Facebook user, from the group Type 1 Diabetic Memes
Facebook user, from group Type 1 Diabetic Memes
For those unfamiliar, 'memes' are an incredibly popular internet phenomenon that has grown in this past year. Generally they are comprised of a single image, with a caption at the top and another at the bottom. They are normally used to make fun of something specific, or just to get a laugh. The Type 1 Diabetic Memes Facebook group (pass along to any T1s you know!) was created in January this year, and hosts tons of these images. I couldn't pick a favourite, so the above are two that were close in the running.
For the life of me, I can't understand why these 'cartoons' of sorts have become so popular. Virtually anyone can make them with a basic program like paint, and the possibilities are endless as to what you can create. A trend I have notices are the more 'exclusive' memes, which target a specific group. Others that are not part of this group might not find the memes to be that funny, or miss the joke all together. For this particular T1 Diabetes group, the memes have taken on a rather therapeutic outlet, which I found interesting. While a very select group will understand the meaning, those that do can surely relate or have had a similar experience. For the first images, most non-diabetics do not experience recognizable symptoms of low blood sugar, and therefore do not understand the intense need to spike it up by eating something sweet. For a T1 diabetic though, this means frantically tearing through your cupboards in search of your favourite snacks.
For this particular group, memes have essentially become illustrated inside jokes. While other groups or fan pages use memes as a light hearted joke, I think its kind of neat that these specific illustrations can be reassuring, letting the viewer know that other people experience this too.
Hahaha, I wondered when memes would make it into someone's blog!! I actually thought about doing my research project on memes, but there's not a whole lot of "research" there...
ReplyDeleteIn the first one in particular I like how you relate that feeling to the act of "franticly tearing through your cupboards to find your favourite snack". I think the facial expressions on the first character really compliment that thought.
The memes you chose are hilarious! I think the best part about memes is that they are so easy to create and anyone can create them. There are only a few guidelines in creating memes (ie. using the proper face for your joke, font, etc) but overall they are very open in the creativity department.
ReplyDeleteThe best memes, I would agree, are the ones that everybody can empathize with. When memes or rage comics are given the appropriate context they can portray a number of different human emotions. I've always found the y u no memes the most hilarious because I can always relate to them.
I think what I like about these memes in comparison to Western memes for example is that they have, in very few words, transformed what can be a debilitating illness into something cool or challenging. To me memes are like puns or obvious jokes not always laugh-out-loud funny, but as you have mentioned memes are always so specific to a situation that a lot of their humour comes from the recognition of the group or almost inside joke style. I also think a lot of their humour comes from their matter of fact statements leaving you with the "it's funny 'cause it's true"reaction.
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