture Shifman also refers to another research done by Richard

Dawkins. In which he states that there are three properties making memes spread successfully.

“The properties are; longevity, fecundity and copying fidelity” (Shifman, 2014). Each one of

these properties play a role in how memes become popular within digital culture. As Shifman

writes:

“Online meme transmission has higher copy fidelity (that is, accuracy) than communication

through other media, since digitization allows lossless information transfer. Fecundity (the

number of copies made in a time unit) is also greatly increased— the Internet facilitates the

swift diffusion of any given message to numerous nodes. Longevity may potentially increase,

as well, because information can be stored indefinitely in numerous archives” (Shifman,

2014, p. 2)

In other words, the Internet has amplified these properties, and that has resulted in the vast

archives of memes growing day by day. The number of users on the Internet help the property

of fidelity to play a large role in the digital culture of memes. Fidelity focuses on the

preservation of information, giving all users access to the same content, and the ability to edit

it and further expand the archives, through the property fecundity. Resulting in a grand vault

of memes and information, being kept because of the longevity provided by the Internet.

Something that captures the idea of longevity are the templates presented for meme creators.

A template is a blank slate of a certain meme, as shown below.

Knowyourmeme, 2019

This example is a simple template, as it presents you with three white boxes wherein you can

fill it with text. There exist countless templates of different meme for all to use, and it is

preserved by the longevity of the digital culture and makes an example of fecundity. As it is

easily accessible, and users have an easier time distribution their own creation.

These characteristics are useful to define the semiotic resources involved in the making

of a meme. In fact, the empty template is already a multimodal layout of images and text,

through their composition. After this, the meme-makers add new semiotic resources generating

new and different meanings.

1.4 Area 51 and Its History

Now, put on your tinfoil hat, and follow, as we scratch the surface of the conspiracy

theory concerning Area 51. A conspiracy theory is, as defined by Merriam-Webster: “a theory

that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful

conspirators” (Conspiracy theory, n.d.). Conspirators are seen as powerful organisations, in this

case; governments. The reason for providing the definition of and naming these theories as a

conspiracy is grounded in the lack of supporting evidence, and added contradicting evidence

that suggest the theories are smoke and mirrors. We do not want to give credit to any specific

theory in this section, we are just noting what ideas are given to the Internet, and takes on the

unknown and mysterious subject, Area 51.

It is challenging to come across reliable information about the base. In fact, it is near

impossible to trust any information about this place, as there are multiple people who have

come out and said contradicting information, in comparison to the government's official

statements. Apart from its location, we know that it belongs to the US government and has

been built in the late 1950s (“What is Area 51”, 2019). What is happening there? Does the

government hide and experiment with alien technology? Why do they keep it secret from us?

Many people, over the past 50 years have tried answering similar questions to these, most of

them are now conspiracy theorist. A main factor to keep in mind when calling theories focused

on area 51 conspiracy theories, is that the CIA did not publicly admit to the existence of the

secret base, until 2013 (“What is area 51”, 2019). Adding on to the mysticism of the base and

confirming theories on the existence of the base. And if some parts of the theory are correct,

why might the rest not be, and why did they choose to hide the existence until recently, and

what else might they be hiding? The official statement of what Area 51 has been doing, and

what it was built for, is to research on spying drones, to originally spy on the USSR, during the

Cold War. As Annie Jacobsen

says in an interview with Vox (Ward and Romano, 2019) it is

the “birthplace of overhead espionage for the CIA,”.

Moving on to who you could call the originator of the conspiracy theories surrounding

Area 51, is Robert Scott Lazar. Since 1989, for 30 years Lazar has claimed to be a former

employee at Area 51, reverse engineering what he claims to be of extraterrestrial origin

(Strickland and J. Kriger, 2019). In 1989 he did an interview where he proclaimed himself as

someone who had been working inside Area 51. Through Lazar's interview, he went on to

‘confirm’ speculations done by citizens of the US on aircrafts being labeled as UFO

. The

reason for this label is in the nature of the aircraft, since they could go up to 60.000 feet, in

contrast to the normal flying object which only went up to 20.00 - 30.000 (Stuart and Protin,

2019). Despite being around since 1989, Lazar renewed his popularity, and entered the

mainstream media, with the 2018 Netflix documentary about his life, Bob Lazar: Area 51 &

Flying Saucers. After this 30 year hiatus from the media he resurfaces, not only with a

documentary, but also a 2 hour interview in the popular podcast show The Joe Rogan

Experience. A notable person, Matty Roberts, had listened to this podcast, and then went on to

create the Facebook event: “Storm Area 51, They can't stop all of us” (Ward and Romano).

The author of: Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base

Unidentified Flying Object

Another notable figure in the Area 51 theories scene, is Annie Jacobsen, a best-selling

writer. She often engages in government related and controversial topics. In her 2011 book

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base, she claims that the

presence of aliens in the base is useful for the government as a cover-up. A cover-up for the

base using advanced engineering to produce secret weapons, to fight the Russians during the

Cold War. Creating a new wave of conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51, and focusing on

that, as its main factor, instead of aliens being in focus. Though it may not be the mainstream

theory on what Area 51 is, but it is building on the Lazar’s theory and adding ideas that build

on knowledge provided by the CIA, on what Area 51 did, which was spying on the USSR.

The above-mentioned background information has provided the standing ground on

which most people get their ideas on what Area 51 holds and or hides. But how does that

influence pop-culture, and how did Matty Roberts’ event get to the extent of attendees as it did.

Though it can not be explained entirely, what could have had a major influence on the event is

how Area 51, and the theory behind it, has been interlocked with pop-culture and media.

Starting by what genre and fantasy Area 51 represents. It represents something alien, and

something hidden away from the general public. The theories stem from the US, who in all

broad understandings dominate the western societies, and therefore influences how the western

society thinks about certain topics. Alien life and technology is presented in media, TV-series

and movies, concerning science-fiction

. Take for example Star Wars (1977) and Star Trek

(1966), two major franchises who have inspired multiple sequels, prequels and spin-offs in

future installments. The latest installment of Star Wars

earned an estimate of 317 million

dollars (Star Wars, n.d.), suggesting the popularity of science fiction. Star Wars is a franchise

populated with a grand variety of alien life. The correlation of the popularity of the franchise

as well as the science fiction world, could suggest that viewers are wanting this fictional world

to be true. And since no scientist could disprove that these creatures and the illustration of

worlds might be untrue, because they have not been able to look that far yet, it leads to the

fantastical idea of something otherworldly being true. A popularity for science fiction has been

created through movies and TV-series such as the aforementioned examples. Something that

could definitely have been assisting in making the theory of alien technology present in Area

51, is the TV-show X-files. A TV-show that lasted 11 seasons (X-files, n.d.) over a year span

of 15 years

, and have been on several top 10 lists of TV-shows, for the year, decade, and of

Imagined science in fiction

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

1993-2018

all time. The TV-show centers around two agents investigating paranormal activity, often

mentioning alien activity and Area 51. Another great example to mention quickly, is E.T., a

popular movie from 1982, where the government is trying to take a stranded alien away, and

experiment on it. Or the movie Independence Day (1996) which is shown every year on

Independence Day

, centered around the main cast residing in area 51 which is full of alien

technology used to defeat the invaders.

All of this correlates to some understanding, that the general theory is that Area 51/the

government is hoarding alien life/technology. And though it might be untrue, the flame does

not perish until something happens. Movies and TV-shows will keep on using science fiction

to grab the interest of the targeted audience. And TV-shows, like American Dad, will probably

keep using Area 51 as a punch line for secrecy in the American government. Which is made

prudent by the recent Netflix documentary, featuring Robert Scott Lazar, and the podcast that

followed. This resulted in a resurgence of Area 51 and its ‘secrets’, forming the event for

storming the secret base. And in between these events, Area 51, as mentioned had almost

become a punchline, and common knowledge, that it flowed with the meme culture, and

creating its own memes, within the digital culture. Though it has dwindled down after the event

‘happened’

, it might rise again. One thing is for sure, the digital culture will not forget area

51, as made obvious by one of the early quotes surrounding the internet and scandalous

pictures: “The Internet does not forget.”

The reasoning behind this introduction is to give a basis for a theoretical framework to

be built and in doing so can be beneficial for choosing the appropriate memes for the analysis.

The decision for providing the background information surrounding the history and mystery of

Area 51, is to help the reader understand the phenomenon that was the Facebook event. It can

be assumed that the myth and conspiracy theories about Area 51 proved as a catalyst for the

event going viral. One of the interesting aspects of the selected case about ‘Storm Area 51’

event is indeed a connection between the people’s involvement and participation regarding the

event both online and in real life as well. This case was chosen because of the effect that an

event has on digital culture. We believed there was something to be seen through the timeline

of the Area 51 mythos, to the event ‘Storm Area 51’. It is contemporary, and it is a great

comment on the digital culture, and how it uses memes as a way to deal with the unknowns,

National holiday for the US

Questionable whether or not it was a success and therefore happened, as the participants did not storm Area 51, but merely stood on the

boundaries set up

and humour to communicate complex emotions. The storm of the Area 51 event was but a

catalyst for this ongoing movement inside digital culture, and we were able to see it first hand,

and try to catch its magic, as we could see both the pre event memes, what was going on during

the event (the day of) and how it has influenced digital culture in the aftermath, and even

exploring if it has.

The memes selected from the ‘Storm Area 51’ event will be analyzed with a multimodal

approach, that will help understanding how different meanings are created through the

application of different modes, or multimodal signs, enabling to define how each one

contributes to the overall meaning. The intertextual approach instead will enable to decode the

very origins of the mentioned semiotic resources. In a broader social semiotic approach, the

aim is to theorize how memes are social creations that become meaningful as a result of social

contexts, and the way their makers decide to communicate through them.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1. Social Semiotics

Social semiotics is a field of semiotics which explores the signifying practices in

particular social circumstances, investigating the meaning-making processes intended as social

practices. It broadens the Saussurean idea of semiotics by considering codes of

communications as formed by social processes. Saussurean semiotics, as the science of signs,

considers the relation between the signifier and the signified as a formal structure. Peirce

already suggested that this relation cannot be fixed but a continuous production process taking

place as individuals come across signs in social contexts.

Social semiotics differs from Saussurean structuralist semiotics in its focus on the

variability of semiotic practices: changes in human circumstances and the formation of new

social identities actually change patterns of usage of semiotic practices (Hodge & Kress, 1988).

Signs are interpreted as resources which individuals design to make meanings, rather than fixed

codes. In this sense, the objective of social semiotics is to develop theories which can explain

meaning-making in social contexts. Linguist Michal Halliday used the term in relation to

linguistics arguing against the separation between language and society. For Halliday, language

is a system of meaning potential (Halliday, 1978), a system of resources employed for

individual’s purpose in social contexts e.g.; facilitating interactions, representing ideas and

referring to them. Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress in their Social Semiotics (1988) focused

on the use of semiotic systems in social contexts, and on the role of interpretation. The

interpretation, or semiosis, of a text positions it within discourses, and this continuous process

of interpretation and positioning challenges the strength of the hegemonic discourse. This

critical perspective, originating in Marx, led Hodge and Kress argue that Saussure’s semiotics

eluded human movement and creativity, focusing on meaning as a rigid code and structure and

an arbitrary relationship between the signifier and signified. Hodge and Kress appealed to

Peirce's idea of the meaning of signs as a process of infinite semiosis, in which meaning is

generated through a chain of interpretation (Hodge & Kress, 1988).

Social semiotics is now extending this theoretical framework beyond linguistics to new

combined modes of communication as new, socially formed and changeable grammars (Van

Leeuwen, 2005). The practices (or channels) of social meaning-making, are in fact semiotic

modes, registers that can include written, verbal, visual, musical resources and eventually

multimodal ensembles (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001).

As previously stated, social semiotic theory is focused on meanings, in all its modes.

These meanings arise in social interactions and circumstances: the “social” becomes the

generator of meanings in this particular semiotic process. Multimodality also includes the

examination of gestures, postures, mimicry or clothing as ways of communicating. According

to the memes selected, these modes might also be explained in interaction in order to obtain a

better understanding of the meanings intended by the makers, the meanings for the interpreters-

the interpretants, and the common signification within the contemporary (participatory)

culture. Therefore, another essential part of the theoretical investigation will be around the

concept of participation through, for example, the practices of spreadability and through the

exploration of signs meme-makers interests, intended as single makers or communities. The

understanding of the communication through the cultural symbolisms carried by memes as an

example either of vernacular language or example of a proper code of shared conventions will

be part of the theoretical research.

2.1.1. Interpretive Communities

The theory of interpretive communities, developed from the school of reader-response

criticism, focuses on the experience of the reader of a literary work, contrasting other schools

(e.g. New Criticism or formalism) focusing on the form and the object of the text work. This

theory is being used to explain how people build meanings through their own subjectivities, as

seen by social semiotics. The reader-response theories acknowledge the reader as an operative

and involved agent who actively builds the meaning of the work through interpretation and in

fact creates the text performance. This theory states that a text doesn’t have meaning outside

of a set of cultural premises regarding the meaning of the components involved and how they

are interpreted, and if this cultural context does include the authorial intent, it is definitely not

limited to it. One of the multiple existing approaches within the reader-response criticism has

been established by Stanley Fish, American literary theorist. Fish formulated the affective

stylistics theory believing that a text can only come into existence after it is read, meaning that

a text can’t have any meaning independently of the reader (Fish, 1980). In his book Is there a

Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities Fish investigates the core of the

debate offering new perspectives about the way people read by analysing the relation between

the reader and the text and doing so contrasting the formalist assumption that the text is the

only knowable and unchanging component of the literary experience. Fish claims the proactive

right of the reader to create the literary work without giving any invitation to the realm of

subjectivity and to the potentially infinite proliferation of interpretations: a literary work is

never just approached by an isolated individual, but it is approached by a community of readers.

The members of this community are not easily recognizable as the simple act of communication

about it would have to be interpreted, in a multi layers culturally constructed perspective on

literary studies. In this sense the theoretical perspective of constructivism is the core of the

interpretive communities’ research and, in the meantime, the link to the specific research on

Area 51 memes.

Reflecting on the theoretical insight about interpretive communities it emerges the

interest in the understanding of what could be the relation of these concepts of literary

experiences with the use of memes in communication practices. The study of our case of Area

51 raid memes conducted with the help of the theoretical frameworks of multimodality and

remediation, intertextuality and participation can surely be conducted as a case of a series of

literary works producing their meaning through their modes, their replication and propagation,

but not only that. In more general terms, memes cannot be explained by only considering them

as generic jokes gone viral, but it’s needed another level of comprehension based on the

participants and on the conventional codes within the communities of interest. The theory about

interpretive communities can help our investigation aiming the understanding of meaning-

making mechanisms that actually create what we experience to be an internet meme,

specifically considering the case of Area 51 raid phenomenon. The performance of each one

of those memes totally relies on the belonging to a specific group that somehow find its way to

relate to the subject/object in different ways. It can be because of a common interest in

something, of a personal trait, of a common experience of something, or whatever else help

creating a shared conventional code or language only the members of a group can untangle and

decrypt. In the theoretical framework of our report, Fish’s theory could be halfway between

participation and intertextuality. If participation is involved by the concept of communities,

intertextuality is involved as a part of the cultural contexts in which the readers build their own

interpretation and experience of the literary text. Further readings and analysis on this direction

will be carried on helping delineate the complete theoretical framework intentioned to

comprehend the use of memes in the digital communication practices.

2.2. Multimodality

Internet memes differ from the original definition of memes in their tendency to spread

and fade fast, as well as in their capacity to be reshaped and modified according to the agency

of the meme-makers. In the construction of Internet memes, different modes come into play,

such as image either moving or non-moving, writing, sound, composition, framing, color, etc.

where a mode can be defined as a “medium of a communicative act” (Gillian, 2012, p. 138)

(Dancygier & Vandelanotte, 2017).

In the case of this project, the memes approached will be the ones constructed overall

from non-moving images and texts. Most of the visual modes will be taken into consideration

when analyzing the memes for example, color, framing, composition, visual representations of

the subjects of the meme, etc. Both the text and the image in their interaction will be analyzed

from a social semiotic perspective, as signs made or remade by a sign-maker and interpreted

by sign-viewers, both belonging to a specific social framework at the time of the making of the

sign. The meme being a complex artifact, a multimodal analysis would also encompass the

social histories of representation of some of the signs composing the meme from different

modes of communication, their common elements, as well as the various interpretants

extracted from discourses within a certain moment or, in the case of this paper, a certain event.

From this perspective, the Peircean theory of signs might become more useful than the

Saussurean theoretical approach to linguistics, the latter being resumed to a collective and

arbitrary relation to the world, without taking into consideration the contribution of the

individual agency to the collective power (Kress, 2010).

Due to the fact that a meme is a sign-complex built with individual agency for a

cooperative purpose, it is also important to stress the meme-maker’s interest and viewpoint,

socially shaped and reshaped, intersubjectively interacting with the meme-viewers’ alignments,

at the moment of the meaning-making. Nevertheless, it would also be significant to emphasize

the new forms and meanings of the created memes at the conjunction of the previous modes,

their object representing signs themselves detaining previous forms and meanings. It might be

interesting to find a certain relation between the forms and the meanings implied in a logonomic

system of memes, a relation of a metonymic or denotative nature, but, nonetheless, shaped by

a social, psychological or sociopolitical history as well as by regimes of reception or production

(Kress, 2010) (Gillian, 2012). At the same time, the interaction of the image with the text, each

one of them being a means of representation and convention, might also lead to new meanings

within the sign-complex of the meme. However, text and image can interact in different

measures and, as a result, that specific measure of one or the other can also constitute one

multimodal feature in the communication of a meme towards its recipients.

As multimodal constructions, the memes used in this project will be selected according

to various criteria chosen by the authors, although the starting general criterium will be the

social event ‘Storm Area 51’ due to its representational value at the level of common discourse

between the participants of the digital culture. Furthermore, the cultural symbolism of Area 51

has itself contributed to the multimodality of signs related to the subject. Therefore, many

instances of signification, with an emphasis on the modes of image and text, within the current

event could be analyzed in close connection to previously made similar or even identical image-

macros and their earlier criteria of interest, conventionally and intersubjectively determined.

The usefulness of this endeavor would be that of determining a certain frame-metonymy as

well as identifying the way in which previous signs extracted from memes have become

The meanings of signs for the receivers of the signs

monomodal constructions, building meaning on their own (Dancygier & Vandelanotte, 2017).

The textual components of the memes will serve to further categorize in close

connection with the images. The syntax and semantics of the enunciations will enable to

determine a common viewpoint, when connected to the social histories of representation of

certain memes, as well as when connected to the image modes of the current analyzed meme,

relations in interaction with the visual subjects, color, image composition, framing.

Multimodality also includes the examination of gestures, postures, mimicry or clothing

as ways of communicating. These modes might also be explained in interaction in order to

obtain a better understanding of the meanings intended by the makers, the meanings for the

interpreters- the interpretants, and their common signification and viewpoint within the

contemporary, participatory, culture.

From a traditional epistemological perspective in communication, multimodality is

relevant in improving the reflexivity lacking in the Social Semiotic tradition by revealing

subjectivities into and from a social context and by establishing the relations between them

which create and enact realities, rather than reenacting established truths.

2.2.1. Modes in Interaction: Image and Writing in a Meme

According to Dancygier and Vandelanotte, “The interactions between linguistic and

visual form are what make Internet memes multimodal in a specific sense.” (Dancygier &

Vandelanotte, 2017, p. 567). This project report emphasizes this interaction for the study and

analysis of image-macros

while being aware that these are just two of the semiotic resources

which contribute to meaning-making in memes. Both of these modes possess different physical

characteristics and social backgrounds, the latter existing in accordance to the mode’s cultural

and social semiotic affordances over time. In a relatively long period of time, the typical

memes, like the ones employed in this paper, have linked the visual with the linguistic modes

within a common discourse viewpoint space, creating new meanings intersubjectively, between

meme-makers and meme-viewers. The discourse viewpoint space represents a higher level of

viewpoints which unifies the discourses of the meme-makers and the interpretations of the

receivers, seeking to reach a space of coherence (Kress, 2013) (Dancygier & Vandelanotte,

2017). Nevertheless, the discourse viewpoint space of a meme is, in itself, shaped by certain

conventions which shape the way that meaning is conveyed and coordinated.

Non-moving images and writing

Firstly, one of these conventions is discourse, a basic structure which supports meaning-

making within all levels. There are various discourses, owning their histories, enactments and

social shaping, that converge within the viewpoint space of a meme. At certain times, within

the same meme, there can be many, even opposing discourses. However, the final meaning is

achieved through an intersubjective agreement between the maker and the viewer, established

through an alignment of emotions and knowledge within a specific context.

A second convention framing the semiotic resources of a meme is genre, defining

certain common rules and characteristics that multimodal texts share. Even though memes

borrow from and remediate different other media genres; film, television, print media, social

media, etc. once they obtain or build new meaning as multimodal texts, they become their own

genre with specific features and elements. Furthermore, the memes could, in return, provide

monomodal structures of meaning

for the other media contexts, for example, for advertising

or journalism. In the case of this project, the utilized macro-images as simple and chain memes

could be considered a subgenre of memes, one that respects the features of spreadability,

replicability and, often, jocularity.

Thirdly, there are certain agreements regarding the style of a multimodal construction,

namely in this case, a meme. This report puts emphasis in its analysis on a particular manner

of constructed memes - macro images of both simple and chain memes - which respect

stylistically the rules of composition and framing of the images and writings in interaction.

However, even within this style, there are multimodal constructions more or less prototypical;

there are not only key examples which are easier to identify and characterize, but also outlying

cases which diverge from the prototypes of the style (Van Leeuwen, 2005) (Dancygier &

Vandelanotte, 2017).

Apart from the previously mentioned conventions, there are certain constructions of

meaning, framing and compositionality within and between multimodal artifacts belonging to

a genre, style and discursive context - in the case of this report, memes, macro-images and the

Area 51 event, respectively.

Regarding the constructional meaning, memes often use existing structures of linguistic

and visual modes, each of them realizing their own meanings. However, new meanings are

Such as an image of a hat representing metonymically a scumbag situation, or a phrase adding a viewpoint reversal- ‘said no one ever’

built multimodally, through the interaction and cooperation of these modes. As a result, the

linguistic modes using, for example, direct speech, fictive

interaction or incomplete

conditional clauses, are complemented by the visual modes using frame-metonymies (such as

the image of Boromir metonymically signifying the frame space of The Lord of the Rings) or

stock characters from other memes which possess an inherent framing, such as; Scumbag

Steve, Good Guy Greg, Bad Luck Brian, etc.. The subjects of the visual modes can often

function as conative signs which convey other levels of meaning. A conative sign could be

metonymic, as in the case of a simple guy with a hat, Steve, representing bad behavior

(scumbag) or synecdochal, when Steve’s hat has come to represent Steve in various memes

that describe scumbag behavior (Dancygier & Vandelanotte, 2017) (Bezemer & Jewitt, 2010)

(Gillian, 2012).

Within a multimodal artefact, written texts also provide images with, what Roland

Barthes called “anchorage” (Gillian, 2012, p. 120). This helps the meme viewers (in the case

of this paper) to choose a denotive (descripting) meaning out of a sum of possible denotive

meanings in an image (diegesis). One meme chosen for analysis in this paper could exemplify

this anchorage. The meme has a classical format of a man walking with his girlfriend and

turning his head after another woman. The denotive meaning would be what is considered a

stereotypical behavior of men looking after other women. The writing offers anchorage to this

behavior within the context of the Area 51 event by attributing representational names (signs)

to the stock characters, names that only possess the attributes of a metonymy, building meaning

through the contextual and situational association between characters and text. As a result, the

choice of meaning for the meme viewer within the discourse viewpoint space would be made

according to the metonymical frame of a picture, although not without the anchorage offered

by the writing. Nevertheless, when the written texts are more significant, the image comes to

complement the text and thus, the writing acquires a relay-function. For example, a meme often

used in relation to the Area 51 raid event is an image-macro depicting a fictive dialogic

interaction between the people and the Government, the former stating in written text that the

government wouldn’t kill all the people storming Area 51 in order to protect their secrets. The

Government is represented by an image of the character Khaleesi, from the series Game of

Thrones, smiling cynically in response to the people, thus complementing the discourse

often dialogic

viewpoint space that the Government would actually kill the people who would try to uncover

confidential information (Gillian, 2012).

The constructional compositionality represents the variations in form of an image-

macro while the meaning stays the same. Although the linguistic modes could be incomplete,

even having a short formulaic appearance, once the constructional meaning is formed with the

help of the image, the syntax of the writing maintains the same semantics of the multimodal

construction at the level of the discourse viewpoint space. The image is usually more inclined

towards detaining a modal affordance which makes it easier to interpret the mode and the whole

construction within the context of the meme.

As previously mentioned, frame-metonymy is another part that contributes to the

multimodality of an image-macro. Furthermore, memes have, in time, provided the viewers

with already available frames that could stand as metonymic signs for both a withheld subject

and for a higher level of meaning. In the case of the latter, the same frame can be used within

different contexts to reproduce certain discourses or emotions. This also expresses a level of

modal affordance, both in the context of the image-macro, as well as within a wider social,

cultural or political context. As a result, in retaking the last introduced example, the character

of Daenerys Targaryen stands as a metonym for the Government as well as metonymically

evoking the brutality of Game of Thrones for the experienced viewers of the series and of

memes. The main discourse represented by the frame, that the Government can be

unscrupulous and brutal, could be used in various other contexts apart from the one of the Area

51 events (Dancygier & Vandelanotte, 2017) (Bezemer & Jewitt, 2010).

Lastly, it is necessary to bring intersubjectivity into the discussion. Within the discourse

viewpoint space, the complex network of understandings reaches a convergent point through a

common ground between conscious minds. Most of the memes created are an expression of the

needs, thoughts and interests of the meme maker; these can be of an emotional, rational,

political, social, etc. nature. However, these expressions could not reach an inferred meaning

within the discourse viewpoint space if the meme viewers would not relate, even in the least

possible ways, with the message that the creator is presenting. At the same time, a less

experienced user of the internet or reader of memes would find it harder to reach that space

where the meaning is built from modal interaction. Nonetheless, even these types of users could

associate themselves with the daily emotions and struggles conveyed by certain memes, with

the discourses that detain features of the human nature at the base. In order to reach a better

understanding of the meanings found in multimodal constructions and, specifically, in memes,

one needs to be aware of the intertextual elements a text has by possessing prior understanding

and knowledge, not only in connection to other memes, but also regarding different

surrounding structured contexts, such as politics, popular culture, mass-media, etc.

Within this research project, the multimodal nature of memes will be shown through

the analysis of the interaction between the written texts and images, as well as determining the

constructional meaning which completes the compositional one within a frame metonymy and

within the wider social environment of the Area 51 raid event. Consequently, the meanings

built gradually through the single or multiple interactions of the modes will be presented

together with the other processes of meaning-making in order to obtain a holistic understanding

of digital culture.

2.3. Intertextuality

No text is completely independent from the broader literary system that includes it. On

the contrary, texts that make up the set of knowledge, the "encyclopedia" of a given culture (or

a discourse, in foucauldian terms), explicitly or not refer to each other and quote each other.

If multimodality and remediation

shape the content of the sign through the interaction

and repetition of images and texts, intertextuality makes sense of the concept of the sign

through other texts (Genette, 1997). As previously argued, a meme is a complex sign, and a

multimodal analysis together with an intertextual analysis will help towards an understanding

of the layered means of meaning building. The concept of intertextuality, commonly associated

with postmodernism, has indeed much more ancient roots: interrelations between texts help

adding layers to the rhetoric generating texts-related understanding using intertextual figures

as allusions, quotations, calques, plagiarisms, translations, pastiches or parodies. It is a device,

a tool used to create interrelationships between texts, subsequently obtaining an interrelated

understanding in separate works based on the audience’s prior knowledge. Intertextuality, very

Will be explained further in the section on Remediation

different from plagiarism but also different from quotation, adds depth and complexity to a text

without always being intentional.

The concept was introduced by the scholar Julia Kristeva. For her, intertextuality is the

mediation of meaning filtered by codes imparted by other texts both to the author and to the

audience (Kristeva, 1980). The use of the term ‘text’ here refers to the broader sense of the

‘word’ as it is used in the sphere of semiotics or theory of culture; it does not refer only to the

literary text. Not being able to be a completely autonomous unit, the text would continually

cite and re-elaborate the features of several other texts to create a sort of mosaic. The

relationship between two texts therefore overlaps with the intersubjective one between the

authors. According to subsequent studies by Roland Barthes (Barthes, 1984), this intertextual

view of literature shows the importance of the networks of texts evoked in the process, therefore

the enhancing importance of the role of the reader would undermine the role and importance

of the author, supporting the concept that the meaning of a text does not necessarily reside in

the text itself. According to William Fitzsimmons, intertextual relations can be classified in

three types – obligatory, optional and accidental (Fitzsimmons, 2013) – depending on

intentionality and significance. This classification is not fixed as often different types of

intertextual relations co-exist in the same source. Obligatory intertextuality takes place when

the author invokes another text (or many others) in a way the reader can achieve full

comprehension of the hypertext only through the recognition of the hypotext. Optional

intertextuality is less essential for the full comprehension of the hypertext because the

intertextual relation is just slightly changing the understanding: often it’s conceived as a reward

for those who recognize the hypotext, but who doesn’t will anyway understand the hypotext.

The third type is the accidental intertextuality, when the reader himself makes the connection

between a text and another without any intentionality from the author.

According to Fairclough, intertextuality is a matter of recontextualization, a process

through which text, signs and meanings are extracted from their original context and reused in

a different one (Fairclough, 2003). Since the meaning of a content is closely related to its

context, the use of recontextualization consequently implies a shift of meaning, making the

process dynamic and transformative. More specifically, the linguist Per Linell distinguished

three different levels of recontextualization. the intratextual, intertextual and interdiscursive

(Linell, 1998). The first one is the intratextual recontextualization within the same text,

referring to what’s said in the same text. Intertextual recontextualization refers to different

texts, signs or meaning and it becomes essential for the comprehension when the meaning of a

content is based on its meaning in other contexts. The last one, the interdiscursive

recontextualization, occurs across different types of discourses or genres. Fairclough refers to

interdiscursivity as an implicit or explicit relation between discourses (such as genres for

Fairclough or discursive formations for Foucault), or orders of discourse, implying that

elements are imported from other discourses to build meaning in the recontextualization

process.

This intertextual thinking can allow us to decode the semiotic potential of our selection

of memes further considering intertextual and multimodal signification and references. In this

sense, it could be argued that a multimodal analysis wouldn’t be possible if not directly

inscribed in an intertextual analysis: all modes, in fact, could be understood as references of

previous texts of intertextual figures. The implications coming out of these two analyses would

eventually be productively intertwisted in the setting of our research.

2.4. Speaking into the System

The following section will focus on metacommunication and how the essential rules of

communication can be seen and interpreted in a digital context. The article investigates how

the primary understanding and aim of face-to-face communication can be identified in modal

communication platforms and tools. Whereas the rest of the theories focuses on memes

specifically, Speaking into the system looks at digital communication using elementary

communication tools. Whether they work in the same way is something we will investigate in

the discussion.

In Speaking into the system: Social media and many-to-one communication Klaus

Jensen and Rasmus Helles (2017) try to elaborate on the digital communication practises and

its proliferation. Despise the growing influence of technology and so forth, human

communication can still be understood in relatively few terms. The three main forms of

communication are; interpersonal communication (one-to-one), mass communication (one-to-

many) and networked communication (many-to-many). Furthermore, these communication

forms can be operated in both synchronic

and asynchronous

forms. Examples of these can

be seen beneath.

Asynchronous

Synchronous

One-to-one

E-mail. Text message

Voice, instant

messenger

One-to-many

Book, newspaper, audio and video,

Web 1.0/web page, download

Broadcast radio and

television

Many-to-many

Web 2.0/wiki, blog, social network

site

Online chat room

In the paper the authors talk about many-to-one communication and the lack of research

on this area. Many-to-one communication can be seen as the digital trail that the user leaves

behind either knowingly or unintentionally. We will be using their research \on the more basic

roles of communication.

Some of these basic roles were introduced by Gregory Bateson in his concept of

metacommunication – one of the grounding theories within communication. The theory was

originally used to capture some of the implicit yet essential conditions that makes

communication possible. With his focus being on face-to-face interactions he suggested that

the verbal interaction was only a small part of communication. According to Bateson every

statement, even if the same, is individual and carries multiple potential meanings and just as

many potential interpretations. The interpretation of a sentence will influence the course of the

conversation just as much as the intended meaning. In this type of direct setting the

In this context refers to a direct form of communication such as talking on the phone – immediate communication.

‘Out of synch’ communication e.g. facebook messenger. A non-direct communication.

communication includes much more than just the verbal expression it also includes body

language and context. Even though these are elements that are out of the communicator’s

control it qualifies as part of the conversation. Hence, when we enter a conversation we ascribe

meaning to our surroundings, culture expression, history as well as to each other. This implicit

aspect is what is referred to as metacommunication and is what Bateson sums up with the quote

“Humans cannot not communicate” (Jensen & Helles, 2017, p. 19).

Furthermore, Bateson introduced two types of communicational influencers that

determines the narrative of the interaction, besides the verbal communication. Firstly, he talked

about ‘codification’ and states that all communication depends on this. This looks at the

convention between the expression and the interpretation. In most cases we are good at

understanding the expected interpretation based on an analysis of the situation, the context,

previous experiences etc. and can therefore often rely on this in order to understand e.g. jokes,

irony and continue a conversation. If we do not feel comfortable in the setting, we often ask

questions such as “What do you mean with…?”.

Secondly, he mentions social relation as a factor when establishing

metacommunication. Metacommunication is an ongoing process, and in many settings,

communication is used as part of ingraining social practices and assign private and public roles

to the participants, this manifests in the responses and elaborations etc. When talking about

metacommunication in a digital context one distinguishes between two types of metadata. One

focuses on the future communication based on predicting individual stamps and digital

patterns. The second kind of metadata focuses on the ‘unsaid’. The metadata here looks beyond

the exchange of messages and centre on the codification and social relationships – the implicit

human communication tool. These multiple types and levels in this metacommunicative

product intersect in digital systems. In addition to this, Jensen and Helles add that every

medium is equally social, but in different ways. These medias are distinguished by their

potential for different communication forms such as how well it feeds into one-to-one

communication and the potential for many-to-many communication.

“… social media are distinguished by their potential for many-to-many communication,

drawing on and feeding into networks of one-to-one and one-to-many communication”

(Jensen & Helles, 2017, p. 20)

James Carey suggests looking at this as a distributed ritual, a community, a condition.

By stating this Carey challenges a dominant belief viewing communication as the transmitters

of information from sender to receivers in centralized systems of mass communication. Carey

goes on to quote the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey stating that societies are made in the

process of communication and not only by its products; behaviours, norms, attitudes, purchases

etc.

In today’s media environment – with many-to-many communication in the ascendance,

social media empowers distributed users and can perhaps over time challenge agendas. Thus,

if enough communicators/participants agree to change a social structure surrounding them, they

can. In other words, societies are transmissions as well as rituals. Realities are shared,

articulated and challenged in explicit expressions. Social media adds to the number of

participants in this exchange of truths and constructions of reality.

Referring to the concepts and ideas of metacommunication, communication also

consists of expressions and exchanges of implicit character. It produces rituals, maintain, repair

and helps transform current social realities. Furthermore, metadata is accumulated and carried

over to later communication instances. Current communication and metacommunication are

prefigured by previous communication. In other words, we re-communicate. This can also be

seen in the evolvement of different memes. As shown in the introduction, where remix and

mimicry was applied to the Naruto run meme. The meaning of a meme is built on by previous

interpretations and meanings of different parts of the meme. Thus, a participant of the meme

has to have knowledge about the pre-existing meanings and references of the different parts of

the meme.

From Bateson’s theory of metacommunication, we learn that communication is more

than the verbal exchange of words but that there is a whole power relation and implicit analysis

connected to the art of communicating. It is this that makes memes as a communication tool

possible. Through Carey’s ritual model we can see how memes are linked to the participants’

constructed reality and how this determines the meaning and the re-communication of the

meme. It also helps us understand how and why some memes are interpreted in multiple ways

and carries more meaning for certain groups.

2.5. Culture in the Digital World

This concept looks at the shift from 19th century print culture

via 20th century

electronic culture, accelerated and amplified by the popularity of digital images, networked

computers, and other personalised technologies to a 21st century digital culture

In the academic article ‘Participation, Remediation, Bricolage: Considering Principal

Components of a Digital Culture’, (Mark Deuze, 2006), investigates the rise of a digital

culture increased by the recognition of multiple-user software, networked computers, and the

Internet. Deuze is a Dutch professor at the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana

University. He conceptualises digital culture as consisting of participation, remediation and

bricolage, and with the help of different theories, he explores the meanings and suggestions

behind these terms:

2.5.1. Digital Culture

Digital culture refers to culture formed by the rise and use of digital technologies.

Digitalisation has developed into something that has an enormous influence on culture due to

the rise of the Internet, which is used as a mass form of communication, and the extensive

spread and use of devices such as smartphones or computers.

When discussing digital culture and the common characteristics within that culture, it

is important to note that not all individuals within that collective behave alike. What can be

suggested, however, is that the overall behaviour of people within digital culture can be

arranged into principal components, which can then be used to understand new media and

journalisms, as they are appropriated by technologies all over the world. What this means is

that digital culture does not indicate that everyone is/or will be online, but rather that an

appearing digital culture is expressed through the ways in which humans and machines interact

in the context of developing computerization/digitalisation of society.

2.5.2. Participation

Participatory culture is a culture in which individuals, who also act as the public, are

not just consumers, but contributors too. When it comes to participation as a component, Deuze

uses the work of Robert Putnam (2004) and Pippa Norris (2001) particularly in an effort to

A culture that embodied all types of printed text as well as printed forms of visual communication

The contemporary phase of communication technologies

discuss the contrasts between their views on relations between media use, communication

technology, and civic commitment. Norris states that Putnam’s claims regarding what

constitutes a social capital are not supported by international data. According to Deuze his own

criticism of Putnam’s work is that he fails to differentiate civic engagement with social

cohesion and “the quest for an ‘absence of difference’...” (Deuze, 2006, p. 67). He states that

a contemporary knowledge of participation has to acknowledge the idea of hyper sociability –

meaning that the social must consist of networked individualism, so that it enhances the

capacity of individuals to rebuild structures of sociability from the bottom up.

According to Deuze, participatory culture translates itself from the rapid increase in the

number of Internet connections and networked computers. Internet connections first started in

the home but have now also developed into handheld devices that can be brought along

anywhere. Participatory production in particular has also grown within media systems

throughout the last century.

Memes represent this participatory character of digital culture as their audience is not

just consuming them, but actually producing and spreading them. Memes are signs that build

their meaning through networked individualisms and they do enhance the capacity of

sociability, specifically in the case of ‘Storm Area 51’ memes. Participation indeed is an

element for the understanding of the phenomenon of the spreading of the Facebook event, as

will be further considered in the analysis of the case chapter.

2.5.3. Remediation

When describing remediation as a component, Deuze uses the work of Jay David Bolter

and Richard Grusin (1999). When it comes to media history it is not about the displacements

in which new media, such as the Internet, make old media, as the radio, obsolete. Instead, new

media transform the older media, resulting in it retaining some of its features. According to the

two, remediation is “the way in which a medium is seen by culture as reforming or improving

upon another.” (Bolter, Jay David, and Richard Grusin., p. 59)

They claim that every new medium deviate from old media, whereas old media adapt

themselves in order to handle the challenges of new media. For example, a laptop takes features

from former media such as television and typewriters and then alters it into something different.

Deuze suggests that distantiation

and remediation in digital culture means being deeply

involved in the system while also attributing credibility and legitimacy to the self-definition of

Manipulation of the superior way of doing/understanding things in order to challenge the mainstream

working against/outside a system (Deuze, 2006). He finds himself interested in the ways in

which remediation and participation are developed over time by individuals in everyday life,

and especially by people who are affected and involved in news media. Remediation is

important for the analysis because it puts a focus on how media influences memes.

2.5.4. Bricolage

Having concluded that participation and remediation are essential components in digital

culture, the next step is figuring out what it is that makes media consumption and production

in digital form different from print/visual culture. Deuze claims that the answer to this, is a

term referring to the third and last principal component of digital culture: Bricolage. To define

this last component, Deuze uses the work of John Hartley who defines Bricolage as being “the

creation of objects with materials to hand, re-using existing artefacts and incorporating bits and

pieces.” (Deuze, 2006, p. 70). Essentially it refers to a process in which you make something

new by using the materials and tools that are already available to you in the first place.

Bricolage is evident online by the ways in which we humans navigate around: clicking, linking,

searching, publishing etc. When it comes to websites such as news or gossip sites, they typically

deliver ‘recycled’ content that has previously been produced and used in other forms of media

e.g. audio, images, or video clips. Deuze states that those online journalists who offer

hyperlinks to archival content and documents, and just generally acknowledge where they got

their sources from, attribute a bricoleur-identity to other users. This is because they help those

users to get a hold of the information themselves, which gives them the opportunity to work

with the way that serves them best, also serving as a tool against fake-news, and working

towards source criticism.

According to Deuze, bricolage also has a significant role when it comes to politics. He

states that people have an issue with labelling themselves, as voters, to a certain ideology or

party, and that the bricoleur citizens identify themselves with many different choices, issues,

and lifestyles before they vote.

Bricolage is a concept that involves many of the topics tackled in this report, such as

multimodality, intertextuality, and social production of meaning by referring to available

sources to create new meanings. Especially, as mentioned, in online communication bricolage

happens in every activity, in this sense it’s a useful tool to be used in the analysis of memes.

2.5.5. Principal Components

Deuze’s principal component analysis is a so-called technique that he uses to identify

certain patterns in data sets by arranging the variance hierarchically, and thereby only choosing

the components that demonstrate the best variance for analysis. When discussing these

principle components, he uses the work of Niklas Luhmann (1990) as his example. Luhmann’s

theory states that principal components are viewed as essential constituents of social systems

that “transform themselves into themselves.” (Mingers, 2003, p. 404). Luhmann acknowledges

principal components as being identifiable elements that take part in the composition of a

‘composite unity’ through communication, which in the context of Deuze’s essay refers to the

rising value system of digital culture, expressed e.g. by blogging, open publishing and online

journalisms. When operationalizing the concept of principal components, it is stated that their

actual participation in the awareness of digital culture, is the answer when it comes to

identifying them. According to Deuze, this essentially means that acts of e.g. blogging or

publishing indymedia websites

, does not in itself comprise digital culture, but does constitute

the expectations as well as the values of how others can act.

Despite the fact that this treatment supposedly does not do proper justice to rich

literature on Luhmann’s theory, Deuze offers these remarks as markers on his method of

choosing cases, highlighting specific practices within them, and attributing quality to certain

acts and interpretations of those acts, while completely ignoring others. This is his way of

identifying a pattern by carefully thinking about case studies in online journalism, blogging,

and open publishing, and the pattern is then analysed based off how it reproduces specific

norms, values, and certain ways of doing things. This pattern that Deuze keeps referring to is a

pattern that changes its form by ‘coining' generalised expectations/values, causing him to

disregard the various expressions they get in different genres, open publishings, and online

journalisms. The principal components can therefore be seen as values and practices that people

need so that they have the freedom to have/make an identity.

2.6. Summary of Theoretical Framework

In order to sum up the theory chapter, it will be useful to understand what these theories

will provide for the report. The use of a social semiotic framework provides a unique

perspective into how memes create meaning, through the social context and a multimodal

approach. This is done by combining different components such as remix, mimicry,

A publishing network of journalists that report on political and social issues

intertextuality and so forth, as mentioned in this section. In an investigation on digital culture

and trying to understand how the ‘Storm Area 51’ can pinpoint meme culture, the mentioned

theoretical guiding principles will help in different ways. Social semiotics will help

understanding how the meaning of memes are created across social contexts and through the

interpretation of the reader. Multimodality will help understand how different modes interact

to create different meanings, together with the concepts of remediation and bricolage that focus

on the spreadability and the composition of memes. Intertextuality points to the different

references the selected memes of the Area 51 case build their meanings on, while participation

indicates how memes bring together online communities. The aim of the analysis by means of

the illustrated theoretical background will be to determine whether this case phenomenon

indicates those principles about digital culture.

3. METHODOLOGY

3.1. Theory of Science: Social Constructivist Approach

When looking into the development of the Area 51 raid memes, the area of research is

a broad and semi-unknown territory with many different influences. The undertaken research

will, therefore, be deductive, meaning that it will start from different theories, which, in their

application, could provide new insights into the field of communication and social semiotics.

In this project we will be using the social constructivist theory to understand the meanings of

memes and their role in shaping communication between those who make use of them. We

believe that this theoretical approach will be useful as a way to connect our chosen theories and

relate them together.

According to social constructivism, knowledge formation takes place within the socio-

cultural context in which the individual acts; from this perspective, social interactions and

language play a fundamental role in the ways of regarding the world and perceiving knowledge

(Vygotsky, 1978). This report will be done and understood through interpretation. The seeked

truth can therefore not be objective, but similar to the example of a researcher deconstructing

poetry, memes also require an understanding of codes, modes, contexts and the socio-cultural

world of the user communities. It can be assumed, as a consequence, that the users of these

platforms are groups of people who build knowledge for each other, collaborating in the

creation of a small culture of shared objects, concepts and meanings.

From an ontological perspective, the constructivist and interpretive traditions were

considered better suited for this paper. According to this paradigm, the world is that of

meanings attributed by individuals, meanings that vary between individuals and between

different cultures; ergo, there is no universal social reality valid for all, it being subjective.

While not denying the contributions of the positivist and objectivist paradigms to the field of

communication, this paper acknowledges that a consistent part of social research is defined as

‘an interpretative science’. As a result, this project will tend to push the semiotic tradition of

communication towards a more interpretive framework. Certainly, to engage in this endeavor

would also imply using qualitative methods of research, such as content and textual analysis.

The concepts of multimodality, intertextuality, remediation or bricolage demand for a

distanciation from absolute truths and 'crony' determinism, assuming that all the analysed

subjects possess, in one way or another, free will.

The complexity of this research subject also requires the involvement of other

interpretive communication traditions, for example the socio-cultural one. Even though the

focus of this paper is not on the interpretive scholarship values of, for example, emancipation,

injustice or direct experience, but on the one of implicit interactive participation, the social

reality is, nonetheless, created and enacted by the participants of the specific communication

act (memes) employed in this study. The purpose of the used theory has been, therefore, to

offer a particular interpretation of the digital culture, from a semiotic perspective, within a

specific socio-cultural context, the Area 51 raid.

3.1.1. Dimension - Text & Sign

This project will be rooted in the dimension of Text & Sign, as its main driving force.

The reasoning for this choice is our main focus being centred around memes as a

communication tool in the sense that it is a language, and as a language is organic and does not

stay static, at an intertextual, multimodal and social level. In order to get a better understanding

of how memes play a role in communication and interactions, we are sampling memes taken

from different digital platforms and analyse those samples through the lens of social semiotics.

The text and sign dimension include theoretical approaches concerning texts and signs systems.

The concept of text that has been adopted here is a broad and extended concept which includes

not only written texts or academic literature, but also all other forms of written, visual or oral

forms of communication. Together with the role of natural language, the dimension covers the

role of signs systems broadcasted by different modes. When referring to the role of memes

culture in digital interactions, memes can be interpreted as a system of signs used to represent

meanings, comprehending a set of accepted rules and principles. Complex textual forms are

built up in specific systematic ways and memes, in this sense, can be understood as codes, or

vernacular languages. Notions from social semiotics – as the study of the meaning making of

signs through the social context – and participation are key to this perspective: sharing a code

means sharing a cultural literacy, a needed competence for memes viewers that is grounding

for any community belonging, as acquisition of knowledge and participation in processes of

semiosis are needed for every communicative purpose. Texts, in fact, have form and contents

related to the expressive functions they are planned to fulfil, they are inscribed in historical and

cultural contexts, and they are produced in relationship to their similar texts produces earlier,

through of intertextuality.

A text can be studied as sample of genre, register or language, but also as a source of

perception of what conditions are involved. In this sense, the undertaken research engages an

analysis of contexts and cultural references of the sampled memes, as well as an analysis of the

single components involved in the building of meaning. The theoretical complex investigation

engaged is focused on the interaction both between sign forms and meaning making through

multimodality and intertextuality and functioning and understanding through interpretive

intuitions and participation.

3.2. Research Design

As mentioned briefly in the Dimensions section, we have taken memes in connection

to the Area 51 raid from different media platforms with the intent of using it as our data for the

analysis. The samples chosen for the analysis are based generally on a temporal criterion

(before, during and after the raid) and, more specifically, on the personal considerations

regarding their multimodal and intertextual nature.

The general criteria of dividing the data temporally helped in providing an overview of the

increase/decrease in the participation connected to the event, as well as the increase/decrease

in the number of used semiotic resources.

With these two main criteria in mind, we set out on a search throughout different social

media platforms such as Reddit, Facebook and Tumblr to name a few. When we believed we

had collected enough memes, in this case 70 samples of memes, we chose 10 memes that we

believed could be suitable for our analysis, and further narrowing it to three.

3.3. Analytical Framework

In this section there will be further elaboration on how we intend to use the memes we have

collected in the analysis. As previously mentioned, ten out of seventy memes have been chosen

for the analysis. The chosen memes are the ones that considered to have the elements intended

to analyse and work with. The elements that we were looking for in the memes are

intertextuality, bricolage and remediation. The memes are also from different time periods such

as before, during and after the event and we find these relevant because the meme content and

jokes are changed based on the time it is from. From within the ten samples we will be further

narrow it down and choose three memes that we will analyse. The reasoning for narrowing it

down to three examples is for the analysis to be more direct, and focus on the before, during

and after aspect of the ‘Storm Area 51’ event.

The process of selection of memes for the analysis required the use of qualitative

methods over quantitative ones. This awareness explains why, rather than using quantitative

methodology and according to our epistemology, a qualitative research on a smaller number of

memes was used as the research data collection methods. Our work in this report could then

help us towards the goal of a deep understanding of this meme phenomenon and we could

interpret the social communities that use this media.

4. DATA ANALYSIS

The main focus of our data analysis is on three of the chosen memes. The selected

memes represent different parts of the process of Raid Area 51 and elements that will be

revealed throughout the analysis. Going into this analysis with a social constructivist

perspective and a constructivist ontology, the study will be performed by understanding the

data through interpretation, while being influenced by the socio-cultural context we ourselves

as researchers are contributing to. Therefore, the drawn conclusion will be concerned with this

specific research and will help paint a diverse picture, through understanding of one of many

truths. Moving forward, we have chosen to analyze one picture at a time. In this research a full

analysis of each meme, rather than taking parts and bits of the memes to show certain points,

will make it easier to paint a detailed picture moving on to the discussion. In this way, it will

be shown how the same tool can be used in different ways and with different effects.

Furthermore, the memes that have been selected for the analysis have been chosen partly

because of their ability to demonstrate different layers and categories and partly because of

their ‘trending time’. The way the memes have been gathered trended before, during and after

the event of Raid Area 51. These memes have been taken from the social media platform

Reddit, a platform where users can post contents and get reactions on them. Instead of the

normal posting ability, as seen on Facebook, of just posting on your own wall, on Reddit you

would have to post on a subreddit, a category within the platform, such as Food, Dungeons &

Dragons or various meme categories. The subreddits have people assigned as mods

, and that

is how content is controlled to fit within the category. The memes chosen for the analysis are

taken from the subreddit ‘memes’ as a provisionary source and as a limited spectrum of

selection.

4.1. Before Area 51 - Meme 1

In this first part of the analysis we will be looking at the meme ‘The Distracted

Boyfriend’ with the intention of detecting how different components such as bricolage and

participatory culture have a substantial influence on the creation of memes. We have selected

this specific meme with the aim to showcase how well-known stereotypes can have an impact

on fellowship within meme-culture, and how they can help make them more relatable.

(Pic.1) Reddit, 2019

The picture above (Pic.1) is a stock photo that portraits a man looking at the backside

of a woman passing by, while another woman, presumably his romantic partner, stares at him,

with what could be described as a furious look. This 2015 stock picture, shot by Antonio

Guillem, has been used frequently since 2017 as a template to indicate the presumed difference

of interests from the man (Distracted Boyfriend, 2019). This particular version combines how

A termed derived from; a modifier. A person allowed to edit content on said subreddit.

Americans are believed to prefer “being shot at area 51” rather than “being shot at school” for

a humorous effect. It is relevant to note that school shooting is a popular topic for memes,

especially just after one has happened, as it becomes part of the news.

Europe versus the US, or America, is a long-standing dispute between meme creators.

To make such a conclusion one needs not to look further than the difference in measuring

systems, which has been a long-standing joke. The Europeans use the metric system: meter,

celsius and kilogram, and the US uses the imperial one: miles, fahrenheit and pounds. The

imperial system is only used in three countries, the US included. This ‘feud’ has started the

creation of countless memes targeted at the systems in the US. This includes the difference in

healthcare, general health

and gun violence or gun control. The Distracted Boyfriend meme

focuses on some of these social matters. This correlates to an assured assumption that the meme

has been created by a European. This can also be seen in the wording of the meme, the word

“Americans” being positioned on top of the man. This wording marks a level of distanciation

from the American subject, implicitly taking into consideration a different perspective, perhaps

a European one.

Moving on to the choice of making fun of school shootings, and comparing them to

getting shot at Area 51, the meme provides a humorous effect. School shooting might seem to

be a taboo to make a joke out of, but for the average creator and viewer of memes, making fun

of such macabre topics is the common attitude on memes pages. Below, there is an example

from an article that shows plenty of memes about school shootings (Klee, 2019).

The US population is seen as generally fatter than the average European.

(Pic.2) Knowyourmeme, 2019

This meme depicts how The Distracted Boyfriend meme, as it gives insight about why

that specific meme might be funny. Taking a topic such as school shootings and making it seem

as if the ‘Americans’ are making a choice, through the syntagmatic understanding of the

picture, is referring to the American gun control laws and the European perspective on this.

The man holding hands with the woman ‘Getting shot at school’ and looking at the other

woman ‘Getting shot at Area 51’, represents a comment about the appeal towards the latter, in

contrast to the first choice.

The meme itself also refers to the fact that memes produced before the actual event,

like this one, focus on what might happen during the raid. In these pre-reminiscences there was

a focus on the actuality of the situation. The people who planned to run into the secret base,

were going to be stopped by armed guards

, and would most likely get shot if they got too

close. Even the airforce

got briefed on the situation and warned about the consequences the

invading masses could face, including being shot (Fortin, 2019). Ironically, the meaning of The

Distracted Boyfriend meme points at Americans finding a new way of getting shot.

Some signs in the meme actually helps the reader making assumptions about the man

and the woman being in a relationship (in this sense, the sign is a gesture of them holding

hands). This understanding helps to grasp the sense, suggested by the picture tham seems to be

a frame of a walking scene, of the man looking towards another girl, clearly assuming he likes

her, at the expense of his girlfriend. This particular meme touches upon a topic that can

Reasoning for the naruto run, as they made a meme that you were able to run faster than bullets with that run

The organisation standing guard at Area 51

frequently be found in the meme community: other than Area 51, this meme mentions cultural

differences between The United States and the rest of the world, as well as the tragedy of school

shootings, namely happening in America

The analyzed meme is composed of a non-moving image and written texts. The photo

depicts ‘stock characters’ with built-in framing and has been used as a frame metonymy for

many image-macros, most of which deliver a general message of a slightly unfaithful behavior

from the part of a man in a relationship; the original meme’s name is ‘Distracted Boyfriend’.

The characters are not famous people of any kind, but only simple people denotatively

signifying the stereotypical act of ‘turning heads after another girl’. At a first glance, without

reading the text, this is what a meme-viewer would deduct from the image, therefore the

viewers’ discourse space would convey the meanings related to the distracted or unfaithful

behavior of some men and the desire for another woman. However, when looking at the

writings, the names overlapping the characters are the following: ‘Americans’ written over the

character of the man, ‘getting shot at school’ over the presumed girlfriend and ‘getting shot at

Area 51’, overlapping the second woman. The writings offer anchorage to the image by

conferring these representational titles in order to help the viewers choose out of the diegesis

the meaning related to the social context in which the meme-maker finds himself and to which

he refers in his viewpoint space. As a result, the meaning formed beyond the discursive spaces

of the meme-maker and meme-viewers, within the discourse viewpoint space, is that of

Americans possessing absurd ways of reasoning and behavior; they are appalled by school

shootings while not being afraid to get shot when storming a government protected territory.

At the same time, the frame-metonymy of the meme offers a similar meaning at the level of

the discourse viewpoint space, with the one in the picture. The situation itself is metonymical

for the act of wanting what is prohibited by the law, by moral norms, etc..

Despite the conventional traits of some memes, the image-macro does not entirely

consider the classical template of a meme (one having a top-text and a bottom-text) by having

a linear arrangement for the writing, although it does emphasize ‘the forbidden fruit’ through

the size of the font written on top of the other girl. The size of the writing also coordinates

denotatively with the position of the girl, directly opposing the couple in the sense of the walk.

Nevertheless, the meme is a classic of its genre, not necessarily of the style. The discourses

encountered at the general level of this meme convey a stereotypical behavior, of the distracted

The sum of all denotative meanings that an image can offer

boyfriend. Subsequently, it could be stated that, at the level of the discourse space of the

viewers, the target for reaching a common space of meaning would be the female audience.

Many women could resonate, at least theoretically, with the picture. However, the context of

the Area 51 event unites the behavioral statement of the picture with a wider social, cultural

and political circumstance, that of revealing the mystery surrounding Area 51 by defying

political norms. As a result, the categories of participation and of relevance increase both

intersubjectively and intertextually.

The Distracted Boyfriend meme is also constructed with various intertextual links. The

meaning-making process within the shared discourse space develops from insights provided

by other interrelated multimodal or monomodal constructions. In this situation, the intertextual

references come from previously formed memes which, in time, have become monomodal due

to their spreadability, complex diegesis offering a spectrum of choices, template form and

framing capacities of discourse. The frame of the initial meme has been used discursively, in

various contexts, in a wide range of image-macros with social or political intent and

understanding. The frame metonymy here is the substitution of the discourse ‘one wants what

one cannot have’ with the image and characters of the Distracted Boyfriend meme. The reasons

for which ‘one cannot have what one wants’ are multiple, rooted in morality, normativity, logic,

culture, media or common sense. The meaning of the discourse suggested by the picture is

about a lack of morality (a man looking at another woman while walking with his girlfriend),

and this meaning applies as a reflection to the Storm Area 51. The discourse, in fact, deviates

towards noting an inconsistency in thought from the side of the Americans: it marks a logical

gap between the fear of being shot at school and the lack of fear of being shot at Area 51.

Here, intertextuality is established not only through the frame reference of the

Distracted Boyfriend meme, but also through the challenging events like the school shootings

in the US as well as through the social context of the Facebook event Storm Area 51. As a

result, the intertextuality mediates the meaning through the codes of morality denotively

signified in the picture, through the historical, cultural and social codes anchored within the

school shooting events and through the contextual social and political codes of the Facebook

event. At the same time, intertextuality also recontextualizes the differently sourced meanings,

shifting the discourse towards logical codes, and the production of meaning, is interpreted as a

meme-reader thinking: "It is illogical that Americans fear school shootings, but they don’t fear

being shot in the raid". However, by further applying Fairclough’s thought, that the process of

meaning shifting is dynamic and by taking into consideration the different intertextual

experience of the meme-viewers, it could be concluded that the texts of reference weigh

differently and, therefore, lead to various interpretive outcomes. An example could be

presuming the discourse of the meme as more morally influenced: ‘Americans’ - the man -,

rapidly forgot about school shootings- represented by his girlfriend - and are searching for other

ways of getting shot - other girls. In this situation, the meaning of immorality, intertextually

formed from the Distracted Boyfriend meme, can dominate against the other meanings

conveyed by the other texts. Furthermore, it could be noticed that the latter is a type of

obligatory intertextual relation between the hypotext of the Distracted Boyfriend meme and the

hypertext of the distracted Americans. The meme-viewers recognize the frame metonymy of

the initial meme and, thus, understand fully the meaning intended by the author in the hypertext.

Nonetheless, according to the meme-viewer, the relation between the texts could also be

optional, for example, if the Distracted Boyfriend meme is not recognized, but the Area 51 raid

as a social phenomenon as well as the Americans’ paradoxical thought and behavior, are.

When applying participation as a tool to examine this meme, or any meme in general,

it is mostly about how that meme came to be in the first place. It’s about individuals coming

together to produce something, and about the ways in which that becomes visible in the actual

meme itself. There are several layers to this first meme, and it touches upon two very eye-

catching topics: Area 51 and school shootings. The fact that the individuals involved in creating

this meme chose to use the stereotype of “Americans experience a lot of school shootings”, and

that they can have people relate to it and understand it straight away, goes to show how having

a whole community involved in a creation makes it a lot more ‘relatable’. One could say that

this meme is more so dedicated towards Americans, but whether created by Americans or non-

Americans, the thing that makes it relatable is the fact that the vast majority of people nowadays

are aware of the stereotype. These are the things that create that feeling of togetherness in

participatory culture and meme culture in general. So, when looking at the participation aspect

in this first meme, the first thing we can conclude is the fact that the meme’s existence is due

to participation itself.

In terms of remediation, Deuze (2006) focuses on how remediation and participation

are developed over time by individuals in everyday life – especially within the media field.

This has more to do with the development of meme culture in general, and the changes that

have been made within that culture over time. Something that has become extremely popular

within the meme world is using stock-photos. This specific meme uses the stock-photo ‘The

Distracted boyfriend’ as a base, which is a very well-known photo that has been surfacing

around the Internet and social media for years. It has been edited thousands of times by different

individuals all around the world for different purposes, and what works so well is the fact that

the photos usually already tell a story or express a vibe that the meme-creators use and alter

however they like. Stock-photos are professional photographs of people, nature, landscapes,

etc. that are most often used (and re-used) for commercial purposes. Their use has become one

of the most popular ways to create memes, and some of the most famous creations such as

‘Hide the pain Harold’ have been made with these types of photos (Pic.3).:

Knowyourmeme, 2019

Applying bricolage as a tool for analysis refers to the creation of something new with

the re-use of tools that already exist, which is essentially what meme creation is all about. The

meme creator takes a picture from the Internet, then adds text to it, in order to give the photo a

new purpose as a meme, expressing a whole new concept through it. Adding comical messages

about a trending topic and then placing those messages on specific characters changes the

storyline of the photo. The thing that works so well with this specific meme is that the creators

have chosen a photo that manages to maintain the initial intention behind that photo, which is

the jealousy aspect of it all. This is important as the ‘new’ meme also wishes to convey the

message of jealousy – just aiming it elsewhere.

The analysis of this meme has shown why this template and its topic are widespread

within digital culture. Firstly, it makes use of some classic meme components which can be

seen in its use of the ‘meme font’. Secondly, it shows that dark humor can also be used in

memes and not only topics that have been chosen to deliberately have a humorous effect. Not

everyone will find the topic of school shootings to be humorous but those who do, will gather

around this meme to laugh or share it with friends who have a similar sense of humor. This

also goes together with the point that was made in the section of the analysis focusing on

participation. The point made was that, communities coming together to create a meme denote

relatability and thus generate new communities within the digital culture that can further

spread. The last point to be summed up, is why this template and stock photos in general, are a

popular pick to use within the meme community. Especially, stock photos are quite popular

and widespread because they are blank slates in which people can add their own narrative to

and, thereby, creating a meme.

4.2. During Area 51 - Meme 2

This second part of the analysis will be based on the following meme ‘Woman yelling

at cat’, which appeared while the event occurred (Pic.4). The choice of including this particular

meme, is to show how the increasing amount of modal and intertextual resources regarding the

event is illustrated in the example below. The meme interpretation expands by adding more

complicated narratives and compositions to the meme with the general assumption that the

spread of Raid Area 51 has reached to most parts of the digital communities. In order to

examine this evolution an analytical focus on bricolage, multimodal, intertextuality will be

detained.

(Pic 4) Reddit, 2019

The meme combines apart from the ‘Woman yelling at cat’ meme, with a picture from

the 2005 movie: ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’. The Yelling woman meme is

made through bricolage between a frame from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2011)

cast members Taylor Armstrong and Kyle Richards, and a confused looking cat picture from

2018, first posted on Tumblr. Memes using this template combination gained immense

popularity in 2019. In the version we are looking at the cat is replaced by a shot from the Star

Wars movie where Anakin Skywalker, played by Hayden Christensen, is telling Obi-Wan

Kenobi “Hold on. This whole operation was your idea”. Logos of Facebook and Twitter and

the line “YOU NEED TO STOP THE RAID!” are on the first part, and the logo of Reddit is in

the second part. This meme, posted a couple of weeks before the raid, shows the sentiment that

some Facebook and Reddit users had towards the Reddit community, believed to be responsible

for the growing popularity of the Raid, where the meme remembers that the Raid initially

started on Facebook. We can imagine that Users of the various platforms, or at least the one

that made this meme, perceive a difference between the platform communities.

We chose to study this particular meme because it embodies most of the attributes that

this report focuses on quite evidently, as well as touching the theme of the quarrel between

various media where memes are first posted and shared. This meme is then particularly fitting

in this report, both for its structure, that presents various bricolage and remediation works, as

well for its meaning and the underlying cultural context it presents when it displays the feud

topic. The creator of this meme uses a synecdoche, where a part is used to represent the whole,

to portray the users that engage in the discussion about the Raid as they were the whole

platform. In order to understand this the meme-reader needs to grasp such generalization. This

meme makes the assumption that the users of a given platform all resemble each other and

share a similar view on the world; this is certainly false, but this joke wants the reader to think

that is the case at least partially.

When observing this meme, we can imagine that the Raid event, originally started as a

Facebook event that happened to become viral, had became an unexpected important and

relevant phenomenon, and some Facebook and Twitter users were worried by its possible

outcomes while some Reddit posts were perceived as if their aim was to shed even more light

on the event. This meme can then be understood as a statement of social and cultural difference

perceived, as user communities, by the Reddit creator that made this content. The meaning-

making on this meme depends not only on the way in which it is composed through image and

text, but by the knowledge of the social context in which it communicates with its audience.

This meme in particular works well with the idea of remediation, presented by Deuze

(2006). In the most apparent form, you can detect three different media organisations. It

combines the media of TV, movies (silver screen) and social media. This meme is presented

as a scene from a reality tv-show, a scene from a science fiction movie, overlapped by logos

from different social media platforms. It is an interesting overlap as it works well with the

notion of remixing in memes, thereof using these media resources to apply it and create

something completely new as in the fourth media it represents, the media of meme creation.

Memes are of course mostly present on social media platforms, such as those shown in the

meme, this meme specifically coming from reddit (the logo on the second picture).

Discussing the remediation can help getting an understanding of the idea of bricolage.

The meme above takes screenshots and remixes them together, to create what is being shown.

This meme, as mentioned, grabs different memes and fuses them together. The bricolage comes

into play when addressing in what has been fused together. It shows the fluidity of the bricoleur

user within the mentioned digital culture. Here are some examples of the usage of the memes,

in different variations.

Knowyourmeme, 2019 memexyz, 2019

This meme helps to show how the bricolage has been done, and how they together have

created a new meaning, through the usage of older memes.

Within these two original memes there exists the notion of a principal components. The

idea that there is a certain understanding of how to compose a meme, a literacy within them.

The original meme of the yelling woman builds on the regular way of reading and building

visual texts, reading left to right, horizontal. The remixed meme goes on a vertical way of

reading or building a meme, just as the meme with the scene from Star Wars is built on. The

reasoning behind the analyzed meme being vertical instead of horizontal could be explained

with the screenshots’ sizes. When looking at the still of the yelling woman, you will be able to

see a longer picture, compared to the still of Anakin Skywalker, which in return is wider. The

compromise done is, as shown, a vertical reading, where the two pictures have the same width

to make it pleasing for the eye. One of the literacies that makes these two memes fit well

together, is the order presented by each of them. The yelling woman has to be first, as it shows

an emotion as a response to something already done, fitting together with the other meme,

which is a response to someone responding to something; in this scenario, a response to

facebook blaming Reddit.

The multimodal aspect within ‘Woman yelling at cat’ is different from the previous one

in the sense that the image-macro is a ‘chain meme’ or ‘meme sequence’, one image composed

of two different memes in interaction through a fictive dialogue. The meme situated at the top

of the macro-image denotatively refers to a situation from the reality show The Real

Housewives of Beverly Hills, while the bottom image describes a scene from the movie Star

Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith. The frames of the memes come from different media

genres, even though they are remediated within the image-macro, thus becoming a meme genre.

The frame-metonymy of the top picture envisions the situation of a nervous breakdown. At the

same time, the metonymic framing of the bottom image refers to calmness in a discussion,

although the characters are in opposition. Adopting the perspective of the characters in the

pictures, both Taylor Armstrong (the real housewife) and Anakin Skywalker disagree with their

interlocutors, but the emotions denotatively signified are in direct contrast.

In the case of this meme and, within the context of the Area 51 event, the writing does

not have only a descriptive function, as seen in the previous meme. Here, the text constitutes a

cross-sectional dialogue of the characters concerning stopping of the Area 51 raid. As a result,

the images have a relay-function towards the text, complementing it with the opposing

emotions depicted. However, without the symbolic signs represented by the logos of Facebook,

Twitter and Redditt, a viewer could just deduce that people are arguing about the raid. By

positioning these logos on the characters’ faces, the discourse viewpoint space changes

significantly. Consequently, the meme viewer understands that the meaning of the image-

macro is signified by the antagonistic relationship between certain social media communities

regarding the Area 51 raid. The characters, together with the logos, represent metonymical

signs for the uproarious communities of Facebook and Twitter, while the Reddit community is

signified as calm and logical through Anakin Skywalker, offering a reasonable response to the

other two, taking into consideration that the Area 51 event started on Facebook. Nevertheless,

the overall ensemble of this image-macro requires proficiency from the part of the viewers,

acquaintance with the frames, as well as a grasp of intertextual knowledge in order to reach a

common mental space with the meme-maker.

Regarding the sequential form of the image-macro, it could be interpreted that

complexity of meaning increases when two different memes are used in interaction. This could

bring a reflexive perspective on memes, similar to the one encountered in metamemes (memes

about memes) and, more specifically, on the Reddit community which is well known among

meme viewers for hosting large amounts of meme production and distribution. In the next

section, the analysis will look further into the complexity of meaning-making when different

memes are used in interaction with each other.

Looking further into the Intertextual part of the analysis, we will investigate how these

different modes and layers of the meme guides the meme viewer towards the meme maker’s

intended meaning. As mentioned earlier, this meme has many layers and references across

different digital communities and cultures. This meme consists of multiple modes, some of

which have been mentioned previously: an image from a scene from Real Housewives of

Beverly hills, an image from Star Wars, a suggested reference to “Bitch hold my earrings!”,

some of the most popular social media (Facebook, Twitter and Reddit) and the previously use

of the original form of this meme (refer to the meme description). Going further into the

analysis we will be working from the assumption that the viewer of this meme has some

knowledge regarding the Raid Area 51 phenomenon. In order to understand the textuality of

the meme we will give a short introduction to the different contexts that the various texts add

to the overall understanding of the meme.

In the first frame we have an image representing a scene from Real Housewives of

Beverly hills where a cast member, Taylor Armstrong, gets into a heated discussion with some

of the other cast members. In the image we see her co-cast member, Kyle Richards, trying to

calm her down while Taylor is yelling at someone. The reality series has been running since

2010 and is soon premiering with its 10th. season. Besides showing a fight between widely

popular reality celebrities, the scene has also been used as a funny contrast to an earlier trending

gif : “Bitch hold my earrings!”

. In the second frame an image from a scene in Star Wars is

seen. In the scene, Anakin Skywalker is backing out of a mission that he initiated and is asking

for someone else to take his place, claim with which Obi-Wan Kenobi (the one with the reddit

logo on) disagrees and, therefore, tells him : “Hold up. This whole operation was your idea.”.

The layout of this meme is inspired by the original meme containing image one with a

confused or unconcerned cat sitting in the corner of the frame throwing a smug yet logical

comment back at whatever the dramatic reality stars are saying.

The last layer in this meme is the whole feud between the different social media

An Afro-American woman asking her friends to hold her earrings before she ‘fights’ another girl that is provoking her. It has

been used as a fun reference to the stereotype attitude that African-American women are often projected to have.

represented in the meme. As mentioned briefly in the introduction to Area 51, it all started from

a public Facebook event, aimed at raiding area 51, that gained huge traction and became very

popular in social media in the summer of 2019, and eventually the online event reached 2

million attendees. At the time this meme was trending, certain groups were blaming Reddit

for taking the joke to another level with their commitment and nourishing of the idea of

storming Area 51, where some Facebook users -including the original post creator- seemed

afraid of the transition from joke to reality, when the raid started to look like something that

could have happened (Van Boom, 2019).

Looking at the four layers mentioned before, the interpreted intertextualities are many.

The hypertext can be interpreted across the layers, or modes, and understood without

necessarily including all of the contexts. Using intertextual relations, this meme combines

obligatory and optional intertextuality. It is essential that the meme viewer has knowledge

about both the – at that current time -, feud between the different medias in order for them to

understand the meme makers message and that the meme viewer has heard about the Raid Area

51 event and has been introduced to earlier memes regarding the phenomenon. If one was to

take out these layers of the meme it would just be a reality star and a character from a space

movie disguised as social media platforms yelling at each other. The text only serves as a help

in understanding the different images and their dialogue but does not directly influence the

understanding of the meme.

The optional intertextuality is shown in the other layers. Here, the meme-viewer can

build on to their interpretation of the meme by adding on knowledge regarding the other modes

of the meme. E.g. a meme viewer can, as an extra bonus, add his knowledge about the episode

of RHOBH

and the scene from that, onto the situation with the social media feud.

Furthermore, the recipient may have seen Star Wars and knows that Kenobi, in this scene, is

preventing Skywalker from running away from his responsibilities. The meme interpreter may

even have seen the original meme and knows that the image in the corner and its comment (in

this case Kenobi disguised as Reddit) is meant to come with a smug and logical respond to

whatever the yelling characters above are saying. With this knowledge, the meme viewer may

interpret the meme as a comment to Facebook and Twitter telling Reddit users to stop the raid

before someone gets hurt and Reddit smugly responding that Facebook was the one starting it,

An abbreviation of Real Housewives of Beverly hills

so they are not really responsible in case it would go wrong.

But this is all optional. The meme maker would still have gotten his message across

even if the meme-viewer only understood the obligatory intertextual content and didn’t have

any of this socio-cultural knowledge regarding the rest of the context. The audience would still

see the social media Facebook and Twitter yelling at Reddit and Reddit responding, and would

understand that it was the feud the meme maker was referring to. In that way, the necessity of

understanding the recontextualization in this meme is important but in different levels. For the

meme maker, the aim is to get the emotional and expressional context from both scenes in order

to achieve full understanding of the message from the part of the meme viewer. Even though

the meme viewer understands the message by interpreting the connection between social media

and the Raid Area 51 event, the full message and the fun comment will go missing if the

references to the other modes are not communicated properly between the different mediators.

It is essential in a meme for the full message to be communicated. The meme maker uses an

interdiscursive recontextualization referring to different contexts across different genres and

discourses in an attempt to reach a broader audience. It is therefore essential for the

understanding of the meme that the meme-viewer has certain knowledge of the different

contexts when looking at the meme and its content. By relying on this, the meme-maker is

using intersubjectivity hoping that the reader shares a common understanding of the different,

or at least some of the socio-cultural layers of the meme.

With the other theories touching onto this meme, the one to give this data meaning will

be social semiotics. First thing to take into consideration is the hierarchy of the social media

sites. The hierarchy is shown in ‘Woman yelling at cat’, but can also be seen throughout news

media sites. Mostly treating and viewing Reddit as an underground anarchistic website, where

delinquents go to share their opinions. This meme highlights the perceived difference between

the platforms: due, mostly, to the idea that there are no surveillance of its content or content

creators, in contrast to Facebook governed by Mark Zuckerberg, who recently has been on trial

for selling out information about Facebook users to advertisements companies, for election,

products, or others, and other sellout of user information (Timmons & Kozlowska 2018). This

difference is exemplified in ‘Woman yelling at cat’, through the breaking of the template for

the first picture. The first picture, as mentioned, is often followed by a cat on the left side, but

here Reddit has broken the mold and reacted in their own way.

Focusing on the first part, the yelling woman, and the symbolism it has for Reddit users,

there can be drawn parallels between the woman yelling, and the meme that is Karen, as seen

in the example below.

Knowyour meme, 2019

The Karen meme started with the joke on white women wanting to speak with the

manager of a retail shop and then evolved to be a general category for women who fit within

set boundaries. In ‘Woman yelling at cat’, the woman yelling has been dubbed as Facebook,

making the social media site to be part of the Karen category. This relates to the surge of young

Facebook users leaving Facebook, leaving it to the parents (Sweney, 2018). Mixing this

knowledge with the ‘Storm Area 51’ event, originating from Facebook, gives an idea that

parents- Karens -, are trying to protect their kids from going to the event, and getting shot. To

understand the next part, it is important to note the actuality of the Karen meme; the anger that

Karen exudes is rooted in nothing and everything at the same time and is grounded in Karen

just being ‘a Karen’(this is one of the things we reference to in the introduction with just being

a part of our common understanding due to us being a part of this culture). With that in mind,

Woman yelling at cat shows Karen blaming Reddit, with no base to blame on. Reddit may have

been a big contributor to further extending the reach of the event, as previously mentioned. But

it all takes root back in Facebook, with the minority of young people, like Matty Roberts,

creating this event.

Looking onto the colour choices of the logos representing the social media, there can

also be seen a drastic difference between the platforms. The difference between these logos

shows the split between being a platform for users, Reddit, and a platform for the creators,

Facebook and Twitter. These factors come to show in meme 7, again by focusing on the

composition of the meme, the fact that two different memes have been put together, with two

separate literacies, in regard to order and direction.

Through remediation, bricolage and principal composition we now understand how the

meme-maker uses different medias (TV, Movie, social media) and combining ‘old’ (the scenes

and previous interpretations of the original memes) with ‘new’ (the feud between the medias).

Furthermore, the multimodal and social semiotic theories help us interpret how big a role these

multiple meanings and social context plays when making a meme. the different optional

intertextualities in the meme makes the deeper understanding (the meme-maker’s standpoint

etc.) come across to many different social groups and digital cultures whereby the obligatory

intertextual elements simply assures the intended meaning. This meme demonstrates how the

collective identity and culture of different groups are used as a tool for the meme-maker to

express meaning when communicating.

4.3. After Area 51 - Meme 3

In this final part of the analysis, the focus will be on the meme ‘Ragnarok’ - screencaps

from the movie Thor: Ragnarok

. Through a focus on social semiotics, intertextuality and

multimodality the analysis will investigate the power relation, comments and reflections on the

phenomenon after the event occurred. Furthermore, the meme will provide a deeper

understanding of how different elements used to spread the phenomenon are now used as

components in newer trending memes.

A movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Cate Blanchett as Hela.

Reddit, 2019

In order to understand the different meanings of this meme, social semiotics theory will

be used to do so. Firstly, there is the talk of a power relation between the two characters, Thor

and Hela, who are then changed to fit the narrative of the Area 51 raid. In its original context,

Hela is under the impression that she cannot be defeated, but what she is unaware of is the fact

that Thor has a secret weapon that can defeat her. The three frames of the meme and the

subtitles reveal how the power dynamic changes from Hela seeming invincible but then gets

defeated. Putting this into perspective with the Area 51 raid, Hela is dubbed to be the guards

outside of Area 51 who don’t believe they can be defeated, Thor is dubbed as the raiders willing

to do anything to get inside the base and the secret weapon of the raiders is the acclaimed

Naruto runner. The Naruto runner is the star of the show. The meme of the Naruto runner is a

meme based on another meme, as previously mentioned, the Naruto run.

The Naruto run has been a meme long before this event came to be, but it was revived

when the event went viral on the Internet. It was revived because of the meaning of the Naruto

run, which is that you run faster if you Naruto run and, because of this, it has been the most

consistent meme before, during and after the event. Before the day of the event, most of the

memes were talking tactics about how to get inside the Area 51 base and the most talked about

tactic was the Naruto run together with the saying of “They can’t stop all of us”. During the

event was when the Naruto runner rose to fame, performing the run behind a news

correspondent who was on site at Area 51. The runner gained instant fame as a result of his

action and the meme has, since then, been used various times and in different contexts.

This meme, amongst similar ones, is a meme that spread in the hours directly following

the raid event. This meme celebrates the ‘Area 51 Naruto Runner’ both as a secret weapon and

as a moral winner of the 20th September event.

As predicted, the raid was a big phenomenon online, but only a few people showed up. This

highlights the difference in approach that the government and the online communities had

regarding the raid topic. The former addressed it in an institutional way, treating it as a threat,

whereas the latter always intended it as some form of a humorous and carnivalesque protest.

The meme, similar to the previously analysed memes, have used remediation to get a

message across. This meme has taken three continuous frames from the movie, and, with the

help of Photoshop or and image editing program, placed the picture of the young man doing

the Naruto run onto it. The Naruto runner is remediated from the popular Naruto anime (see

picture on page 7), and then became its own meme. While the major part has been taken from

the silver screen media, the Naruto runner is taken from a news broadcast. These two media

sources do not often clash in day to day life, as they only comment on each other, but they

overlap in this meme.

When discussing bricolage in regard to this meme, a lot that can be said has mostly

already been said. Something to add on to it is asking why exactly those components have been

chosen. The movie Thor: Ragnarok, had also been highly praised within the meme community,

and could be regarded as a movie that inspired other memes, where various frames from the

movie have been used to create content. Another template with frames from the movie includes

the following example:

Memedroid, 2019

The meme chosen for this analysis has a distinct way of principal components, with

few exceptions going beyond the limits. It is built vertically in order for the reader to read from

top to bottom. What is not interchangeable are the subtitles within the first two screenshots, as

it takes away from the meaning of the meme. Although what can be changed is the overlapping

of names, as the creator has done by writing “Area 51 guards” over Hela, which can also be

seen in the meme used in the second part of the analysis. As described, it is what helps the

meme creator create the desired meaning by exchanging the names out and remixing existing

memes on top of it.

Regarding this last chosen meme, the framing is given by a single media source, the

movie Thor: Ragnarok. The overall metonymical connotation alludes to a confrontation

between good and evil, the former being represented by the character of Thor while the latter

is signified through the character of Hela. Again, in this situation, like in the first analyzed

meme, the text supplies the image with anchorage within the given context of the raid. The

characters of Hela and Thor are given names within the image-macro- ‘Area 51 Guards’ and

‘Raiders’, respectively- in order to provide support for the meme viewers in choosing from the

diegesis. Furthermore, the writing also provides dialogue between the two personas regarding

the outcome of the fight. The result of this dialogue is the introduction of another meme within

the last sequence of the macro-image. This last picture represents a meme which appeared after

the Area 51 raid (fact that provided the image-macro with a new modal affordance): the Naruto

Runner. In this latter case, the picture has a relay-function for the texts, connecting with the

Raiders’ line- “I know, but he can (defeat you)”- anaphorically and composing the answering

subject to the guards’ imperative sentence. As a result, the meaning formed within the discourse

viewpoint space is that the guards, metonymically signified as evil, defy the raiders of Area 51,

the good, due to their lack of power. However, in a humoristic manner, the raiders possess an

advantage, the fast Naruto Runner, who can run without being caught by the guards.

The guards and the raiders could also represent conative synecdochal signs for the

government (the Area 51 Guards being a small constitutive part of the executive force) and for

the people (the Raiders being a part of the community), respectively, while the Naruto Runner

could be considered a conative metonymical sign for the resistant protest. As a consequence,

the viewpoint discourse space resulted from this multimodal construction orients the meaning-

making towards an intersubjective debate about political power and the inventive ways through

which regular citizens struggle against that power.

This particular meme involves some layers that the reader must understand in order to

fully comprehend the meaning of the meme. In this case, it is fair to state that there are three

layers of texts which are the movie and the specific scene this meme is based off, the event of

the Area 51 raid and the significance of the Naruto runner.

Proceeding on with the analysis, we will be applying the theory of intertextuality and

recontextualization. As mentioned earlier on in the theory section, there are three types of

intertextuality, which are obligatory, optional and accidental (Fitzsimmons, 2013). These types

are not separate or different, but they coexist together and therefore could overlap within each

other. With regards to recontextualization, there are also three levels and they are intratextual,

intertextual and interdiscursive. Intertextuality and recontextualization can provide a better

insight into one of many layers that memes contain and therefore provide a better understanding

of memes.

Focusing on this specific meme, there are two perspectives that one could analyse it

through, depending on the reader’s knowledge. One perspective is based on whether the reader

has seen the movie or not and the other perspective is based on whether the reader knows or

has heard about the event of the Area 51 raid and understands it.

In regard to this specific meme, one could discuss the possibility of overlap within

intertextuality categories, since this meme could fall within the category of obligatory or

optional, depending on whether or not the reader has knowledge about the movie and the event.

If the reader possesses the knowledge and understanding of both layers, the movie and the

event, then they are able to fully comprehend the meme, and this would then fall in the category

of obligatory intertextuality. This is based on the assumption that the reader has knowledge

regarding both the movie and the event and how it makes sense when their contexts are

combined together. On the other hand, if one assumes that the reader lacks knowledge or

understanding regarding the movie or the event, then it would fall within the category of the

optional intertextuality.

As previously mentioned in the theory section, optional intertextuality is when the

author invokes another text or sign and in doing so, it slightly changes the meaning of the

original understanding. For example, if the readers have not heard about the Area 51 raid but

they have seen the movie, then they would still be able to understand the meme to some extent.

By understanding the context of the movie scene, they can understand that it is a fight between

two groups where one of them possesses a secret weapon but they would not understand why

it is exactly those two groups fighting and they would not fully understand the significance of

the Naruto runner. In that sense, the components from the Area 51 raid would act as a reward

for those who do understand it.

When applying the theory of recontextualization to this specific meme, the level that it

would belong to is the intertextual level. This is because the meme makes use of different signs,

the movie scene and the Area 51 raid, and in putting them together creates a new context and

meaning.

The analysis of this specific meme has shown us the different interpretations of power

relations and how important it is to have some form of knowledge regarding the layers of a

meme, in this case the movie scene and the event, in order to fully understand it. Looking at

the power relation between Thor and Hela, which is now remediated within the Area 51 guards

vs. the raiders as well as the Naruto runner, we have come forth with our interpretations of it

throughout the different sections of the analysis.

Through the semiotic analysis the power relation was revealed and shows the

significance of the Naruto runner and his importance. In the multimodal section, it was shown

how this could be interpreted through a discourse point of view as well as a humorous

viewpoint. It has also shown us how it could be understood on a deeper level, where it is the

people vs. the government through a form of rebellion which could potentially reveal a certain

mindset towards the US government. Through intertextual analysis, it was shown how two

different modes, with each of their own meaning and context, can come together and create

something new through remediation and bricolage. The final part of the analysis has shown us

how these components work together in creating understanding and making it easy for the

reader to follow.

4.4. Analysis Conclusion

To sum up the key findings of the analysis, in a more general way, the time period

before the event happened, specifically when the event was created in July and up until

September, millions of memes were created based on different assumptions of what might

happen as well as different countries making fun of America. The event was popular in digital

culture, months before the day of the event occurring which could be due to the fact that Area

51 is a meme and a myth of its own. As described in the introduction, conspiracy theories

surrounding Area 51 has been around for several years and its popularity has been growing

ever since, thus becoming a prominent figure in pop culture. We believe that these conspiracy

theories and the popularity of Area 51 in pop culture, acted as a catalyst that led to the event

being as widespread and as popular as it was. Another factor that can be considered is the dark

humor e.g. school shootings. This can be set together with the popularity of Area 51 and as the

meme insinuates- it is ‘cooler’ to die raiding Area 51 than dying in a school shooting.

In the days of the events happening, there has been a wide variety of memes posted.

With the example of the Yelling Woman meme, it can be seen how a meme representing two

sides have been fused together. One side is focusing on the past, on the myth created and spread

through memes. The second side is focusing on the actuality and reality of the situation, shown

by ‘Facebook’ yelling at ‘Reddit’, similar to what the Distracted Boyfriend showed us. Putting

into perspective what each online community values, and how they react under a situation

dubbed as a humanitarian catastrophe if it were to happen as expected. What could have been

a catastrophe turned out to be nothing more than people standing by and looking at the base.

All the three memes chosen provide constructional compositionality and constructional

meaning, as well as frame metonymies for future use. In the case of the first meme, the sign-

complex is more reduced in using the available semiotic resources and thus, favorises a faster

reach towards the discourse viewpoint space for both the sign-makers and sign-readers.

Furthermore, the requirements for the readers' competence in decoding multiple intertextual

elements are also mitigated. Nevertheless, even though the process of remediation is not

significantly present in this case study, bricolage implies certain modal affordances for semiotic

resources. One of these affordances is borrowed from the studied social context, the 'Storm

Area 51' event. This circumstantial environment provided both framing and meaning for the

discourse spaces of the viewers. However, the shared constructional meaning of the meme

could have only been defined in interaction with the frame metonymy of The Distracted

Boyfriend meme. This image-macro, representing not only an intertextual element, but also a

modal affordance, has been remixed into a template with a monomodal function, making

meaning through itself. Nonetheless, the competence of the readers becomes, in this case,

conditioned by an intertextual affordance of other memes.

As a result, two perspectives can be deduced. On one hand, it could be noticed that a

meme represents a media artefact which can require more or less modal affordances and

semiotic resources in meaning-making, but still allowing for meanings to be built

intersubjectively through shared contexts. The dominant significations within the common

discourse space are the ones inferred from the receivers, the viewers of memes, either through

socio-contextual awareness or through a meme-viewing competence.

The second image-macro, represented through a chain meme is constructionally more

complex and, therefore, the meanings are inferred from layered interactions. The frame

metonymies interact within the first layer of meaning through the remediation of other different

sources. These sources address viewers with competences obtained intertextually (knowledge

of reality shows and cinema).

The second layer of meaning is composed from symbolic representations, remediated

and recontextualized. In this framework, the meme-viewers' competence lies within the modal

and intertextual affordances sourced within social media. Moreover, these symbolic signs in

interaction also provide reflexive insights towards the discourse viewpoint space (metamemes),

which require higher intertextual abilities.

The third layer of meaning is provided by the social context, which offers the anchorage

for the frame metonymies of the previous meanings.

These three layers are not interdiscursive but complement each other in order to reach the

discourse viewpoint space. The viewer’s subjectivities interact after the third layer constructs

its meaning, and only through a high degree of mediated competence. Furthermore, the meta-

layer adds difficulty in deconstructing the discourses due to the reflexive layer of the meaning.

The third image-macro, at the first level of discourse, is remediated from a single media

artefact and requires one type of intertextual competence- a cinematic one. The second layer is

built through bricolage with the modal affordances of other semiotic resources- previous

memes. It could be noted that this layer is actually framed by the social context, the existence

of the meme 'the Naruto Runner' being dependent on the Area 51 raid, which, in return,

provides the social circumstances for both the composing meme and for the image-macro. As

a result, it wouldn't be absurd to deduce that the social context provides the anchorage for the

first sourcing text, becoming essential in determining the meaning within the discourse

viewpoint space while requiring a single competence: a social one.

When comparing the analysis of the image-macros, it becomes easy to observe the

importance of the social context in building intersubjectivity. While the other resources are

dynamically reconstructing meanings, the social affordances provide stability within the

viewpoint discourse space of the meme makers and viewers.

It can be stated that the epistemological interpretivism engaged by this project does not adopt

a single semiotic approach, rather it counteracts its rigurosities when it comes to constructing

meaning and knowledge by employing the frames of social contexts.

People infer meaning from social realities which are created and enacted through

memes. From an interpretive perspective, these social realities are subjective and discursive

within different layers, converging in the end within a common social conditioning that defines

the digital culture as a part of the participatory one.

5. DISCUSSION

This section will be a collection of different reflections we have made throughout the

project process as well as what could have been done differently in regard to for example

theories and our main focus. The theories have now been applied to the three chosen memes,

the conclusions revealed a better understanding into how memes are complex systems of social

signs and how prominent and influential it is in digital culture. The results will then be used as

a basis for reflections on the choices made regarding the theory of science, the choices of

theories and asking whether or not we have achieved the goals we set out for.

Another relevant meme trait that this report focuses on is the concept of meaning

production, through the use of memes, here understood through the lenses of social semiotics,

that is here used as a bridge to connect social constructivist and interpretivist epistemologies.

The production of meaning develops from being solely individual and perspective, and become

shared and mutual, between the users that understand a common code. Within such

communities meaning helps the creation and the development of a common social identity, that

sometimes -like in the event of the raid- brings a large group of individuals into social and

common action, where the shared meaning and interpretation works as a fuel for collective

participation.

From the different conclusions we learn that memes are also used to communicate and

comment on deeper topics such as cultural differences, collective identities, power relations,

political problems and critiques, both internal and external. It shows us how e.g. jokes are used,

by digital communities, to express certain emotions through memes for a specific audience,

understood as individuals that use digital media and are a part of certain collective identities.

Looking at the points presented by Jensen and Helles (2017) viewing memes in the framework

of metacommunication, memes are understood through codification and power relation, but

who has the power? The spread of digitalization and social media allows multiple influencers

to voice their opinion. In Jensen and Helles’ work they discuss how Bateson states that these

multiple voices and realities can change social structures, when united. Thus - assuming memes

do communicate and comment on political, social and cultural issues - the many participants

that are present in the re-communication of memes, should be able to challenge and change

social realities within their communities, local as well as global. In other media sources and

digital content, for example on Youtube we have ‘influencers’

starting debates regarding

bullying, body norms and so forth, but content in memes do not seem to have the same power

relations. This may be caused by its approach to the issues or the fact that meme-viewers and

meme-makers are both equally powerful due to the participatory culture surrounding memes.

Or is it more psychological and attributable to the lack of a visible influencer. This raises the

question; can memes, as a communicative tool challenge and change agendas?

This report focuses mostly on the meme makers and the tools used to communicate

rather than how it is interpreted and how it contributes. Participatory culture is in an era where

the audience not only acts as consumers but also as contributors or producers. They are re-

communicating for, through and with each other, opening up for looking at how the meme-

makers role, as both consumer and contributor, help them to communicate a message quite

clear through a shared identity. Elaborating further, memes incorporate participatory culture

because of the fact that anyone anywhere has the opportunity to create, copy and edit. Meme

creation has become a phenomenon that anyone can be apart of, which is why most of them,

especially the well-known memes, use universal language that people across different cultures

and backgrounds can understand and enjoy, referring to the principal components. This is

essentially what creates that feeling of inclusiveness towards the majority of people that come

across them, with certain exceptions made. The Internet is revolutionising the way we express

our feelings and communicate to one another, and they bring people together on a larger scale

across the globe. Memes are an example of this evolution in communication. Even though there

are several different factors that contribute to their popularity, the most essential elements in

creating crowd-pleasing memes often have to do with their relevance to current events such as

the raid of Area 51. This makes them more contemporary and therefore makes them spread to

larger audiences in different parts of the world. Meme-culture and participatory culture go hand

A person who is walking advertisement

in hand as they both evolve around the contribution and production within a creative field, and

because the whole purpose behind creating a meme is for it to be shared between individuals,

so that it can become viral on the Internet. It’s the people as a whole that gets to decide whether

a meme becomes popular or not - as they are the ones who like and share, which is what results

in their popularity.

Moving forward it could be interesting to investigate further on how these memes are

perceived by different groups on the Internet. We have been looking at them through the meme-

makers’ eyes and with a Western position. The chosen position has been assisting in making

meaning through a social semiotic analysis. But there is a question to be asked on whether or

not changing the position could have helped giving distance to the meme-makers and granting

a different point of view. For example, looking at the memes through an Eastern position,

thereby granting new perspectives towards our social semiotic understanding, and being able

to apply that to the analysis. Meme-makers are a part of the participants but are there certain

participants that have more power than others based on their geographical position? Do memes

criticising and demonstrating the Western world issues trend in the Eastern world too? Or

would we find a whole other trend there.

Though it might be interesting to view memes from a different perspective, our chosen

perspective have granted us access to the multimodal theory. Multimodally, all the analyzed

image-macros showed the interaction of text and image and its result in converging

contextually formed meanings. Through framing, anchorage and functions of relay of the

discourse, the modes in a meme build new meanings to which the participants contribute

intersubjectively and intertextually, according to their competences. Furthermore, the lack of

delimitations between senders and receivers of user-related content contributes towards an

increased participation in recontextualizing meaning, outside of a logonomic system

. As a

result, concerning the case of this report, it can be stated that the Area 51 event provides new

modal affordances for the creation of new meaning-carrying signs. As seen within the analysis,

each mode in an image-macro can convey meanings on its own. Those meanings compose

certain discourses at the level of the meme-maker’s as well as at the level of the meme-viewer’s

viewpoint spaces. Nevertheless, the writing can provide anchorage for the image within a

context and thus, can establish a common understanding between makers and viewers at the

A system strictly limited by conventions of discourse, genre and style

higher level of the discourse viewpoint space, an understanding framed by the specific

anchorage that a written text offer. Similarly, the writing can also be interpreted individually,

even though, in most cases of the image-macros, the image offers a relay-function that can

change the discursive nuances of a text in any given context. For example how the macro-

image of the Naruto runner during the event ‘Storm Area 51’ changed the meaning of the text.

Within all the memes chosen for the analysis, the social context of the Area 51 raid has

rerouted various discourses and their meanings towards the collective participation in storming

this conspiracy theory filled place, which is Area 51. Certainly, collective thought is a complex

matter, therefore the discourses converged homogeneously while maintaining the diversity and

creativity of interpretation through various codes; moral, logical, humorous, etc. applied to

mediate meaning.

Applying the dimension of text and sign has led us to focus on the semantic and

communicative aspect of the meme. Well aware that memes are also socially bound, we

investigated memes with a focus on the layers of the meme and how these layers are meant to

communicate socially constructed realities. These socially constructed realities are created

through the interpretations and through the personal experiences of the individuals exposed to

the texts, that build their sense out of the literary piece through their subjective contexts.

Referencing the idea presented by Dawkins (1976), that memes are like genes, they spread and

generate meaning with no reference.

The nature of the study is qualitative and deductive, not trying to establish any

irrefutable theories which can be applied universally, but trying to analyze and draw

conclusions from the content and its network of relations. The analysis is taking an interpretive

approach on memes, trying to push the objectivity of the semiotic tradition more towards

socially constructed and subjective truths. The theory of social semiotics interacts with the

theories of communication in order to offer a thorough explanation for how an emergent culture

has reshaped meaning-making processes. Furthermore, this report seeks to develop

understanding in the context and in the social realities where these memes are generated; in

order to achieve an understanding at this level the researchers have to recognize that their work

is subjected to their own individual interpretation and ontology. Using such interpretivist

approach, we are then able to create an understanding of the context that such memes are

describing. This way of working allows us to make personal interpretation of the themes and

concepts touched by the memes studied, in order to construct subjective version of such

realities.

With this in mind, the three memes in the analysis part can be studied, not only for their

semiotic values, but are a tool to derive interpretation from, both the realities that are part of

the given meme’s context, as well as the communities where such topics are of everyday

relevance. When we think of memes as textual means with a role and a meaning, that is subject

to every individual’s interpretation, the theory of interpreted communities is the framework we

research in. With his theory, Fish imagines the reader as an active agent that builds its own

meaning from the text, and the text becomes somehow of secondary importance if considered

without the user’s interpretation (Fish, 1980). We apply the same general approach to the

understanding of memes. If the meaning can only exist through an active use, and it is personal

and subjective, meme communities are composed by users that have similar interpretation of

memes. In order to have similar subjective experience people shall -at least partially- share a

similar code, and that is a requirement in order to participate in these conversations. The nature

of the experiences and the interpretations are subjected to individual positions, social contexts,

personal characteristics and community belonging, that shape the comprehension of the text,

through mechanisms that have been partially brought up in this report.

When referring to the cultural literacy required in order to understand a text, or in this

case a meme, what emerges from the analysis is that the amount of choices amongst the cultural

references needed, is determined by the cultural landscape of a specific user. Whether memes

refer to films, books, TV-shows, or others, they will perpetuate an imaginary, inextricably link,

linked to their subjective positioning, regardless of the intention of conserving the conformity

of the order, or changing it. Moreover, the understanding of the communication through the

cultural symbolisms carried by memes is an example either of vernacular language or of a

proper code of shared conventions. Beyond the universe of accessible cultural references of the

individual- user/maker, the meme is built with individual agency for a cooperative purpose

therefore it is important to stress on the individual interest – socially shaped and reshaped – at

the moment of the meaning-making in order to analyse the criterial choices related to the final

literary product. This agency can be societal or political, subjective or collective, but will

inevitably be rooted in specific cultural circumstances that, consciously or not, will exclude

other circumstances and cultural references.

For further studies on the topic of memes, and the digital culture it would be interesting

to study how memes are perceived in different cultures around the globe as mentioned above.

How they developed and evolved, and how much of an influence the respective cultures had

on the elements of those memes. To do so, a more qualitative realist position would help in

assisting, as a beginning there is a lack of information regarding a different culture. Due to the

fact that we, as researchers, are of the Western origin. To gain the knowledge both quantitative

and qualitative studies could be employed by surveys regarding the popularity of memes within

a certain area or ethnographies exploring the development of memes in certain areas and their

socio-cultural connections.

6. CONCLUSION

We wanted to investigate how the ‘Storm Area 51’ phenomenon provides an insight

into digital culture through memes.

By doing so we can now state that the digital culture has multiple subcultures, one of

them being that of participation. Through our report we have seen how these cultures come

together to discuss issues and comment on global events through a broadly shared

understanding. We have seen how the participatory culture in memes includes, through

hypotexts, various of different digital subcultures, but also how they exclude and joke about

certain ‘minorities’ and that this power dynamic does not always follow the ‘normal’ order. In

this way, the digital platforms, such as memes, provides opportunities and digital freespaces.

The participants of these memes take their social norms and culture with them online and

expand on the communicational skills they have thought through face-to-face communication.

In all and all, the ‘Storm Area 51’ phenomenon has provided insight to the lifecycle of memes

within digital culture. It brings up ideas on remediation and intertextuality that contributes and

builds on already existing principal components. What has been a major part of our report has

been the discovery of what lies behind these memes, through the eyes of social semiotics. How

they have provided existing memes, with new and alternative meanings that can live through

the individual meme-viewer.

This report is contributing to the field of digital communication with the aim of a

reflexive understanding of the ways meanings are perceived and formed through various

mediations. This has been developed through the analysis of a selection of memes, with the

‘Storm Area 51’ as a focal point. It has been chosen because of its interesting characteristics of

communities gathering together and because of its remarkable spreadability, virality and

contemporary nature. The three exemplary memes picked from this category have been proven

to have similarities and differences in their modal affordances and between their intertextual

element. The analysis, however, showed that the viewers' subjectivities have a high degree of

contribution to their own viewpoint position, as well as to the layered common discourse space.

Based on the results of this analytical perspective on the Area 51 raid, we are confronted with

some of the principal components of digital culture whose findings are being exposed in the

following section in order to understand how the case, read through the lens of our theories,

provided insight on digital culture.

Memes, as is the focus of our report, are complex signs that build meaning through a

network of relationships. The elements of a meme are interrelational and interdependent within

this network and therefore, the discourses involved in these elements converge at a certain

point. Often, this point is represented by a social context in which memes are formed by a

maker. The social context not only contributes to the multimodality of a meme, providing

modal affordances in the construction of a text, but also provides the hypotexts needed in order

to remediate meaning intertextually and intersubjectively. Within the current social context,

this report attempted to bring an understanding of the intricate nature of meaning-making and

meaning-sharing at the level of a collective discourse, with a focus on memes, as meaning

carriers and mediators within a participatory culture.

The social semiotic perspective helped our investigation throughout the meaning-

making mechanisms that create what we experience in interaction with an Internet meme,

specifically considering the case of the Area 51 raid phenomenon. It theorizes how memes are

social creations that become meaningful as a result of social contexts, and the way the creators

decide to communicate through them. The performance of each of those memes relies on the

belonging to a specific group that somehow finds the ways in which to relate to the

subject/object in different ways. This relation can exist because of a common interest,

experience, or other phenomenon that assists in creating a shared conventional language that

only the members of a group can untangle and decrypt, as seen through memes.

The multimodal approach showed how the small different meanings created through

the application of different modes, or multimodal signs, contribute to the overall meaning. A

study of the multimodal and intertextual nature of memes helped in understanding the role of

modes and the influence of other texts in the interactions between senders (the meme-makers),

receivers (the meme-viewers) and the context (a social event) of a message (meme text).

If multimodality and remediation shape the content of the sign through the interaction

and repetition of images and texts, intertextuality makes sense of the concept of the sign

through other texts (Genette, 1997). The intertextual theoretical perspective showed how

recontextualization of signs and meanings extracted from their original context and reused in a

different one (Fairclough, 2003) manifests through memes. This universality of experience and

intersubjectivity is what drove this report to take both a semiotic and a socio-cultural approach

towards digital culture. By choosing a specific context, the dynamics of shape and movement

of a meme became easier to observe and explain. Consequently, the meaning-making processes

employed in such dynamics allow for an interpretive and a qualitative understanding of the

mechanisms of collective thought in regard to memes.

This intertextual thinking allowed us to decode the semiotic potential of our selection

of memes further considering intertextual and multimodal signification and references. In this

sense, it could be argued that a multimodal analysis would not have been possible if not directly

inscribed in an intertextual analysis: all modes, in fact, could be understood as references of

previous texts of intertextual figures.

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