What’s in a Meme?

CEBU, Philippines - The rapid exchange of ideas is one of the novelties of the internet age. The exchange happens at just a click of the finger. It's easy and fun. It's no wonder why the digital social network has caught on quite widely.

The blurring of geographical boundaries in the internet has indeed opened the floodgates of communication. It has also emphasized the need for creativity in communication, in order to be noticed amid the information explosion. And so there has since been a lot of wit and humor circulating in cyberspace, particularly in social media.

The more creative inventions in the social media communication easily become are memes, items that quickly get passed on among the so-called "netizens," often continually evolving in the process. The word "meme" comes from Greek "mimesis," which means "something imitated." In his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene," British biological theorist and revolutionist Richard Dawkins uses the word to mean "a unit of cultural transmission." Dawkins postulates that, like genes, ideas and beliefs spread and mutate across the populace through imitation.

In the social media, memes are pictures or videos edited with a text overlay, which sometimes conveys a humorous commentary on certain issues. Most of the memes involve unusual pictures of common animals. Not until 2012, in the U.S., when a student's high school year book photo with funny captions was posted in social news portal Reddit. The student became an instant internet celebrity.

Memes had been proven as a channel for promotions. Although some proponents claim that the memes they created were unintentional comedy.

In September 2006, a gory scene from the 1990 horror film "Troll 2" became a YouTube sensation. It was after a video clip of the character, Arnold, yelling out of fear upon being confronted by monsters was posted on the website You're The Man Now, Dog (YTMND), a known website for memes. Lots of video remix versions were produced after that meme got popular.

The same happened to the 1987 horror film "Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2." The popular meme of the turgid acting in the "Garbage Day" scene took the netizens' attention, despite the supposedly gripping scene.

Not all memes are perceived positively. Some memes are entertaining enough and others tend to be abusive. While memes are created purposely to elicit laughter, these may actually turn out to be unkind to their subjects, especially people subjects.

Example is the 'infamous' singing debut of the then teenage sensation Rebecca Black. Black's music "Friday," released in 2011, received harsh and degrading memes and comments days after it was released. To date, "Friday" ranked at number 23 of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time and is considered the "worst audio recording of all time."

Most recently, in the Philippines, senatorial bet Alma Moreno has been a subject of public mockery after her controversial interview with news anchor Karen Davila. Moreno allegedly had a hard time presenting her position on the Reproductive Health Law and the feasibility of same sex marriage in the country. Moreno had to come out again on television to plead to netizens to stop posting memes of her from the Davila interview, because it had already caused trauma to her family, especially to her children.

Questions have been raised if memes need to be subjected to the intellectual property codes. Present laws protect only those emblems, logos, photographs, or any art form registered for copyright. Incidentally, copyright on memes could be hard to identify, since most pictures used are just posted in the internet without trademarks. (FREEMAN)