The meme I chose to focus on is one I call the “General Kenobi” meme. The majority of prequel memes are based on quotes from the films. These fans focus mainly on Episodes I, II, and III of the Star Wars franchise. In order to see these concepts in action, I chose to look closely at an online-based community: Star Wars prequel fans, mainly in the r/prequelmemes community on the social media website Reddit. Below is a meme template with a remediation based on the Star Wars prequels: If a viewer does not understand the template or the reference in the meme, they will not understand the joke. Meme templates are images with blank slots for users to fill in with their own text or images they are extremely recontextualizable and widely circulated. This last form is characterized by specialized knowledge and use of meme templates. Remediation can involve mixing references to multiple works of media, mixing references to media and everyday non-digital life, or complex “remixes” that change two media pieces into a novel form. One example of a frequently recontextualized Star Wars quote is seen below: However, when the quote is shared in different contexts, the meaning can be changed. Recontextualization is seen in memes where the original quote or reference is unchanged. An example of a chain email can be seen below: This process can be seen in many processes predating memes, such as chain emails. Redistribution involves sending a message or form of media unaltered to someone else. Hall’s course “Language and Digital Media,” builds on Austin’s research by investigating internet memes as a kind of speech act, or “how to do things with memes.” I explain how memes work through three concepts taken from the field of computer-mediated discourse: redistribution, recontextualization, and remediation. Claiming that language does not simply describe the world but also changes it, Austin established the theory of speech acts. Austin changed the face of pragmatic linguistic analysis with his famous work How to Do Things with Words. Course: Language and Digital Media (Ling 3800) The memes shared by Star Wars prequel fans in a very nerdy corner of the internet may help us understand how memes create community.
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