When I decided to use bullying for my final project, I washed it through the memes experiment. The other day, while I was looking up memes to use, I discovered that there are several different voices on the memes, the most common being against anti-bullying. None of them were really funny to me, but I don't find that kind of stuff funny. Many of them were quite serious. The memes that did come up for anti-bullying were all different. Most of them were a one time meme. In other words, I didn't see them with any different captions.
The "philosopher" meme, above, is often used to get people to think about an idea, usually the opposite of the actual philosophy. It obviously gets it's name from the stance of the dinosour and requires a skeptical view of things to be funny. I find that it is sometimes used to poke fun at important ideas. Here it is used to call into question anti-bullying.
The "Stop Cyber Bullying Girl" has several memes all in response to the image. This one kind of makes fun of the meme itself. There was only one version of this meme that agreed with the picture saying "Stop... Please...." The others were all similar to this one, my favorite saying "You gotta do more than that to stop bullying."
The fan art for bullying was much different. Most of it was like the image below. Most of it was fan art for another thing like Disney or Anime with a caption added to it.
This one, as well as several of the other Disney related images that came up, have two images from the movies super imposed together. The image of Belle had to be cut out and composited to the image Jasmine and a caption added to it. This image and others like it will reach out to a very specific audience. The Disney fan art will reach out to younger kids and pre-teens that are still interested in the Disney princess. The Anime fan art reaches an older crowd, including many of us.
I did find a couple of anti-bullying fan art that were more specific to bullying.
This one is called "Mercy, not a Myth". It is a montage or collage of different images or memes and a poem to the side. Each of the images is powerful and has a strong anti-bullying message specific to the image. Putting them together and adding the poem on the side gives them the all same message and adds a call to action thus giving the images more power and meaning.
This one is pretty normal. I found a couple like it. It is also the kind of montage I would have created on my own using templates and ready made images. This one uses only word, but they are the kind of words that point out the different kinds of bullying that some people are not aware of.
5 comments:
Who knew there would be so many cool memes and fan art for bullying! I love that you picked this topic. Everything you found is so unique and really makes you think. I'll point out my two favorites! The first is of course the Disney princesses. I love that someone photoshopped Jasmine and Belle to make an anti-bullying meme. Very clever! My other favorite is the girl on webcam with the "STOP CYBER BULLYING" sign. I love the meme caption on that image, I sure had a good laugh when I saw it! Like most memes, it catches you off guard and makes you really stop and think about the topic. In this case, obviously more needs to be done to stop cyber bullying than holding up a sign on a webcam. Good job with this, you did awesome!
Thanks Dave. There are lots of things that can be done to stop bullying of all types, but the most important thing is to be informed. I'm actually researching bullying or my writing for social change. It's really exciting.
Who's responsible for Winnie the Pooh. I love it.
Is it going to be hard for you with so many memes mocking anti-bullying? I know its a sensitive topic with a lot of people and the internet tends to prey on those sensitive topics. I know I really laughed at the "Stop Cyber Bullying" one, but I can be a jerk.
I don't think it will be that hard for me. I have this filter that says, "Don't pay any attention." The internet is also the one place that people can be anonymous so why not be what ever it is you want to call it. The meme really is funny, but it also has a point. It takes more than propaganda to change any problem.
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