Willy Wonka Meme Analysis

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In a world where memes ran rampant and are forgotten just as quickly as they gain prominence there is one meme that has stood out among the rest, the “king” so to speak and that meme is: The famous Willy Wonka meme, but why would this particular meme have such prevalence? One could explain why by using this quote from Marshall McLuhan, “Every culture and every age has its favorite model of perception and knowledge that it is inclined to prescribe for everybody and everything.” (UM, p. 5) This quote is taken from one of McLuhan’s texts, Understanding Media: The Extension of Man. To understand this quote and ultimately the meme you first have to learn about the original text from which this quote was taken from. Understanding Media: The Extension of Man published in in 1964. In this book, McLuhan proposes that the media, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study. What he means is that the medium, the way the media is delivered is where the message comes from, not the content. The phrase “the medium is the message” (UM, p. 7, 9, 10- ) appears several times throughout the text. The content of any medium is always another medium, for example the content of the press is literary statement, the content of the book is print. Another example would be television, whatever media you’re watching whether it …show more content…

Everything is happening at once and thanks to the advancement of technology, we are now always tuned in and aware. Most of us now get our news via social media: Facebook, twitter, Tumblr and many other social networking sites and nowadays the contents are delivered in the shape of a meme. A medium of a picture with text on it, a meme is used to make a statement, whether it’s political, sarcastic or a joke. Every piece of media content has the potential of being