Media and Society - SLU Madrid

 In ancient Rome, the poet Ovid stated that the true goal of public speech (or the media in today's world) is to entertain us while instructing us. He was ver pessimistic about the human reluctance to be taught things, as he believed human beings still have much to learn. On the other hand, he looked without too much dread at our strong natural inclination to entertainment, as he dreamed of combining the two. With immense effort and wit of  media directors and producers, this could become a reality, as I believe there is always a lesson to be learned even in the most vacuous of reality TV shows.  Even though I don't fully agree that all media can potentially elevate human character, it does indeed create a very strong sense of community and unity even between people who would not have a shared culture otherwise. One could make the argument that fandoms create their own ritual categories as fans go on pilgrimages to filming sites (GoT, LOTR) and demand millions of dollars ...

  Neyl Benkirane Professor Vivar CMM 1400 Meme analysis:  For me, the main message, and the main concept that the presentation Will the Revolution Be Memed? by Jack Z. Batrich, is that the “meme world” in general is a two-faced coin. One side of the coin is the meme world being represented and used as a marketing method, using the properties mentioned by Batrich, such as mimicry, imitation, invention, or mutation, as a form of meme-production to spread an idea. An example of this could be all the memes created and used for and by the 8M movement, in order to inform, mobilize, and share the feminist movement. The other side of the coin is the meme world seen as a critique or a joke. Batrich mentioned tons of cases where memes were used as propaganda and as a mocking instrument, with the intention of diminishing a movement, an idea, or even a person. An example Batrich made reference to in his presentation, could be the pictures posted and created by Alt-Right, a Twitter account...

   Memes are a huge part of the internet. Images that have no context or that we could see as something normal gain lots of power in order to travel the world. This is the case of the success kid, who is an internet sensation. This meme has become one of the most famous and most used memes in the world. It’s a simple image of a baby, Sam Griner, who is in the beach trying to eat a hand full of sand, while he is doing a facial expression indicating achievement. This picture was taken back in 2007 and is still used to this day. Sammy is 13 years old now and is still amazed that the meme is used.   The picture was taken by his parents on the beach in Florida, and they never imagined the image to get this popularity. The image wasn’t seen as success kid at first, but it got an aggressive view (I hate sand castles) due to his facial expression. However, as time went by, it got a different meaning and ended up as success kid. Sam states that he sometimes feels embarrassed b...