The rooted data understood four main types of meme quiddities you to definitely joined instances into the same family unit members: Target, particular character, universal reputation, action, and you can keywords. Following the difference between real artwork quiddities and you may abstract textual of those (Lewis, 2012 ; Spitzberg, 2014 ), i constructed a description getting quiddity concreteness. The initial one or two groups-things (eg Mentos from inside the “Diet Mentos”) and you may specific emails (such Bert during the “Bert are Evil”)-try highly visible and tangible. Generic emails (including the certain kitties inside the “LOLcats”) and steps (such as the dancing movements within the “The Development of Moving”) will always be visible, however their symptom you certainly will go from that eg to another. Fundamentally, unlike visible objects, sentences are definitely the the very least concrete or the most abstract of the many categories. After that section, i mentioned the brand new percentage of era for the for every family you to definitely contained enjoys out of each of the categories. For each meme such as for example when you look at the a family group was required to have at the very least one kind of quiddity. Brand new quiddity concreteness level is acquired each meme household members established into the adjusted many the five-quiddity teams: target and specific reputation (1), general character and you may tips (0), and phrase (?1).
Quiddity designs
Into the RQ1 we asked what are the prevailing kind of quiddities you to definitely bind meme family members along with her. Our studies showed that action is the most commonly used quiddity regarding shot (42.2% out-of meme period), with terminology (38.5%). Particular character (29%) and you can target (23%) was in fact less common, that have simple reputation (fifteen.7%) trailing trailing. It is very important keep in mind that our very own results reveal that the newest head quiddity try mainly different from the fresh new general qualities appearing in the brand new codebook for the majority meme group. In fact, into the ninety% of meme parents, the latest quiddity is specific which means was not as part of the universal services. Like, from the “Celebrity Wars Man” household members, brand new work off attacking that have laser swords are a highly certain quiddity, meaning that couldn’t end up being captured of the universal attributes of this new codebook.
Inside RQ2 i expected which themes, versions, and contribution formations try prevalent (and limited) when you look at the modern-day internet memes. I found that common culture (26.5%), restaurants (19.1%) and the fresh news (16.3%) were the most used subject areas; nationality (dos.6%), most recent events (step three.2%), and you may functions and you may work (step three.3%) was minimum of prominent subjects. Regarding gender, men players (59.4%) was indeed depicted twice more frequently since people users (twenty seven.3%). Family and you can young adults (38.7%) appeared really, if you’re elder players have been minimum of depicted (5.6%) in terms of generation. Caucasian people (forty two.5%) was the quintessential portrayed cultural classification, if you are Hispanic or Latino players the least (0.2%). Eventually, when it comes to setting, very era had been pictures (56%) otherwise video (42 Filipino dating sites.6%) instead of absolute textual memes (1%). In general, such conclusions corroborate some of the observations produced in the newest qualitative degree discussed more than, where in actuality the memetic areas are named dominated by the younger, light people. In terms of themes, media-founded playfulness seemingly have become significantly more extreme than engagement having politics. So based on detailed analytics at the very least, politics is quite limited about memetic sphere. Yet ,, since unfolded below, system analysis will state united states a more cutting-edge story.
The newest cohesiveness off universal characteristics in meme parents
Once the detail by detail over, among the aims of the studies was to check new the amount away from cohesiveness out-of meme families regarding the generic characteristics (RQ3). Shape 2 shows the latest network from memes revealing equivalent articles attributes. To create the latest visual research sharper, we inform you right here just four meme group that display one or two otherwise alot more characteristics. How big is the new node is short for their system degree, in other words, what other meme period they shares stuff features which have. Such as for instance, the first meme from “Leave Britney Alone” ‘s the largest node, discussing at least a couple posts characteristics which have 56 (off 83) other meme occasions. “Graffiti” and you may “Birmingham” are each other cases of the “Pepper Sprinkle Cop” meme family members. These represent the tiniest nodes regarding the circle, revealing two posts attributes that have two almost every other meme times. The latest depth of the link means the number of shared features. Like, brand new connections between cases of this new “Get off Britney By yourself” have become heavy, and thus he is much like each other when it comes away from stuff. The original meme and its period express around 9 (out-of sixteen) articles attributes with each other.