Memes In Bridget Ruetenik's Visual Rhetoric

Living in the technological age, it is hard to bypass the famous (or infamous) meme. Whether on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, memes are found everywhere and encompass a spectrum of disciplines, discussions, and events. The origin of the “meme” is that it is a “cultural idea that self-replicates like a virus and mutates while at the same time it preserves its core structure to survive” (Hristova 266). Just as mentioned in this definition, memes are definitely seen as viruses that seem to reach every corner of the internet, whether for positive or negative reasons. For example, during the Occupy Wall Street movement, the “We are the 99%” meme was especially popular and was an important component in the movement’s outreach and definition

In Bridget Ruetenik’s “Visual Rhetoric, Media, and Rhetors: Creating Spaces for Deliberation,” she states that, “multimedia arguments do make it easier to construct alternate contexts and provide multiple ways to map and understand an issue” (Ruetenik 12). Political cartoons no longer provide the means for discourse, so memes have evolved from the political cartoon rhetoric. Through the decline in popularity of print newspapers, in which political cartoons were prominently featured, most Americans now read and receive their news through social media outlets, and, according to the Newspaper Association of America, print newspaper ad revenues fell over 55% between 2007 and 2012, due to the fact that many readers have switched to internet-based news (source). Also, political cartoons have always been left to the artists and people with power, never allowing for real discussion within the public sphere, but through a one-sided approach in which the artist would present their cartoon to the public. Memes, however, provide the chance for others to create their own versions and add to the discussion. For example, in an article titled, “Pepper Spray Cop and the American Dream: Using Synecdoche and Metaphor to Unlock Internet Memes’ Visual Political Rhetoric” stated that, “because memes by

For example, during the GOP debate on March 3, 2016, which quickly turned into a discussion of penis assessments and other irrelevant banter, Hillary Clinton tweeted a meme with the hashtag “#GOPdebate” of herself looking bored, thereby mocking the Republican nominees (Image 1). Clinton has often used memes or has tried to begin memes of her own in order to engage more of her audience and allow more participation with her supporters. For instance, Clinton appeared as a guest on an episode of the popular show Broad City, which airs on Comedy Central and is particularly popular with the demographic of young adults between the ages 18-34 (Ng). She made quite the entrance on the show, and provided many ‘GIFable’ or meme-worthy moments, such as winking while a light bulb went out behind her, and playing with an inflatable air dancer (Images 2 and 3). An article in the New York Times stated, “Whether or not the episode cools a single millennial’s Bern for Mr. Sanders, it is an example of pop-culture politicking in the meme era — one that’s less about humanizing the candidate than imagining her as a kind of stylized artwork, not likable so much as shareable” (Poniewozik). In an article about the role of memes in the 2015 State of the Nation debate in Spain, it is stated that, “studying political memes allows for a