MEMES AGAINST THE MACHINE: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF

RESISTANCE AND PARODY USE IN INTERNET MEMES

AND ONLINE COMMENTS ON INSTAGRAM

A Thesis

Presented to

The Faculty of the Department of Communication Studies

California State University, Los Angeles

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

In

Communication Studies

By

Luis Enrique Contreras Jr.

May 2021
 © 2021

Luis Enrique Contreras Jr.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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The thesis of Luis Enrique Contreras Jr. is approved.

Cynthia Wang, Committee Chair

Kamran Afary

Kevin Baaske

David Olsen, Department Chair

California State University, Los Angeles

May 2021

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 ABSTRACT

Memes Against the Machine

By

Luis Enrique Contreras Jr.

This thesis project explores how internet subcultures creatively remix, mimic, and

parody iconic, popular culture and political images to generate dialogue between

institutional powers and users on the Internet, specifically looking at the Instagram

account @justhumansof as a form of Bakhtinian (1968) carnival. A perspective of

affordances of technology and mobile media (Baym, 2015; Schrock, 2015) is used to

understand how @justhumansof affords a platform for users to engage in the critique of

hegemonic norms of capitalist society. Hence, this study looks at how technological

affordances of mobile media, such as the ability for users to share, comment, and widely

disseminate memes and parodic images, allow users to participate in a broader

communication context that serves to critique systems of power. Visual rhetorical

analysis was performed on a set of six memes and textual analysis was done on their

respective comment sections. Overall findings support the notion that memes can

stimulate conversations critical of the hegemonic status quo, at least incrementally. It

appears that carnivalesque memes bring together online users in a digital space to vent

about shared experiences living under capitalism. Other findings suggest that the

carnivalesque environment on @justhumansof creates an illusion of subversion. These

findings raise interesting questions: to what degree can subversion take place on a

platform built on upholding the status quo? How much change can carnivalesque memes

truly bring? And how much of that is illusory? Apparently, it is complicated.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv

List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii

Chapter

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................1

Purpose of the Project ........................................................................................4

Scope/Delimitation ...................................................................................5

2. Literature Review....................................................................................................6

Internet Memes ..................................................................................................6

Memes as Subversive Text .......................................................................7

Intertextuality of Memes ...........................................................................9

Hegemony and Resistance ...............................................................................10

Carnivalesque Resistance........................................................................12

Carnival and Online Parody ....................................................................13

Affordances Perspective of Technology ..........................................................16

Affordances of Digital Media and the Internet .......................................16

Instagram.................................................................................................18

3. Research site and Methods....................................................................................21

Research Site ....................................................................................................21

Methods............................................................................................................23

4. Visual Rhetorical Analysis ...................................................................................29

Discussion of Visual Analysis .........................................................................48

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 5. Textual Analysis of Comments .............................................................................52

Discussion of Textual Analysis .......................................................................71

6. Overall Findings, Limitations, Future Studies and Conclusion ............................74

Overall Findings...............................................................................................74

Limitations .......................................................................................................77

Future Studies ..................................................................................................78

Conclusion .......................................................................................................80

References ..........................................................................................................................84

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

1. Figure 1. Abercrombie & Fitch Riot Squad .............................................................3

2. Figure 2. Research Site: @justhumansof Instagram Profile ..................................22

3. Figure 3. Chip in Now to the Biden-Harris Transition ..........................................33

4. Figure 4. Felix the Cat Doesn’t Make Profits for Capitalists ................................36

5. Figure 5. Is This Communism?..............................................................................39

6. Figure 6. Humanesque Lego Figure.......................................................................41

7. Figure 7. Child Labour Doesn’t Have to be Exploitation ......................................44

8. Figure 8. He is Suffering. $29.99 ...........................................................................46

9. Figure 9. Comment Section for “Chip in Now to Biden-Harris Transition” .........54

10. Figure 10. Comment Section for “Felix the Cat Doesn’t Make Profits” ...............57

11. Figure 11. Comment Section for “Is This Communism?” .....................................61

12. Figure 12. Comment Section for Humanesque Lego Figure .................................65

13. Figure 13. Comment Section for “Child Labour”..................................................68

14. Figure 14. Comment Section for “He is Suffering. $29.99.” .................................71

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 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

George Orwell (1945) famously stated: “each joke is a tiny revolution …

whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a

bump, is funny. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke” (p. 284). Orwell (1945), who

used elements of parody within his own works to critique authoritarianism, was aware of

the potential of parody and humor to “bring down” those in power. Additionally, Hans

Speier (1998) notes that humor and wit can be used to make those who are the target of

the punchline of a joke look ridiculous. In this sense, when used as a form of political

criticism, humor and parody can serve to critique “established institutions, policies, or

publicly recognized values” (Speier, 1998, p. 1353). One area of particular interest where

humor and parody have been deployed to critique capitalist hegemony is in the form of

Internet memes. Accordingly, Heidi Huntington (2013) states that “memes are more than

internet humor; research shows them to function by appropriation and resistance to

dominant media messages” (p. 3). From this perspective, memes, which contain instances

of parody and humor (Kuipers, 2005), are looked at to understand how they do more than

just offer a few laughs. Research on the role of memes and their subversive qualities

highlights some of the ways humor and parody have been used to critique hegemonic

power structures (Li, 2011; Milner, 2012; Kumar, 2015). Hence, this study looks at the

ways in which memes and parody on the Instagram account @justhumansof are used to

critique corporate, media, and political power structures within capitalist society. This

study relies on a perspective of affordances of technology and mobile media (Schrock,

2015), which looks at the ways certain technological capabilities and user intention work

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together to create a specific, desired effect (Faraj & Azad, 2012; Schrock, 2015). An

affordance perspective of technology and mobile media is used to understand how

@justhumansof affords a platform for users to engage in discourses that work to decenter

and critique norms of hegemonic capitalist society. Thus, this study looks at how

technological affordances of mobile media, such as the ability for users to share,

comment, and widely disseminate memes and parodic images, allow users to participate

in a broader communication context that serves to critique systems of power.

By posting memes, parodic images, and screen grabs of satirical news articles

@justhumansof uses humor and parody, positioned on the technological affordances of

Instagram, to critique capitalist hegemony. @justhumansof is a site where those who

share similar and dissimilar anxieties about capitalism can share their experiences with

others. Because Instagram has a built-in comment feature (Hu, Manikonda, and

Kambhampati, 2014), it affords multiple users the ability to chime in with their unique

perspective or experience living in capitalist society (Li, 2011). The mere act of laughing

at a relatable or shared experience works to unify a great number of Internet users who

alone may feel disempowered, but collectively feel a sense of community and strength in

numbers “when opposing the established political cultural and social order” (Li, 2011, p.

83).

The images and memes posted on @justhumansof are intentionally satirical,

parodic, and almost always make a comment on an absurd practice of capitalism.

@justhumansof’s biography section reads: “just humans of late capitalism,” which is a

reference to late-stage capitalism. Late-stage capitalism has been defined as “a popular

phrase that targets the inequities of modern-day capitalism. It describes the hypocrisy and

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absurdities of capitalism as it digs its own grave” (Amadeo, 2020). For example, figure 1

is a viral photo taken during the summer months of civil unrest in the US following the

police killing of George Floyd (Walters, 2020). The image depicts police in riot gear

protecting an Abercrombie & Fitch storefront from possible looting. The image is ironic

because police officers swear an oath to protect and serve citizens, but this image makes

viewers question to whom police officers are loyal. Do they protect the people, or do they

serve the establishment? One comment even draws a sarcastic parallel between this

particular moment of widespread civil unrest and the U.S. shopping holiday “Black

Friday:” “Blimey! Black Friday just gets more brutal each year” (jeffapderek).

Figure 1. Abercrombie & Fitch Riot Squad + Comment Section

Looking at the ways Instagram users engage parodic images and memes on

@justhumansof can be useful for discovering what kinds of conversations are taking

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place surrounding issues about capitalist hegemony. Additionally, examining the ways in

which @justhumansof uses memes and parody to provide users the ability to participate

in this sort of critique is of particular interest. Therefore, this study will be guided by the

following research questions:

1. In what ways, and to what extent, does @justhumansof afford a space for parody and

memes to critique capitalism?

2. How does Instagram suppress potentially subversive memes and discourses?

Having outlined the research questions guiding this study above the following sections

will discuss the purpose and significance of this study.

Purpose

This study, which is situated within the communication subfield of media studies,

seeks to contribute to further understanding of how cultural texts, specifically memes on

Instagram and their comment sections, appear to challenge cultural hegemony. The

purpose of this project is to provide further insight into what Thomas Lindlof and Bryan

Taylor (2017) refer to as “resistance studies.” Lindlof and Taylor (2017) draw on

research by Fiske (1991) and Jenkins (1992) in their description of resistance studies:

“Some researchers conducted ‘resistance studies’ of subcultures whose members

creatively deconstructed media texts to serve their unique interests and who appeared to

subvert cultural hegemony” (p. 23). Precisely, this study looks at how members of

internet subcultures creatively remix, mimic, and parody iconic, popular culture and

political images to stir up a dialogue between institutional powers and people on the

Internet. Hence, the purpose of this study is to contribute new understandings to how the

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resistance of hegemony, the use of digital media/affordances, and the use of parody are at

work in memes on Instagram.

Scope/Delimitation

It is important to note that this thesis project was researched and written during

the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore memes, images, and comments selected

from the research site (@justhumansof) reflect some of the unique social, political, and

economic conditions created by the spread and impact of the COVID-19 virus, both in

the United States and globally. Memes and comments selected are exemplary

representations that demonstrate how some social and political conditions created by

capitalism have been exacerbated or affected. Additionally, because the sample site

contains over 1,800 posts, memes, and comments selected are limited within a timeframe

of six months. The sample set was selected from posts made between the months of

September 2020 and January 2021. This was the timeframe in which this thesis process

was conducted, which coincidentally happened to be during the height of the 2020-21

COVID-19 pandemic. Issues related to the pandemic are not necessarily explicitly stated,

but in some cases it is implied. These issues are discussed in subsequent chapters. In the

following chapter existing literature pertinent to this thesis project is reviewed.

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 CHAPTER 2

Literature Review

Firstly, this literature review discusses existing research on the intertextual and

subversive nature of Internet memes along with how Gramscian (1971) notions of

hegemony and counter-hegemonic resistance have been applied within the context of the

Internet and online resistance movements. Secondly, literature on symbolic acts of

resistance, specifically how Mikhail Bakhtin’s (1963) concept of carnivalesque has been

applied within the context of online parody is detailed and discussed. Thirdly, research on

the communicative affordances perspective of technology and mobile media, specifically

the digital media platform Instagram, is discussed.

Internet Memes

The meaning of the word “meme” has evolved since it was first coined by

Richard Dawkins in 1976. Recently, Limor Shifman (2014) redefined Dawkins’ (1976)

original articulation of the term. Where Dawkins (1976) defined memes as singular units

that transmit cultural information, Shifman (2014) has recontextualized that definition to

sit within the context of the Internet and online culture. Given this recontextualization,

Internet memes have been redefined as “a group of digital items sharing common

characteristics of content, form, and/or stance, which were created with awareness of

each other, and were circulated, imitated, and/or transformed via the Internet by many

users” (Shifman, 2014, p. 41). This refocusing and redefinition has brought significant

academic attention to the realm of Internet memes, especially within the field of

communication studies, as before memes were considered too ephemeral and

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unintelligible to receive scholarly attention (Wissenger, 2007). However, Shifman (2014)

has brought a renewed sense of interest to the field of digital media studies concerning

the study of Internet memes as significant socio-cultural texts.

Ryan Milner (2012) talks about Internet memes as a form of online public

discourse. Milner (2012) argues that multimodality, reappropriation, and participation are

characteristics of Internet memes that allow users to engage them as a mode for public

discourse. Memes allow Internet users to reappropriate images, text, and sounds with

relative ease to create their own message. According to Milner (2012), this is what

precisely makes memes “a quintessential participatory artifact: open, collaborative, and

adaptable” (p.12). It is the ease of access to be able to create and share memes, along with

their inextricable connection to online social networks, that enables Internet users to be

able to use memes to participate in online communication (Huntington, 2017). Moreover,

emerging research suggests that memes are social events of an online participatory media

culture that value unique user “contributions as participation” (Bennett, Freelon, & Wells,

2010, p. 18). It is this affordance of user participation in online discourses that provides

subversive and counter-hegemonic voices to have a place to speak and form their own

counter-discourse. The following section will discuss how memes have been viewed as

nontraditional media and a subversive form of text.

Memes as Subversive Texts

Research supports the idea that memes are products of visual media culture,

“parodying, mimicking, and recycling” elements from it (Kuipers, 2005, p. 80). In this

way, memes rely on parody, mimicry, and circulation to make critical social commentary.

Through the process of circulation, memes appropriate images and transform their

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meanings by adding a satiric or comical twist to them. Huntington (2013) states that

memes are more than forms of mere online humor. In fact, research supports the idea that

memes “function by appropriation and resistance to dominant media messages”

(Huntington, 2017, p. 3), hence suggesting that memes have the potential to do much

more than just provide quick laughs. Further research on the subversive qualities of

memes suggests that because they are a type of mainstream media operating on

mainstream social media platforms, such as Instagram, they provide “an accessible

medium for the wider public to hear alternative voices and messages” (Breheny, 2017, p.

84). Albeit memes have been discussed as a type of mainstream media, they are unique in

that they are produced and disseminated independent of traditional media gatekeepers

(Milner, 2013). This bypassing of traditional gatekeeping indicates that memes are not

bound by the same rules of traditional media production and broadcasting. Because

memes can operate somewhat unchecked, at least outside the governance of traditional

media gatekeeping, counter-hegemonic groups have been able to use the subversive

qualities of memes to critique and challenge hegemonic norms (Breheny, 2017).

In an analysis of the use of embodied politics by intersectional feminist meme

accounts on Instagram, Caitlin Breheny (2017) found that intersectional feminist meme

makers have been successful in using memes for “creating empathy and solidarity …

deconstructing and decentering dominant norms … and amplifying personal narratives”

(p. 71). Of significant interest to this study is the way that memes can be used in

“deconstructing and decentering dominant norms” (Breheny, 2017, p. 71). Furthermore,

research finds that memes are rhetorical texts that represent a type of discourse that can

subvert hegemonic media messages by creating new definitions and meanings via

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mimicry, remix, and parody (Huntington, 2013; Mina, 2014; Kuipers, 2005). Drawing on

these findings on how memes are used to decenter and critique hegemonic norms and

media messages, this study will seek to understand how @justhumansof uses parody and

memes to critique and rupture hegemonic practices of capitalism. Since Breheny (2017)

recognizes that “feminist, and other social justice-oriented memes, can be conceptualized

as a form of ‘culture jamming,’ a political art movement that subverts capitalist materials

to produce new oppositional messages,” (p. 57) it can be extrapolated that memes that use

parody and satire to critique practices of capitalism can be taken up as a form of culture

jamming as well to pick apart hegemonic ideals.

Intertextuality of Memes

Research on the way memes function suggests that they obtain their subversive

power, in part, from the process of reproduction and intertextual reference. Zanette,

Blikstein, and Visconti (2019) argue that memes gain their subversive potential through

circulation around the web and being modified bit-by-bit each time they are reproduced:

Through reproduction, the original meme becomes a text of reference to be

quoted and changed along its circulation, a process known as intertextuality (the

implicit quotation of a text in another text, whose meaning becomes richer by

referencing the implicit text). (pp. 160-1)

Furthermore, research on the intertextuality of memes finds that understanding memes is

contingent upon understanding intertextual cultural references: “the intertextual nature of

memes will merge different repertoires carried by different emerging memes, thereby

requiring the audience to have a more tacit understanding of the juxtaposed images or

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frames” (Zanette, Blikstein, & Visconti, 2019, p. 165). This type of implicit experience is

key to understanding the way that memes can be critical of the establishment and remain

somewhat under the radar. Because subversive memes do not explicitly state what they

are trying to subvert, part of their meaning is contingent upon audience members’ prior

knowledge of what is being referenced. Thus, memes can allude to or imply a meaning

that is subversive or critical of the established political, social, economic order without

alerting the hegemonic watch dogs. The subversive capability of memes is due in part to

their intertextual nature, which depends on audiences’ understanding of “cultural

meanings and popular references” (Zanette, Blikstein, & Visconti, 2019, p. 158).

Additionally, research on the intertextual nature of memes finds that “memes are

provocateur objects … [t]his provocative function makes the meme disruptive; it contains

an unexpected, subversive element that does not conform to the stereotypes that govern

the perception of the community of receivers” (Zanette, Blikstein, & Visconti, 2019, p.

159). Hence, their intertextual nature is one way that Internet memes can help foster

resistance of hegemonic ideals. In the following section Gramsci’s (1971) concept of

hegemony is discussed within the context of the Internet and resistance studies. The ways

others have used Gramsci’s theory of hegemony to address issues of domination and

resistance in the context of the Internet is also discussed.

Hegemony and Resistance

Antonio Gramsci’s (1971) conception of hegemony describes how the ruling

capitalist class, commonly referred to as the bourgeoisie, institutes and maintains control

over society (Anderson, 2020). According to Dana Cloud (2020), Gramsci’s (1971)

definition of hegemony captures how “ostensibly democratic societies” are ruled by a

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dominant power, not by way of force, but rather through manufactured consent (p. 835).

In searching for an explanation to why Marx’s prediction of a socialist revolution never

came about, Gramsci (1971) posited that the ruling capitalist class was able to maintain

their domination of the economic system in Europe because they developed “a

hegemonic culture that made the working class identify with and accept capitalist values”

(Li, p. 71). Cultural hegemony, as described by Gramsci (1971), functions below the

level of consciousness: it is a manipulation of the culture of a society by the ruling

capitalist class, which is internalized and accepted to be natural by the subjugated class

(Bullock, Stallybrass, & Trombley, 1977). According to Li (2011), hegemony in the

Gramscian (1971) sense can be understood as the normalization and naturalization of

power by the dominant class through a combination of coercive forces and consent.

Therefore, according to Gramsci (1971) capitalism was successful in establishing itself as

the dominant economic system not because it did so through military or economic force,

but by creating a cultural hegemony the working class willingly, but unwittingly,

accepted capitalist values and norms to be their own.

However, research (Li, 2011) indicates that hegemony is not as invisible or

overpowering as it was once thought of, but rather can be challenged and critiqued in

spaces afforded by new communication media (Milner, 2012; Baym, 2015; Li, 2011).

According to Cloud (2020), this type of challenge to hegemonic power afforded by new

communication media is in line with Gramsci’s (1971) articulation on the role of

everyday people in forming resistance to capitalist hegemony: “[Gramsci] observed and

theorized how ordinary people engage discourse in the course of struggle to displace

common sense ideologies and organize systematic opposition to capitalist rule" (p. 835).

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The way that Gramsci (1971) urges everyday people to utilize discourse to organize

counter-hegemonic movements is tied to what Barbara Babcock (1978) calls “symbolic

inversion.” Babcock (1978) used the term symbolic inversion to refer to “any act of

expressive behavior which inverts, contradicts, abrogates, or in some fashion presents an

alternative to commonly held cultural codes, values and norms be there linguistic, literary

or artistic, religious, social and political (p. 14). Additionally, Hongmei Li (2011) states:

“the hegemonic authority is challenged at critical moments when ‘masks of consent’ are

broken, leading to the exposure of the violent nature of the authority” (pp. 71-2). At the

nexus of hegemonic resistance and symbolic inversion lies the concept of the

carnivalesque which is expanded on in the next section. In what is described as

carnivalesque, parody, humor, and critical laughter are used as a means of symbolic

inversion to resist hegemonic norms.

Carnivalesque Resistance

The concept of carnival comes from the work of literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin

(1963). Carnivalesque is a literary style that inverts systems of power and creates spaces

for equality and emancipation (Stallybrass & White, 1986). According to Bakhtin (1968),

carnival is a time and place where anything goes. Law and social order are suspended in

favor of the creation of an atmosphere where liberation, indulgence, and equality are

celebrated (Bakhtin, 1968). Carnival is an event where the lines between imagination and

reality are blurred. This blurring of boundaries and subversion of power structures allow

human relations to be reenvisioned. Hierarchies are leveled and people from all classes of

society are encouraged to dance together and indulge in the many pleasures of life

(Robinson, 2011). In essence, during carnival people are free to do whatever and be

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whomever they please: a peasant can become a king, and a king a prostitute. It is a

moment in time where debauchery, excess and grotesqueness are celebrated with

purpose. It is a collective move to temporarily suspend the seriousness and regulations of

society so that people can experience a moment of utopia where all can be equal and free.

Bakhtin (1968) argued that carnival’s transgressive ideals manifest beyond

literature and visual representations of life into life itself. Carnival exists in moments

where collective action mobilizes laughter, parody, satire, and grotesquery to upset the

established order (Bakhtin, 1968). Peter Stallybrass and Allon White (1986) extend

Bakhtin’s (1968) concept of carnival to a framework that is “a mode of understanding, a

positivity, a cultural analytic” (293). For Stallybrass and White (1986), carnival is an

epistemology by which the powerless in society can feel like they are, even if only

momentarily, on the same level as those in power. According to Stallybrass and White

(1986), carnival is “one instance of a generalized economy of transgression [and] the

recoding of high/low relations across the whole social structure” (p. 300). How carnival

has manifested on the Internet is discussed next.

Carnival and Online Parody

Corporate entities are working to suppress critical laughter and parody on the

Internet (Theall, 1999). The potential negative impact of visual parody and critical

commentary can have on the public image of brands and labels has ruffled the feathers of

the corporate elite. Companies, such as Playboy Magazine, have fought to eliminate

copyright fair use laws so that public criticism could not be made against their brand

name and corporate image. Legal moves like this illustrate that corporations are aware of

the potential for parody, satire, and humor to be a detriment to their bottom line. Hence,

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legal movements to gain censorship of critical voices on the internet have been viewed in

part to limit “the Internet’s potential for carnivalesque unmaskings” (Theall, 1999, p.

158). A carnivalesque unmasking is a symbolic act that pulls back the thin veil of

decency worn by social institutions to reveal the true, more animalistic, and hedonistic

nature of human society (Stirling, 1997). In this sense, political leaders can be unmasked

as ruthless dictators or a corporate CEO, like Elon Musk, can be revealed to be a

megalomaniac rather than a billionaire genius altruist.

Existing research on the potential of parody and humor to make critical social

commentary suggests that online sites that share internet memes, viral videos, and

satirical images can function as media for resisting hegemonic power (Li, 2011; Kumar,

2015). Research on the practices of users of the Chinese internet indicates that sites that

host Internet memes and other parodic content can erode hegemonic influence and

galvanize collectives of people to challenge the “established political culture and social

order” (Li, 2011, p. 72). Acts of parody use humor and laughter to expose and spotlight

problematic social issues. Kumar (2015) states that parody “masks itself as a joke and

challenges hegemonic narratives by unraveling the mask to reveal its critique” (p. 243).

This idea is an example of how memes use parody in a way that can be subversive to

hegemonic ideals.

Online sites of parody, which most often rely on dissemination of memes and

satirical images, are powerful sites for the contention of established power. In “Parody

and Resistance on the Chinese Internet,” Hongmei Li (2011) shows that Chinese

authorities recognize “the power of parody as a strategy of resistance and has revised its

counter strategy against it, for example, by condemning parody as vulgar and threatening

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to Chinese cultural values to garner support for internet control and censorship” (Li,

2011, p. 85). Because online sites of parody rely on the humorous effects of memes and

satire, Li (2011) states that simple acts of laughter bring together vast numbers of internet

users “who view themselves as individually weak and collectively strong when opposing

the established political cultural and social order” (p. 83). This research supports the

notion that sites of parody, such as @justhumansof, can use humor and wit as tools for

challenging the established order.

Additionally, Kumar (2015) claims that memes and online sites of parody create a

“structure of participation among new audiences with a suasive force of its own” (p. 233).

Research on the Internet in India (Kumar, 2015) suggests that sites of parody rely on viral

videos and spreadable memes as a new source of “discourse on cultural and social

critique” (p. 231). Kumar (2015) found that sites that host memes and parodic content

derive their subversive power from the ability of internet memes to go viral and the

inherent quality of parody to critique existing structures of power. Drawing on the work

of Walter Benjamin (1968) on mimesis and Parikka’s (2007) work on virality, Kumar

(2015) states that memes and parodic content are a powerful combination, because

together they function as tools for making critical social and political commentary, which

can spread like wildfire over the extended reach of the Internet. Given that the Internet

enables messages to reach wider audiences than traditional media (Baym, 2015), it is

important to discuss literature on the perspective of communicative affordances of

technology to understand how symbolic acts of resistance on the Internet, such as online

parody use and spreading subversive memes, engage online audiences. In the following

15
section, literature on an affordances perspective of technology, situated within the context

of digital and social media, namely, Instagram, is reviewed.

Affordances Perspective of Technology

In Personal Connections in the Digital Age (2015), Nancy Baym talks about the

new types of affordances of digital media. An affordance has been defined as the way a

technology’s capabilities and the intentions of the user work together to create a specific

effect (Faraj & Azad, 2012). Baym (2015) articulates how affordances of emerging media

platforms are used to maintain and enhance interpersonal ties with greater numbers of

people: “there have never been more ways to communicate with another than there are

right now” (p. 1). Therefore, it is pertinent to this study to understand the ways in which

technological affordances of the Internet enable users the ability to participate in

discourses on critiques of capitalism and hegemonic ideals.

Affordances of Digital Media and the Internet

Baym (2015) outlines seven key concepts used to discuss and analyze different

media types: interactivity, temporal structure, social cues, storage, replicability, reach,

and mobility (p. 7). Regarding the focus of this study, Baym’s (2015) ideas of temporal

structure and reach will be used to better understand how digital platforms afford memes

the ability to disseminate their messages quickly and widely. Baym (2015) discusses

digital media’s ability to reach a much larger audience faster than ever before, as the

Internet affords the “collapse of time and space” (p. 3). Baym (2015) states that “the

beauty of synchronous media is that they allow for the very rapid transmission of

messages, even across distance” (p. 8). This allows for communication on digital

platforms to enable greater reach than traditional forms of communication. Gurak (2001)

16
defines reach as a medium’s ability to disseminate digital discourse quickly and broadly,

most of the time with the simple click of a mouse or the tap of a phone screen (Gurak,

2001). For example, someone can be in one corner of the world at any given time, post a

picture on Instagram and within seconds that image can be viewed, ‘liked,’ and

commented upon by a contact on the opposite end of the earth. The temporal structure of

the internet is an affordance that enables the ability for users to communicate

instantaneously, which has allowed for the formation of diverse collectives across a wide

variety of social platforms (Baym, 2015). If one wanted to, right now they could pull out

their smartphone, log onto Instagram and begin to broadcast live video from wherever in

the world they currently are. At the time of their broadcast, any one of their Instagram

‘followers’ could enter and watch the live stream video from wherever they are in the

world and from whatever time zone they may be in. Therefore, social media’s ability to

afford greater reach and a less rigid temporal structure allow users to have their voices be

heard further, quicker, and for a longer amount of time. Thus, the affordances of greater

reach and the softening of time allow users in the comment sections of digital platforms

to communicate unlike ever before.

Andrew Schrock (2015) discusses communicative affordances of mobile media as

the special kinds of practices that are afforded by mobile technology, such as

smartphones and tablets, that have an impact on how communication happens. Using

mobile media to access digital platforms users can comment and engage in conversation

with other users on that platform on the go, from their workspace, or wherever they find

themselves to be. Additionally, because platforms such as Instagram afford the ability to

comment on a user’s post, they afford the practice of participating in public discourse

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using the mobile media available at the ready (Milner, 2012; Schrock, 2015). The ability

for users to comment on memes and viral images on sites of parody allows users to share

in the communicative practice of discussion and critique of social issues. Hence,

commenting on, sharing, and reposting memes and parodic images that critique

capitalism found on @justhumansof is a practice afforded by that platform. In the

following section literature on the digital media platform Instagram is discussed as it

pertains to the ways its structure serves to reproduce and maintain hegemonic values of

capitalism.

Instagram

According to Hu, Manikonda, and Kambhampati (2014), Instagram is a mobile

photo and video sharing platform that affords users the ability to photograph and video

record everyday moments of their lives and share those moments with friends. Although

Instagram might typically be thought of as a platform for selfies, brands and advertisers

are on the app trying to influence its millions of users to buy their products (Carah &

Shaul, 2016). Existing research on corporate branding on Instagram has found that the

platform promotes the reproduction of capitalist values of consumption and

commodification of identity as algorithms built into the platform reward content that

feature normative depictions and representations of gender and gendered bodies (Carah &

Shaul, 2016). Marwick (2015) notes, “These depictions of the body routinely draw on

gendered norms of physical appearance, body positioning, and movement” (p. 78). In this

way, “Instagram’s attention economy reinforces already existing hierarchies of taste and

judgment, especially those relating to the body, gender, and cultural consumption”

(Marwick, 2015, pp. 76-7). Additionally, research suggests that the social and

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technological affordances of Instagram promote reproduction of normative

representations of gendered appearances and performances through rewards such as

‘likes’ and attention (Tiidenberg, 2015; Marwick, 2015). When considering the

possibility of Instagram parody accounts using memes to critique hegemonic ideals, it is

important to be critical of Instagram as a hyper-capitalistic platform. While Instagram can

allow critical discourses to be heard, it also has the power to disable potentially

subversive accounts - citing violation of their community guidelines or terms of service

(Instagram, 2021). Thus, it is essential that researchers question to what degree a platform

like Instagram allows its users to spread messages that are resistant, and possibly

subversive, to the platform’s underlying principles and practices of branding and

discursive reproduction of hegemonic norms (Gajjala & Mamidipudi, 2002; Carah &

Shaul, 2016; Marwick, 2015). Research citing the communicative affordances of

comment sections of digital platforms is discussed next.

Online Comment Sections

Research indicates that the Internet is a social space (Slane, 2007). It is a place

where people from all different walks of life, social identities, and opposing political

groups can communicate and interact. It is a place where people can discuss and

exchange ideas. It is a type of online space where people can gather to have a voice

(Milner, 2012). One space of specific interest to this project is online comment sections

as spaces for the generation of public discourse. Research supports that online comment

sections can serve as sites of production of legitimate public discourse and deliberation.

These findings come from a pilot study suggesting that reader comments to opinion

content can manifest both the analytic as well as the social processes necessary for public

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deliberation. Comments offered substantial amounts of factual information and

demonstrated a public process of weighing alternatives via the expression of issue

positions and supporting rationales. This was communicated through a social aspect, with

readers addressing each other and the newspaper content, raising questions, and sharing

additional sources of information (Manosevitch & Walker, 2009). Given these findings, it

is important to understand how comment sections of Instagram meme accounts allow

user participation in critiques of capitalism through memes on parody accounts such as

@justhumansof. Now that the literature review on existent research focused on Internet

memes, hegemony, and online platforms has been summarized, the rationale behind

selecting the research site and the methodology used in analysis of the selected memes

and comments is discussed in the following chapter.

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 CHAPTER 3

Research Site and Methods

Research Site

This account is a specific site where the power of parody to critique hegemonic

norms can be observed. @justhumansof posts memes and viral images that portray

“humans of late capitalism.” Humans of late capitalism is a showcase of the state of

humankind living in the economic stage of late capitalism. Late capitalism is a stage of

capitalism that emphasizes overproduction, hyper-consumption, and unchecked corporate

greed (Amadeo, 2020). The memes on @justhumansof work to critique some of the

absurd practices of late-stage capitalism. Because @justhumansof is a public account on

Instagram its content is afforded a great deal of reach (Baym, 2015) given that it hosts a

vast number of followers: 126,000 (see Figure 2). When an Instagram account’s privacy

setting is set to “public” its content can be re-shared and sent to any user on Instagram,

and beyond via sharable public links (Facebook, 2021).

The account is more of a repost site than a producer of original content, meaning

that it sources together memes, viral images, and other parodic and satirical content from

different sources on the Internet rather than produce its content originally. This site is of

significant interest because it is quite popular, boasting more than 126,000 “followers.” It

also contains a massive stock of content, in fact the site hosts more than 1,800 posts. Six

images and their accompanying comment sections are used for analysis. The rationale is

that six artifacts to analyze is manageable within the limited timeframe of this thesis

project. Given that the site contains more than seventeen hundred posts, memes and

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images selected for analysis will be limited to those posted within the past six months.

The justification for this is that images and memes will be greater related to themes of the

social, political, and economic conditions produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Given

that meme trends have the tendency to be short lasting (Wissenger, 2007), memes

representative of themes raised by the COVID-19 pandemic might not be in circulation

after the pandemic ends.

Figure 2. Research site: @justhumansof Instagram Profile

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 Methods

Visual rhetorical analysis is used to examine a set of six memes and a textual

analysis is performed on their respective accompanying comment sections, collected

from the Instagram account: @justhumansof. Data from this study is coded and

categorized based on recurring themes that emerge from the analysis. Broadly, categories

contain different ways that capitalism is critiqued, for example one category contains

themes of capitalist critique by way of carnivalesque unmaskings, another category

contains memes and comments that share the theme of irony. Data is coded for recurring

themes of critiques of and shared anxieties about capitalism as an economic system and

dominant culture apparatus.

The analysis is divided into two content chapters: one performs a visual

rhetorical analysis on the set of sample memes, the other performs a textual rhetorical

analysis on the respective comment sections. In chapter four visual rhetorical analysis

will focus on close readings of the selected memes then work its way into discussing

dominant, negotiated, and oppositional readings. In chapter five figures 9-14 are patch

workings of screenshots of exemplary comments from the comment sections of the

memes and images visually analyzed in figures 3-8 in chapter four. The visual rhetorical

and textual analyses both present, analyze, and discuss themes and topics that emerge

from close readings. For each distinctive content chapter, the focus of analyses of memes

and comments is narrowed down then expanded and tied into broader evaluations

(Lindlof & Taylor, 2017, p. 306). The methods and conceptual devices used in the

process of discussion and analysis of memes, visual images, and Instagram user

comments in chapters four and five are outlined next.

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Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical analysis is ideal for looking at Internet memes as intertextual and

discursive artifacts. Because rhetorical analysis is not limited to only text-based artifacts,

it also includes images and stories, narratives, and basically encompasses all forms of

discourse (Lindlof & Taylor, 2017). Internet memes fall within this category of rhetorical

artifact as they constitute a form of public discourse (Milner, 2012). Therefore, using

rhetorical analysis to read “in between the lines” of the memes analyzed in this project is

useful in uncovering implicit, explicit, or hidden meanings or messages that may be

embedded in the memes under study. Specifically, memes are analyzed using visual

rhetorical analysis. Because the study of visual rhetoric is concerned with the way that

visual texts construct meaning (Foss, 2004) Internet memes are precisely fit for rhetorical

study, given that memes are a form of public discourse (Milner, 2012) and a form of

visual text (Kuipers, 2005). Memes contain a plethora of symbolic, metaphorical,

satirical, and other stylistic elements (Hill & Helmers, 2012), which are prime for visual

and textual rhetorical analysis. The accompanying comment sections of each meme are

analyzed using critical textual analysis.

A few conceptual devices are used to interpret data in this project: irony, visual

enthymeme, Hall’s (1980) concept of encoding/decoding, and metaphor. Irony is a useful

conceptual device in the interpretation of memes because memes have been found to

contain verbal and situational irony (Lestari, 2019). According to Lindlof and Taylor

(2017), irony as a conceptual device for interpretation is “an expression that inverts the

normal meaning of another expression” (p. 268). That is precisely what memes do, they

invert, remix, mutate, and purposely mislead, as Shifman (2014) states, meme collectives

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normally change memes through “repackaging mechanisms of mimicry and remix” (p.

20). Regarding the focus of this study, @justhumansof is a site that contains many

depictions of irony in memes and comments made by users on Instagram.

Another conceptual device that is used in the analysis is the concept of visual

enthymeme. Visual enthymeme is a type of enthymematic syllogism that relies on the co-

production of meaning between the speaker and the audience (Benoit, 1987). Images

function as visual enthymemes in that their persuasive effect is induced by the author’s

presentation of a visual image and the audience’s understanding of and reaction to the

image as a visual symbol (Finnegan, 2001). Memes are in line with the concept of visual

enthymeme in that their persuasive (or humorous) appeal arises from the audience’s

understanding of the cultural references or specific type of humor present in the meme

(Benoit, 1987; Wiggins, 2019). Hence, the concept of visual enthymeme is used to draw

out and analyze some of the meanings co-produced between memes and user comments.

Hall’s Encoding/Decoding

Stuart Hall’s (1980) theory of encoding/decoding is also used to understand how

the selected memes, which operate as a type of visual rhetoric, are encoded and decoded.

Hall’s (1980) method for breaking down the dominant, negotiated, and oppositional

readings of media messages is aptly suited to the visual rhetorical analysis that is

conducted on the selected memes. Hall’s (1980) theory is useful in textual analysis

because it focuses on how audiences receive and interpret messages. As stated

previously, memes are considered a form of text (Kuipers, 2005), thus can be examined

using a form of textual analysis. Analysis of each meme begins with deciphering what the

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dominant reading is followed by searching for negotiated and oppositional readings.

Comment sections are looked at for connections to either dominant, negotiated, or

oppositional readings.

Circulation

The concept of circulation is used to understand how meanings of images shift

through mimicry, parody and recontextualization. Circulation is a concept central to the

function of memes as visual rhetoric. In analyzing the rhetorical meaning of visual

images, like Internet memes, one must not only examine how images exist in a singular

point in time. Rather, rhetorical analysis of visual images, such as memes, must consider

how images circulate in and throughout different spaces (and publics) across time

(Palczewski, et al, 2021). Through the process of circulation, the original meaning of a

visual image, or meme, changes as it flows through several different contexts. This

description of circulation is in line with Shifman’s (2014) definition of Internet memes as

“digital content units with common characteristics, created with awareness of each other,

and circulated, imitated, and transformed via the Internet by many users.” Given that

circulation is a key component of what makes a meme, the idea of rhetorical circulation is

used to understand how the meaning of images and memes change by way of their

circulation amongst Internet users in varying contexts. The way Internet memes

appropriate widely recognized popular culture images to parody, mimic or subvert their

original meanings is one way circulation is used to understand the context of a few of the

selected memes in this study.

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Exemplars

Exemplars are used in this study. According to Lindlof and Taylor (2017): “an

exemplar is a segment of data used to shape and advance an argument … an apt

illustration - a description of an event that illustrates a general principle” (p. 269). The

memes, parodic images, and online comments selected are prime examples and

representations of dominant recurring themes uncovered in the analysis such as:

carnivalesque unmaskings and symbolic inversion of the hegemonic order. These

exemplars have been selected and categorized based on emergent rhetorical, parodic, and

carnivalesque themes. Memes and comments that are used as exemplars of carnivalesque

themes highlight some of the dismal inequalities of capitalism as an economic system and

dominant cultural apparatus. Another exemplar used are memes and comments that

feature the theme of commodification and dehumanization. Highlighting dehumanizing

corporate practices is the type of critical commentary and criticism of interest to this

study. Additionally, comments that are exemplary statements of parody, satire, and

critique in references to transgression of capitalism as the hegemonic economic and

cultural apparatus are analyzed. For example, images or comments that are obvious

parodies were selected and analyzed. Memes, parodic images, and comments are looked

at together for exemplars to demonstrate how @justhumansof affords a platform for

Instagram users to participate in critical discourses that aim to make critical commentary

on capitalism as the prevailing hegemonic system.

In the following two chapters, visual rhetorical analysis is conducted on the

selected set of images and textual analysis is done on comments selected from the sample

set of memes. In chapter four visual rhetorical methods are used to examine the selected

27
set of memes. Discussion and analysis are interwoven throughout chapter four to present

a sort of “real-time” walk through of the rhetorical features of the memes selected from

@justhumansof and their theoretical implications. A close reading is performed of each

meme. Depending on if the meme under analysis contains elements of irony, parody,

metaphor, or mimicry, those issues are addressed and discussed. Discussion guided by

the conceptual devices mentioned above is embedded within the greater context of

discussions of emergent themes. In chapter five comments selected from the sample set

of memes are textually analyzed. The qualitative research methods listed above are used

to understand in what ways memes utilize parody and critical laughter in attempts to

rupture hegemonic norms and practices of capitalism. In the upcoming chapter a close

reading is done using the following critical lenses: carnivalesque, hegemony, and critical

laughter. These lenses are useful in looking at different ways in which memes, and the

enthymematic co-production of meaning with their audiences, rely on parody, satire, and

humor to make critical commentary on hegemonic structures and practices of capitalism.

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 CHAPTER 4

Visual Rhetorical Analysis

In this chapter a visual analysis of six memes is conducted. The memes below

contain many rhetorical situations and dimensions, therefore requiring a couple different

rhetorical devices to analyze them. As outlined in the methods section, this rhetorical

analysis will rely on the use of irony, visual enthymeme, and Hall’s (1980) concept of

encoding/decoding as conceptual devices for analysis. Memes are analyzed for dominant,

negotiated, and oppositional readings. Dominant interpretations are unpacked and

examined to see how those dominant readings are presented to audiences. The target

audience of @justhumansof is not limited to only users who directly follow the account,

but also users who come across @justhumansof by way of Instagram’s “send” feature

that allows users to share posts with other users who may or may not follow

@justhumansof. The next section will discuss two prominent themes that map across the

memes analyzed in this chapter.

Carnivalesque Unmasking and Critique of Capitalist Hegemonic Structures

This section focuses on two prevailing emergent themes shared amongst the

selected memes: carnivalesque unmasking and critique of capitalism through use of

parody. The idea of the carnivalesque unmasking (Stirling, 1997) displayed within the

selected memes often manifests as an unveiling of the detrimental practices of

corporations and capitalism at large. This is in line with Li’s (2011) statement: “the

hegemonic authority is challenged at critical moments when ‘masks of consent’ are

broken, leading to the exposure of the violent nature of the authority” (pp. 71-2). The

29
“masks of consent” are ruptured by the way carnivalesque unmaskings use humor,

parody, and satire to reveal the true nature of authority - in this case, corporate and

capitalist hegemony. The type of carnivalesque unmasking largely present in the selected

memes works to puncture the thin layer of ethics and morality many corporations present

to consumers by revealing that what is oftentimes branded as “fair trade” and “cruelty-

free” to really be unfair and inhumane. The type of critique on capitalism that is mainly

featured in the selected memes and comments happens by way of critical commentary on

inequalities produced by capitalism. Another type of critique made on capitalism found in

the selected memes and comments is that capitalism leads to the dehumanization of the

common worker and the commodification of mainstream culture. A major recurring

theme in many of the sample memes is the concept of carnivalesque unmasking (Stirling,

1997). As mentioned in the literature review above, a few ways that a carnivalesque

unmasking can happen is by way of visual parody, mimicry, and critical commentary

(Theall, 1999). In the carnivalesque unmasking, political leaders are ‘unmasked’ or

revealed to be corrupt politicians rather than the benevolent leaders they are presented as.

A carnivalesque meme might depict a multi-million-dollar corporation, which presents its

brand as fair and ethical, in a way that reveals the truly callous and profit-over-people

nature of the company.

Visual Analysis

Below, figure 3 is an example of how an image, which was not intentionally

created as a joke, but upon being circulated around the Internet, is changed within the

context of @justhumansof. The image is an advertisement from the 2020 Joe Biden

presidential campaign originally posted on Twitter that pitches the idea that Democratic

30
supporters can financially contribute to help ensure that the presidential transition of

power happens as it should between former and incoming administrations. Even though

the ad may have been created with the intention of raising funds for the Biden team

@justhumansof reframes the interpretation of the image as a representation of a situation

where the ruling class is asking the working class for financial support in the form of

crowd-funded donations. The image, within the context of @justhumansof, is ironic in

that an organization, that is largely made up of wealthy elites, has to rely upon the

donations from mostly working-class people to help fund democracy.

The meaning of the image contained in figure 3 has been recontextualized within

@justhumansof. The image, which depicts President Joe Biden and Vice president

Kamala Harris laughing and high fiving, may have originally been intended to express

their gleeful and joyous reactions to winning the 2020 presidential election. However,

within the context of @justhumansof the image (figure 3) is presented as President Joe

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris laughing at the idea that the ruling class can

manipulate the working class into funding a proper transition of presidential power. Even

though the image contained in figure 3 has not been photoshopped or edited in any way,

because it has been posted by @justhumansof, its meaning has been changed by the

critical nature of posts made by @justhumansof and by the most of the audience’s

oppositional viewpoints of politician’s motives.

The dominant reading of the image in figure 3 suggests that politicians and ruling

elites have such a tight hegemonic grip on society that they can influence the general

population to help finance a presidential transition of power. The dominant interpretation

proposes that the influence of political power is so great it can convince the working

31
masses to unwittingly do the bidding of the ruling class. In this case the image in figure 3

is not a meme, per se. However, because it was posted on @justhumansof its meaning

has been reframed to reflect the critical perspective of the account to reveal something

more. This is a theme consistent in all the selected memes. All six memes (figures 3-8)

selected for analysis share the theme of being read through a critical, counter-hegemonic

lens, because they are posted on @justhumansof.

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Figure 3. Chip in Now to the Biden-Harris Transition

33
 The dominant interpretation of figure 4 below reads as a rupturing of normative

ideals of work and productivity. The image contains key terms indicative of discourses on

labor and capital: “making profits” and “capitalists.” The image also contains a cartoon

character, Felix the Cat, napping on a windowsill. The image depicts Felix in a napping

state thinking: “I’m not lazy, I just don't like making profits for capitalists…” The

hegemonic perspective of this image suggests a type of parody of a Felix the Cat comic

strip, because the text was edited to alter the caption from the original meaning to a

message that aims to critique capitalism. The dominant reading might reveal how the

hegemonic class exploits the labor of the working class by manipulating the masses to

internalize an ideological system that is conducive to capitalism overall - an indication of

how Gramsci (1971) said cultural hegemony functions. Another dominant reading of

figure 4 can be read as a type of carnivalesque unmasking in that it reveals that the

dominant archetype of a “good worker” and “productive member of society” is someone

who does not sit around all day and take naps, unlike Felix the Cat in figure 4. This

perspective of carnivalesque unmasking unveils the fact that labels such as “hard worker”

and “money maker” are a way that the working class has been manipulated to align its

own self-interests with values and practices that maintain the hegemonic order, namely

working several hours a week, twelve months a year in the belief that it is what’s right

and natural.

Figure 4 also contains depictions of irony, because cats are naturally lazy, as most

house pets are. It is ironic that a cartoon cat needs to justify the reason they choose to nap

on a windowsill. Here, Felix is depicted napping, not because cats are naturally lazy, but

because he does not like being exploited for his labor by the capitalist elites. The

34
comment section accompanying the Felix the Cat Parody reveals an agonistic contrast

between those who are accepting of and internalize the hegemonic order and those who

are critical of capitalism as an economic and socializing system. This will be discussed

further in the next chapter.

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Figure 4. Felix the Cat Doesn’t Make Profits for Capitalists

The image from figure 5 is an iteration of meme that originates from the 1991

Japanese anime television series, “The brave fighter of sun fighbird.” In this scene the

36
main character, who is a humanoid, misidentifies a butterfly as a pigeon. (Know your

meme, n.d.). The original image has circulated the Internet and has been remixed and

recontextualized several times as noted by an article published by Insider Magazine: “It's

been circulating the internet for a while, but it's now being used to call people out”

(Shamsian, 2018). In this version of the “is this a pigeon meme” American citizens are

depicted misidentifying basic human rights as communism. In this instance, the average

American citizen is called out for being ignorant of what the meaning of basic human

rights is.

The dominant interpretation presented in Figure 5 below reads as a form of the

carnivalesque unmasking. The type of carnivalesque unmasking at play here reveals the

arbitrariness of dominant discourses and normative assumptions of communism and

human rights in the United States. This dominant interpretation of this meme reveals that

things such as universal health care and social security, which are rhetorically framed as

“socialism” and “communism,” are basic human rights. The meme in figure 5 is also

carnivalesque in that it juxtaposes humor with reality in its unmasking. The dominant

reading of this meme suggests that the perceived naturalness of paying for a basic human

right, in this case, healthcare, is part of hegemonic manufactured consent. It reveals that

ideological beliefs, such as the notion that consumers should pay for healthcare services,

are not innate facts of life, but rather that Americans have been conditioned to associate

state funded services, in this instance government provided healthcare, with communism.

Given this dominant interpretation of the meme in figure 5, the type of unmasking that

takes place highlights the way hegemony functions in terms of getting people to maintain

37
the values and systems of the ruling elite. People are more likely to reject things as

communist propaganda rather than perceive them as basic human rights.

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Figure 5. Is This Communism?

39
 Another exemplar of carnivalesque unmasking and critique of capitalism can be

found in the dominant reading of figure 6 below. The image used in figure 6 is of a Lego

figure that has been photoshopped to appear “humanesque.” The dominant interpretation

here focuses on the way the Lego figure is made to look somewhat human. This

humanesque effect is accomplished a few different ways: one, it has been warped in ways

that give it Lego-human hybrid features. The figure does not have fingers, yet, it has a

single fingernail in the shape of the hand of a typical Lego figure. Its face has been given

wrinkles, under eye bags, and its eyes appear spheric like the shape of a regular human

eye, except they are completely black like the eyes on a Lego character - simply two

black dots. Its eyes can be read as appearing lifeless to resemble the weary look of an

exhausted worker who possibly works multiple arduous, underpaying jobs. In another

dominant reading of this image of the humanesque Lego figure (see figure 6) also serves

as a metaphor for the way that the exploitative nature of capitalism can lead to the

objectification and dehumanization of the common worker - as the image parodies both

Lego figures and consumers of Lego.

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Figure 6. Humanesque Lego Figure

41
 The dominant interpretation of the image in figure 6 functions rhetorically on two

levels: one, it represents a process of dehumanization that is produced by inhumane

working conditions, physically and mentally exhausting labor, and poverty level wages.

Not unlike a Lego figure itself, the human worker is transformed into an object by

corporate practice that reduces human workers to mere expendable bodies with

identification numbers. Practices like union busting and denial of mandatory healthcare

serve as a way that corporations dehumanize their employees. Workers for a large

corporation, such as Lego, are dehumanized, not only because their employers fail to

acknowledge the humanity of each individual worker, but rather because they treat their

workers as uniform, indistinguishable pawns that function as objects. On a second,

broader level, the image in figure 6 represents the notion of the Lego figure as a

commodity. Legos are a staple of mainstream society because of the greater process of

commodification of childhood play and toys that has trickled throughout and become

normal in our society (Guest, 2018).

Lego cements much of its power as a staple of childhood and consumer culture

because Legos are manufactured as essential childhood toys through ideas such as no

childhood is complete without Legos. It is as if the Lego corporation is designed to get

children from a young age to identify with Lego and Legos figures, because society has

normalized the need for children to own Legos. This manufactured need for Lego is in

line with Gramsci’s (1971) concept of hegemony because, although the toy is not

necessary for survival, consumers accept the idea that Lego is essential for the normal

development of social skills in children (Guest, 2018). Given that the humanesque Lego

figure featured in figure 6 reads as a representation of the dehumanization and

42
commodification of the common worker under capitalism, this meme functions in a

carnivalesque way that highlights and exposes the exploitative nature of large

corporations, such as Lego. Further, this type of spotlighting is carnivalesque in that it

takes Bakhtin’s (1968) concept of the unmasking the medieval king and applies it to the

context of capitalism and consumerism. Instead of challenging the hegemony of the

Catholic church, the meme in image 6 works to subvert the contemporary hegemony of

capitalism and corporations by unveiling the Lego corporation, and capitalism at large, as

the not so benevolent rulers. The meme attempts to puncture the “mask” worn by the

Lego corporation as a household name and childhood staple to reveal Lego for what it

truly is, a dehumanizing and childhood commodifying corporate machine.

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Figure 7. Child Labor Doesn’t Have to be Exploitation

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 The image in figure 7 above can also be read as a parody of an article published

by the Guardian written by Elizabeth Sibale (2020) about The Bill and Melinda Gates

foundation. The parodying of this article seeks to call attention to the way “global

development” in the context of global capitalism is rhetorically framed by those in power

i.e., Bill and Melinda Gates and Microsoft. The original title of that article, as illuminated

by the user comment “this isn’t a real headline, the actual headline is “Child labour is

exploitation - but the housework i did as a child gave me life skills” is parodied and has

been changed to read: “Child labour doesn’t have to be exploitation - it gave me life

skills.” This sarcastic rewriting of the title reads as a carnivalesque unmasking of the Bill

and Melinda Gates foundation, as well as The Guardian, not as benevolent

philanthropists, but rather as wealthy elites who have a vested interest in child labor and

the exploitation of children. This dominant interpretation suggests a sort of ‘toppling of

the king’ where Bill Gates is the ‘king’ in question. This dominant reading of figure 7

calls out The Guardian for publishing an article that puts child labor into a positive,

economic perspective - which their readers are more likely to easily swallow. Here, the

way the title was changed from the original is an example of both parody and rhetorical

circulation. It is parodic in that the changed title “Child labour doesn’t have to be

exploitation - it gave me life skills” is meant to reframe the angle of the original title in a

way that exposes its underlying meaning. The parody draws attention to the way

neoliberal agendas are legitimated by mainstream media outlets. The original title “Child

labour is exploitation - but the household work I did as a child gave me life skills” tries to

establish a silver lining in child labor, which according to the dominant interpretation is

not something supposed altruists like Bill and Melinda Gates should be in support of.

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Figure 8. He is Suffering. $29.95

The meme in figure 8 above is visually simple, with not much superfluous

content. It is made to look low effort or bootlegged even. The subject in the image is an

off-model, possibly defective stuffed Pikachu toy from the popular Japanese anime,

Pokémon (Yuyama et al., 1997-1999). The image is juxtaposed with text that reads, “He

is Suffering” on a plain white background. The text displayed beneath the caption reads

“$29.95” - representing a fictional price tag. The specific price of $29.99 is not

significant, it might indicate that the relief from suffering comes with a price. The overall

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meme itself, (image combined with text) has a low-resolution appearance as if it has been

screenshotted and circulated around the Internet hundreds of times. These effects serve to

give the image a worn-out appearance, perhaps like the look of a low-budget ad for off-

brand products one may encounter when surfing the web. The caption “He is Suffering”

might imply that the Pokémon toy (Yuyama et al., 1997-1999), a commodity, possesses

some form of spirit, and because it was produced with deformities is suffering.

The dominant interpretation of the meme in figure 8 attempts to make the reader

acknowledge the supposed pain and suffering that is apparent in the toy and that the only

way to alleviate its suffering is by spending $29.95. The dominant reading of this meme

can be interpreted as carnivalesque in that it suggests that consumerism and the

consumption of commodities can oftentimes be the only agency individuals possess in a

capitalist society. This reading of this meme pokes at the capitalist notion that money can

buy happiness. The fact that figure 8 contains a meme that is a joke about commercial

exploitation of pain and suffering is carnivalesque in that it unveils the soul-crushing

aspects of capitalism and consumerism. The dominant interpretation of the meme in

figure 8 suggests an inversion of capitalist notions such as: retail therapy and the idea that

money can buy happiness to reveal that purchasing commodities may only, at best,

temporarily alleviate suffering. Given the emergence of themes of critique of capitalist

hegemony and the parody of hegemonic structures of power: i.e., political, media, and

corporate power the following section discusses what some of the implications are within

the greater context of carnivalesque, parody and symbolic inversion on @justhumansof.

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 Discussion of Visual Analysis

The memes analyzed above are linked together by two prevailing themes: the

carnivalesque unmasking and the parody of hegemonic power structures in capitalist

society. The way Gramsci (1971) urged the common people of a society to use discursive

means to form counter-hegemonic resistance is evident in many of the dominant

interpretations of the memes analyzed above. Given that anyone with access to the

Internet has access to Instagram, and subsequently @justhumansof, the memes analyzed

above create a form of symbolic inversion (Babcock, 1978) that can be reached by

hundreds of thousands of users all over the world. This form of symbolic inversion

operates using themes of the carnivalesque unmasking and the parody of hegemonic

power structures and the communication context unique to @justhumansof.

@justhumansof is an online space that allows communication between users and the

content they post that, as Babcock (1978) puts it, “… inverts, contradicts, abrogates, or in

some fashion presents an alternative to commonly held cultural codes…” It is a

carnivalesque space where memes and parodic images communicate a leveling of

hierarchy: the credibility of a multimillion-dollar corporation is reduced to that of a back-

alley thief and the roles of political candidates are transformed into the roles of roadside

panhandlers or some type of hegemonic Ponzi scheme. Images and memes posted on

@justhumansof, whether they were originally created with the intention to be parodic,

subversive, or not, become an act of symbolic inversion within the context of

@justhumansof, because audiences view those images and memes through the critical,

counter-hegemonic framework in place on @justhumansof. Whether they accept that

dominant reading is something else.

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 The parody of hegemonic power structures evident in the memes above highlights

and challenges three forms of hegemonic power: political, media, and corporate power.

The “Chip in Now to the Biden-Harris Transition” image in figure 3 parodies political

power in a way that suggests that political power is built by and maintained by the

manufactured consent of the people. “The Felix the Cat” meme in figure 4 parodies

media power in a way that subverts the media's traditional role in reproducing and

perpetuating dominant ideologies. The dominant interpretation of this meme challenges

the assumption that people who do not prioritize their time around working and earning

money are lazy. Instead, the meme presents an alternative point of view: perhaps some

people simply do not like being exploited by the system. This presentation of an

alternative point of view is how memes of a critically parodic nature work to

incrementally subvert hegemonic ideals. When enough assumptions have been checked

eventually hegemonic power becomes less invisible. Because Instagram and

@justhumansof afford the ability of the images and memes they post to reach their more

than 126,000 followers in an asynchronous fashion, these acts of carnivalesque

unmaskings, presentations of alternative points of view, and symbolic breaches of power

are being read on a significant scale. The greater the instances of symbolic inversion and

challenges to power occurring, and the greater the number of people who have access to

those instances, then greater is the collective potential of memes and images posted on

@justhumansof to subvert hegemonic ideals, meme by meme, circulating the Internet.

The humanesque Lego figure in figure 6 parodies corporate power in a way that makes

audiences think about the implications related to how corporations treat their workers,

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and the way corporations view their consumers. It also makes people think about the role

of corporations in reproducing normative assumptions of childhood and play.

These acts of parody, which are targeted at unmasking hegemonic power

structures, suggest that @justhumansof is a space where critiques of hegemonic practices

and ideals can be made, accepted, or contested. @justhumansof is a site that invites

criticism and the calling out of hegemonic power structures, namely, political, media, and

corporate power structures in capitalist society. At the same time, the comment section

affords oppositional interpretations and voices to be expressed. This will be explored in

the following chapter. Hence, the parody of power is evident in figures 3, 4, and 6. The

way that the image in figure 3 parodies the political power of the Biden-Harris

administration does so in a way that exposes their willingness to use largely working-

class people to fund the interests of political elites. The meme in figure 4 parodies the

power of media in a way that highlights their role in reproducing the taken-for-

grantedness of dominant ideologies of work and productivity. The image in figure 5

parodies a fun-loving maker of children’s toys in a way that spotlights the exploitative

nature of large corporations. Given this discussion on the implications of the themes

found in the selected images and memes, it seems to be the case that parody unmasks and

critical laughter ruptures. As mentioned above, parody “masks itself as a joke and

challenges hegemonic narratives by unraveling the mask to reveal its critique” (Kumar,

2015, p. 243). Subversive memes juxtapose comedic imagery with real world situations

in a subtle way that makes people question the status quo. Sometimes it takes something

as small and unitary as a meme to reveal what is a grand, yet bitter truth about capitalist

society. However, as is discussed in the following chapter, the subversive potential of

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parody and Internet memes is questioned as some conversations in the comments section

suggest a limitation to the type of change possible within the frame of carnival.

In the next chapter user-made comments in each of the respective comments

sections of the memes analyzed in this chapter (figures 3-8) are examined. Comments are

looked at to understand the ways in which they augment, support, or negate the dominant

readings of each meme analyzed above. A textual analysis is conducted on the comment

sections of the memes analyzed in figures 3-8. Following the same methodology,

comments will be analyzed using Hall’s (1980) theory of encoding/decoding to see how

comments agree with or disagree with dominant readings. Analyzing comments to

understand whether they agree or disagree with the dominant interpretation of a meme

might reveal some of the larger conversations regarding the social conditions created by

capitalism that are occurring in the comment sections of @justhumansof.

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 CHAPTER 5

Textual Analysis of Comments

In this chapter a textual analysis of exemplary comments from the adjoining

comment sections of the memes and images analyzed in chapter four (figures 3-8) is

performed to understand the ways in which they might augment, support, or negate

dominant readings.

Comment Sections

Comments are looked at as an interactive process in which a dominant

interpretation of a meme is presented and the comments made are taken as an indication

of how audiences react to the message and what common meanings are highlighted.

Comments are also looked at to see what uncommon meanings are spotlighted. Also in

this chapter, comments are looked at as an enthymematic process to understand what kind

of conclusions different audiences are coming to. Rhetorical analysis is used to

understand the ways emotional, logical, and ethical appeals are being received by

audiences and how they influence the conclusions being reached. These conclusions are

analyzed to determine in what ways comments are either in support of the dominant

reading or if they instead present an oppositional reading. The conceptual devices

mentioned in the methodology section, such as irony, metaphor, and enthymeme, are also

used in this chapter to analyze how comments augment or contest the dominant readings

presented by the memes.

In keeping with the emergent themes from the previous chapter, comments are

analyzed to see if they augment or negate themes of the carnivalesque unmasking and/or

critiques of hegemonic institutions of power. Specifically, comments are analyzed for the

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way they display the carnivalesque’s impact on communication. In the moment of the

carnivalesque, hierarchical rank is demolished and all are free to communicate openly

and honestly in this egalitarian arena” (Stirling, 1997, p. 52). In this case, if the

hegemonic watch dogs are aware of critically aversive comments, they may still sanction

these types of conversations under the illusion of the carnivalesque’s suspension of

hierarchies. However, as Terry Eagleton (1981) puts it, “carnival, after all, is a licensed

affair in every sense, a permissible rupture of hegemony…” (p. 148). Therefore, within

the context of carnival audiences may still feel inclined to speak openly and critically

about power structures, such as making derisive comments about a political figure or

corporation, even if they believe that the hegemonic watch dogs are keeping tabs,

because such behavior is sanctioned or deemed permissible in that moment. What is

communicated, and who is allowed to communicate are no longer regulated by social

codes or institutional authority. Within this context the audience becomes part of the

greater carnivalesque conversation with the meme and other users in the comment

section. This kind of carnivalesque conversation is closely examined to understand how

audiences are reacting to the dominant readings presented by the memes analyzed in

chapter four. In the following section screenshots of exemplary comments, chosen for the

ways they appear to augment, negotiate, or oppose dominant readings presented by the

memes, are looked at closely and textually analyzed.

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Figure 9. “Chip in Now to Biden-Harris Transition” - Comment Section

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 Figures 9-14 are patchworkings of screenshots from the comment sections of the

corresponding images and memes in figures 3-8. The selected comments from the “Chip

in Now to Biden-Harris Transition'' image in figure 3 serve to augment the critique on

political power as one user (tannerlockett) comments: “Ahh yes…. The old ‘I only like to

redistribute the wealth when it’s going back to the ruling class’ gambit.” This comment

reaffirms the critique of hegemonic institutions in that it points out the hypocrisy that

when people argue that the redistribution of wealth is socialism and that “communism

doesn’t work.” Another comment, made by ritchiefernando reads: “Democracy? That

would be $9.99” also furthers the critique of “Chip into Now to The Biden-Harris

Transition'' presented by the dominant reading. The comment adds its own joke to this

critique that highlights the notion that in the sort of neoliberal version of democracy

Americans live in one must pay for it - and it is conveniently priced at only $9.99 - what

a bargain! The selected comments show overwhelming support of the dominant reading

indicating that the dominant interpretation is largely accepted by varying types of

audiences present within the comment sections on @justhumansof. Comments like “the

elite need your help to save DEMOCRACY'' (voyagelalune) and “don’t you guys pay

taxes for this?” (paulobolomon) may seem innocuous, but they employ implicit levels of

irony and intertextual humor that become apparent when considered within the dominant

reading of the meme from figure 3.

What appears to be the leading reaction to the “Chip in Now to the Biden-Harris

Transition” meme from figure 3 is that audiences share a similar sense of laughable

disbelief at the fact that political leaders need to ask regular citizens to help fund a

presidential transition of power. This sense of laughable disbelief is further displayed in

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the comments: “I thought this was a joke” (after_the_haunt), “And there’s people giving

them money. ” (nas_sant), and simply multiple laughing emojis: “ ”

(lookatthisgreek). These specific comments serve as indication that the target audience of

this meme holds similar critical beliefs about U.S. political leaders and government

officials.

The comment: "Lol in the middle of a yearlong halt of ppl [not] working going

homeless, def meme worthy" (basurabsurda) is significant because it speaks directly to

the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It reinforces the dominant reading in a

way that reads as a double presentation of a critique of political power under neoliberal

democracy. This neoliberal idea of democracy “replaces the citizen with the consumer —

pushing people out of political life and into the marketplace” (Zamora, 2019, para. 1).

This comment highlights the notion that the only political agency the average citizen has

under neoliberal democracy is the ability to offer monetary donations to government

funds. The comment augments the dominant reading in a way that exposes the

willingness of political elites to crowdsource funds not only from largely working-class

people, but who have also lost their jobs due to the economic fall out of the COVID-19

pandemic. The fact that the comment mentions “def meme worthy” (basurabsurda)

further adds to the idea that when images, which may not inherently be a type of meme,

are posted on @justhumansof they become imbued with a sense of memeness.

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Figure 10. “Felix the Cat Doesn’t Make Profits for Capitalists” - Comment Section

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 The comment section (see figure 10) from the meme featured in figure 4 is more

agonistic than other comment sections analyzed in this chapter. Firstly, several comments

make it clear that there is a significant audience here who take on an oppositional

interpretation to the dominant interpretation presented. One comment reads “funny how

this meme was posted via smartphone… which is an iconic FRUIT OF CAPITALISM

you donkey. This profile is getting stupider each day, I swear” (jareksatala), which is a

pretty clear indication that some audiences are reacting to the criticism of capitalism

presented by the dominant reading of this Felix the Cat meme in a less than accepting

manner. Rather, it demonstrates that some people are completely rejecting the notion

presented by the meme. In fact, another comment: “Leaves more for us to make!

” (justinridesabike) argues that people in capitalist society value working and

earning money and reinterprets the dominant reading as promoting an anti-work ethic.

This oppositional reading implies that if some are unwilling to go to work and earn

money, then that allows others a chance to earn more money. This apparent oppositional

interpretation is significant because it reveals that @justhumanof is a space that affords

the expression of heterogeneous voices. In a way, the oppositional readings here exhibit

an interesting insight: the dominant interpretation of such memes can be hegemonically

subversive, while oppositional interpretations can very much reinforce dominant

ideologies of work and productivity within capitalist society.

Moreover, this oppositional interpretation can be read as reaction to a perceived

attack on the idea of the Protestant work ethic. Max Weber (1930) claimed that

capitalism was partly founded upon the values and ethics of Protestantism. Weber (1930)

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argued that the values and ethics of Protestantism helped found ideals of the “productive

worker” by presenting beliefs, such as the idea that even “low skill” labor has divine

implications. Under the Protestant work ethic even the least favorable of jobs are

honorable. According to Weber (1930), these ethics and values helped reify the belief

that dedication to one’s occupation is just and proper. It appears that some of the

oppositional readings here argue based on upholding ideals of the Protestant work ethic.

Whereas gatekeepers of traditional media regulate what types of messages get

broadcasted, within the realm of Internet memes, such traditional gatekeepers are absent

(Milner, 2013). Therefore, ordinary Instagram users must take it upon themselves to

uphold the ideals of the hegemonic order, such as capitalist foundations influenced by the

Protestant work ethic, in the comment sections of these types of subversive online spaces.

This demonstrates that @justhumansof is not a site that silences oppositional voices, but

rather allows for dialogue between users who may support, be neutral towards, or negate

the dominant readings presented by the memes and images they post.

There is one comment here that spotlights an interesting issue: “Yea so what’s the

solution yall? Im listening” (anyabeteptemxd). This negotiated reading accepts the idea

that capitalism leads to the exploitation of the working class, but questions whether

anything can truly be done about it. The tone of the comment also seems sarcastic and

parodic as it the user may not expect a real response and it merely poses the question in a

trolling manner. Further, it questions whether anyone in this specific comment section

can offer any possible solutions to exploitation. The comment also reads in a tone that

indicates that no one will offer a tangible solution. This suggests a potential limitation to

the ability of online parody and memes to effect any real change in terms of subverting

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the hegemonic status quo. This is a serious point of negotiation. It alludes to the idea that

posting and commenting on memes can bear no real change. Thus, it implies that people

can spend all their time arguing in the comment section of a meme, but at the end of the

day no meaningful change will be made. This negotiated reading speaks to Terry

Eagleton’s (1981) idea that carnival can only offer an illusion of subversion. Eagleton

(1981) argues that carnival cannot truly topple or subvert the hegemonic class because it

is sponsored by ruling elites: “carnival, after all, is a licensed affair in every sense, a

permissible rupture of hegemony, a contained popular blow-off as disturbing and

relatively ineffectual as a revolutionary work of art” (p. 148). This comment presents an

oppositional reading that raises an important question: how effective can subversive

memes posted on Instagram be if the ideals they seek to subvert are the very same ideals

upheld by the platform that affords the carnivalesque discourse to occur in the first place?

Hence, it is important to be critical of the subversive potential of acts of parody and

Internet memes, especially those posted on Instagram. Because carnival functions as a

sort of social safety valve that allows for a temporary moment of release, it is crucial to

be aware of how much this sanctioned rupture of social order is really an illusion of

transgression. When a carnivalesque space, such as an online site of parody like

@justhumansof, is sponsored by the hegemonic class, in this case Instagram and its

owner company Facebook, then carnival “functions as a kind of catharsis and as a

prophylaxis for revolution (Horlacher, 2009, p. 22). Thus, this negotiated reading accepts

the idea that carnival can communicate the symbolic inversion of hegemonic power in a

way that brings attention to the “arbitrariness of social codes” (Perfetti, 1992 p. 183).

However, this oppositional reading also presents the idea that because carnival is a

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sanctioned breach of hegemony, it is “a form of social control of the low by the high…

therefore [it] serves the interests of that very official culture which it apparently opposes”

(Stallybrass & White, 1986, p. 13).

Figure 11. “Is This Communism?” - Comment Section

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 In the comment section featured above (see figure 11) there are some very real

comments that describe very real-world situations. For example, the comment: “These

Americans have never experienced life in post-soviet countries like Belarus. They don’t

know that communism break[s] society and freedom of speech in reality. And this idea

has nothing in common with human rights” (lost_edge_ideas). This comment appears to

be a negotiated reading in that it accepts the notion that Americans are misinformed about

what communism is but challenges the abstract presentation of the meme with a real-

world anecdote. This comment shares a person’s lived experience, which augments the

dominant reading in a way that accepts the dominant interpretation. The comment

suggests an acceptance of the stereotype that many Americans have a proclivity to

misidentify this as communism, yet it also argues that communism is not what the

dominant reading of this meme supposes. In this negotiated interpretation, communism is

not simply having access to basic human rights. Instead, this reading posits that

communism comes with the breakdown of society and the limitations of free speech.

This comment section (see figure 11) does not appear to be as polemic as the

comment section from figure 4 (see figure 10), but instead appears to contain more

negotiated interpretation as well as comments that augment the dominant interpretation of

the “Is this communism?” meme featured in figure 5. The comment below appears to

augment the dominant reading:

... literally anything ‘muricans are scared of or don’t want to change because it

would strip away their profits is considered communist. Not to mention, the

percent of people who actually know what communism is being kept deliberately

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 low, I mean they don’t make movies about “communist bad” for no reason.

(perpetualderp)

This comment adds evidence to the argument presented by the dominant interpretation by

providing insight into the experiences of some audiences that align with the dominant

reading presented here. The lines: “they don’t make movies about ‘communist bad’ for

no reason” (perpetualderp) re-enforces the dominant interpretation of this meme that

Americans have been conditioned to perceive anything associated with socialism,

universal healthcare, or basic human rights as a form of communism.

However, one comment that is especially interesting reads: “It appears communist

propaganda has infiltrated Instagram…why am I not surprised. You’re the first to turn

coats” (____.________33). This comment offers quite an oppositional reading that claims

that the dominant reading is a form of communist propaganda. The part: “you’re the first

to turn coats” is a critical take on Instagram users in general. It is a specific call out of

Instagram and the sort of users and interactions it attracts. The “you” in the “you’re”

refers to Instagram users. As discussed above, research shows that Instagram has been

found to promote ideals of hyper-consumerism and normative images of gender and body

appearance (Tiidenberg, 2015; Carah & Shaul, 2016). Instagram’s latest “shop” feature

has essentially reshaped the app into an online shopping center. The notification tab has

been replaced with a new “shop” tab - where products are displayed using the typical

Instagram aesthetic: filtered photos of famous influencers taken and edited by prominent

digital photographers. This very notion of Instagram as this sort of hyper-capitalistic

platform is what this comment is calling out. This comment highlights that Instagram is

more of an online shopping mall than it is a place for critical discourse set on upsetting

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the established order. Instead, the oppositional reading here argues that Instagram is

designed to “sell out” and that its users are quick to defect from any cause the moment it

is no longer considered a trend.

Figure 12. “Humanesque Lego Figure” - Comment Section

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 The comment “another brick in the wall” (jordan_storey_art) is a reference to the

song by the same title from Pink Floyd’s 1979 seminal album, The Wall. Pink Floyd’s:

The Wall (1979) has been described as a social commentary and critique of authority,

power, and culture in modern society (Méndez, 2017). The Wall (1979) draws attention

to the critique of hegemonic institutions, for example, in the song “Another brick in the

wall - part two” (Waters, 1979) the educational system is the subject of such critique: “in

‘Another brick in the wall - part 2’ … education is depicted as a means to spread and

implant ideological ideas of the hegemonic groups; these have the only purpose of

reproducing the structure of society, in which they are at the top” (Méndez, 2017, p. 369).

The idea of students becoming “just another brick in the wall” coincides with the notion

that students are put in school, not to become liberated or free thinking, but rather they

are put in the educational system to “prepare them to be cogs in the social machinery”

(Reisch, 2007, p. 78). Furthermore “Pink Floyd’s album not only constitutes an anatomy

of power relation … it also stands for an ode to dehumanization…” (Méndez, 2017, p.

384). Hence, within the context of @justhumansof the comment “another brick in the

wall,” serves as a metaphor that augments the dominant reading. The comment further

highlights the idea that workers exploited by a capitalist system are destined to be

dehumanized and to become just another cog in the machinery of society, or, just another

brick in the wall… a wall that supports the foundation of the hegemonic structure.

The comments in figure 12 above highlight the grotesqueness of the image of the

humanesque Lego figure. The comments are grotesque in the carnivalesque sense in that

they reify the critique of capitalism featured in the image (figure 6). The comments

affirm the idea presented in the dominant reading: that The Lego Corporation is not some

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wonderful, child-friendly entity. Rather, the comments further support the belief that

capitalist hegemony and the Lego Corporation are responsible for the process of

dehumanization and commodification of the average worker, which is on display in the

“Humanesque Lego Figure'' image (figure 6). Moreover, the comments augment the

sense of grotesqueness of the image in that they ridicule the sacredness of The Lego

Corporation. The comments reveal that users join in both fear and laughter of this

terrifying rendition of what appears to once have been either a human being or a

children’s toy, but really is neither. Instead, it is a hideous hybrid, a carnivalesque

metaphor for the kind of dehumanization wrought by the commodification of childhood

and children’s toys. The comments in figure 12 above highlight the grotesque appearance

of the humanesque Lego figure which reveals a sense of shock from the audience as is

evident in comments such as: “what a nightmare….” (igoryen), “how does one unsee?”

(fahrenheit1984) and simply: “Noooo” (clehoepatra666). Here, comments identify that

the audience shares a sense of repulsion to the dehumanized condition produced by soul-

crushing slave labor. One comment seems to express utter disbelief at the level of detail

exhibited in the figure is by noting: “ one nail ” (bonchikiwawa).

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Figure 13. “Child Labor Doesn’t Have to be Exploitation” - Comment Section

The comment section of figure 13 above contains comments both supporting and

opposing the dominant reading of the meme in figure 7 in the previous chapter. The

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image in figure 7 features a parody of an article published by The Guardian (2020). The

image shows that the original controversial title has been reworded in a way that

highlights The Guardian’s willingness to portray child labor in an economically positive

light. For example, the comment “I mean not technically wrong” (zaxusskind) offers an

oppositional interpretation of the meme in figure 13. This oppositional reading reifies a

hegemonic, neoliberal perspective of globalized labor. It supports the idea that child labor

should be viewed positively as it can grant useful life skills to children in third-world

countries. In this instance, this oppositional reading accepts the literal message presented

in the title “Child Labor Doesn’t Have to be Exploitation” (figure 7) but rejects the notion

of it as parody. Instead of interpreting the image (figure 7) as parody, the comment “I

mean not technically wrong” sees nothing wrong with idea of child labor since it is being

read through a literal frame. The comment demonstrates that there are audiences who

interpret the title in figure 7 literally and accept the notion that child labor provides useful

job skills that can help children in third-world countries earn money for their families,

albeit probably unaware that they are accepting the belief that child labor is okay as long

as it is not their own first-world children doing the labor.

The comment: “Real help would be lifting them out of that shit. Not perpetuating

it” (natureboy_seven_two) appears to augment the dominant reading presented in figure

7. This comment reads in a serious tone, which indicates that the user may not be reading

the parodic frame in the sarcastic rewording of the title. The comment does support the

underlying message presented in the dominant interpretation: that child exploitation is

unethical regardless of how it is framed. However, the comment seems to indicate that

the user has a serious reaction to the subject of child labor, regardless of parody. This

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type of reaction suggests that although the image featured in figure 7 is presented through

a parodic frame, the seriousness of the issue being parodied (the romanticization of child

labor) is still being read by some audiences. Hence, the type of carnival unmasking taking

place between the meme and comments can be read as a sort of double revelation. The

act of parodying the title of an article promoting an economic framing of child labor

reveals that mainstream news media outlets, such as The Guardian, play a significant role

in the perpetuation of hegemonic, neoliberal ideals. Furthermore, it also reveals the

average person’s willingness to support hegemonic ideals - this is evident in the comment

“I mean not technically wrong” (zaxusskind).

Figure 14. “He is Suffering. $24.99” - Comment Section

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 The “He is Suffering. $24.99” meme from figure 8 is exemplary of enthymematic

co-production of meaning. The meme does not explicitly state much - other than the

words “he is suffering” and “$29.99” yet the audience delivers the punch line. In this

enthymematic way, the dominant reading of the meme (figure 8) is enhanced by user

comments such as “same” (nekoyawn), “who isn’t” (_elcypher_), and “I’m suffering”

(eseaquel) which create a sense of identification between the suffering voiced by the

audience and the suffering exhibited by the Pikachu doll. Additionally, the comment “put

him out of his misery” adds to the shared theme of suffering expressed by the audience.

Although this image can be read as a joke, it appears to allude to a parody of the capitalist

belief that money can buy anything, hence even suffering is for sale. The comment: “just

like me” (santiago_giant_sao) further augments the dominant reading of this meme

(figure 8) in a way that illustrates a state of identification between that user and the

dominant interpretation. These selected comments collectively serve to advance the

message presented in the dominant interpretation. This co-produced meaning, between

audience and the meme, spotlight the common experience of the embodiment of

suffering. It reveals that everyone is suffering, and under late capitalism, the only way to

be relieved of suffering is to spend $29.99. The specific price of $29.99 is not significant,

it just implies that to end suffering one must pay.

In the following section, the implications of the negotiations between user-made

comments and the dominant interpretations presented by each meme are discussed.

Themes of carnivalesque and parodic critique of power are maintained in discussion of

how comments either enhance, negotiate, or oppose the dominant readings. Findings

support Bakhtin’s (1968) notion that: carnival creates a unique communication context

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where interactions are not regulated by power or status. This allows someone of lower

social status to be allowed to engage powerful ideas, entities, and figures in dialogue.

Discussion of Textual Analysis of Comments

Findings from analysis of the selected comments reveals that the comment

sections on @justhumansof serve as unique online spaces of carnivalesque

communication. Within this micro-online carnival audiences engage in a dialogue with

the dominant readings presented by memes and other types of parodic images posted on

@justhumansof. This is the type of dialogue that Lisa Perfetti (1992) notes is essential to

the spirit of carnival: “carnivalesque texts enact a dialogue between different, opposing

voices, particularly voices of different social classes” (p. 186). In this sense, user

audiences engage in a dialogic process with memes on @justhumansof in a way that

demonstrates the negotiation between audience interpretations and the dominant readings.

Given that access to an internet connection and an Instagram account is all that is

required for someone to participate in the carnivalesque dialogue on @justhumansof,

users can come from various social strata, both high and low. In any given comment

section, users’ identities can range from the CEO of a large corporation to an unemployed

college student. Coupled with the anonymity afforded by the Internet, users within the

comment section on @justhumansof are free to engage in the derisive and profane types

of conversations celebrated within the carnivalesque without the fear of social judgment

or ostracization. These types of carnivalesque conversations are considered profane in the

sense that they defile the public image put forth by corporations, media, and politicians.

The comments work to further unmask. The comment: “these rich MFs asking for bread.

wtf” (ill_will_lbc) from figure 9 is an example of how the use of profanity can defile the

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public image of political power. The comment describes the Biden-Harris administration

as “rich motherfuckers,” which in essence calls out that as ruling elites, President Joe

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are both very rich. It points to the hypocrisy of

the wealthy elite asking the working class for money, as bread is synonymous with cash.

While several comments appear to agree with or support the dominant readings

presented in many of the selected memes, a considerable number of comments appear to

negate the dominant interpretation or present oppositional readings. This finding suggests

that the comment sections on @justhumansof affords representation of polyvocal

discourses that either support, negotiate, or oppose the dominant readings presented in the

selected memes (figures 3-8). The polyvocal discourses found in the comment sections

demonstrate what Stallybrass and White (1986) describe as the carnivalesque

characteristic of “heteroglot exuberance” (p. 8). The term heteroglot refers to how “a

plurality of voices, those of the author, narrators and characters, interact in a dialogue

creating a heteroglot, a multi-languaged text” (Medeiros-Lichem, 2002, p. 14). The

polyvocal discourses found in the comment sections of @justhumanof display a

multitude of voices, some of which are quite opposed to the dominant interpretation.

Because @justhumansof contains polyvocal voices, hegemonic voices can always be

present, ready to quash comments deemed too subversive while maintaining the illusion

of power to the people.

The comment sections also exhibit an interesting insight into how the “topsy-

turvy” environment of carnival affects communication. Because the communication

context of carnival allows for open discussion and criticism of hegemonic power

structures and figures, the comments demonstrate how some audiences feel about

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political elites, mainstream media, and large corporations. Carnival creates a unique

communication context, one that is made possible by the temporary suspension of

hierarchies (Stirling, 1997, p. 44). However, it is important to note that the creation of

this unique carnivalesque communication context is not exclusive to any single medium.

Within this comment sections one can slander the name of a corporate brand or political

leader yet be free to walk away without threat of being reprimanded. Specific to this

context, memes can be used to criticize and deride the hegemonic power structures

without being taken too seriously by those in power. The communication context of

carnival allows for the free flow of criticism of institutional powers and prominent

figures, because normally regulating structures of power are temporarily suspended and

therefore are unable to repress the voice of those normally silenced by authority, at least

within the moment of carnival.

It is also clear that some comments serve to augment the carnivalesque

unmaskings. While others serve to refute or invalidate the arguments presented by

dominant interpretations. Thus, the types of comments found in the polyvocal comment

section of the selected memes appear to extend and contend the themes of carnivalesque

unmaskings and the critique of hegemonic power structures. Finally, a few other

comments allude to Eagleton’s (1981) notion of carnival as an illusion of subversion.

This finding is discussed in further detail in the conclusion of this study contained in the

following section. In the next and final chapter, overall findings, the limitations of this

study, possible directions for future studies, and conclusions are discussed.

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 CHAPTER 6

Overall Findings, Limitations, Future Studies, and Conclusion

Overall Findings

The overall findings from this thesis project support the notion that memes and

other types of parodic online content can stimulate expression and comments critical of

the hegemonic status quo, if not at once, at least incrementally. It appears that memes,

although they may lack the critical impetus necessary to bring about complete social

revolution, do bring together online users in a digital space to vent about shared

experiences living under late capitalism. It also brings people together to laugh at and

ridicule those in power. Particularly, on @justhumansof, users are brought together to

laugh at and verbally demean political, corporate, and media power structures. In this

sense, these findings suggest that @justhumansof is a unique virtual space afforded by

Instagram where users can gather, communicate, and disseminate critical commentary on

hegemonic power structures of capitalism. Analysis of the comment sections on

@justhumansof reveals that comments about systems of power and dominance are being

made. When oppositional comments are made it most often does not lead to a debate.

Rather, findings suggest that comments in both support of or opposed to dominant

readings appear to be one-off and somewhat isolated. Of all the selected comments, none

were threaded, suggesting that comments are rarely echoed and possess less discursive

qualities than initially proposed. While Instagram comment sections afford interaction

between users, comments appear to largely be in dialogue with the dominant readings

presented in each meme instead of with other users in the comment section. This raises an

interesting question: do memes and meme sites foster authentic public discourse? Are

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comments made on an Instagram account truly representative of public discourse? In

terms of public discourse constituted as “speeches, publications and other statements

made in pursuit of the public good” (Sellers, 2003, p. 62), the analyzed comments do not

appear to be that. The analyzed comments do not appear to satisfy “the basic premise of

public discourse, which is service to the ‘public good’, defined as the common interest of

all members of society” (Sellers, 2003, p. 62). In this case, comments seem to advance

either dominant, negotiated, or oppositional interpretations presented in each of the

respective memes analyzed (figures 3-8). Instead of seeking to establish some common

ground with other users in the comment sections, users make comments that argue in

favor of their ideology of choice or personal opinions. This finding indicates that meme

comment sections may be less of a discursive space and more of a space for users to vent

and blow off steam, at least within this specific site.

Another major finding suggests that the carnivalesque environment found on

@justhumansof perpetuates a similar type of illusion of subversion associated with

Bakhtinian (1968) carnival. Findings suggest that viewing and commenting on memes

critical of hegemonic institutions do little to subvert hegemonic power, especially the

established corporate power on Instagram. As Eagleton (1981) states: “Carnival, after all,

is a licensed affair in every sense, a permissible rupture of hegemony, a contained

popular blow-off as disturbing and relatively ineffectual as a revolutionary work of art”

(p. 148). In this sense, because the carnivalesque unmaskings and critiques of hegemonic

power found in the selected memes take place on Instagram, they are ultimately

ineffective in subverting hegemonic values such as consumerism and the reproduction of

social norms. This is because the type of symbolic inversion communicated by memes

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and parody use on @justhumansof can happen without content being removed for the

most part or the account being deleted.

However, in line with Lisa Perfetti’s (1992) work on how comic texts enact a

process of “dynamic cultural renewal,” memes, if not entirely transgressive, still offer

some social significance. Perfetti (1992) claims: “If comic texts did not actually

challenge official orthodoxy, they did enable a process of dynamic cultural renewal, so

that the unofficial realm of folk culture could continually force interaction with the

otherwise static world of official ideology” (pp. 179-80). It is through the process of

cultural renewal that memes and parody can force a dialogue between the people and the

powers that be. This type of forced dialogue serves to keep hegemonic power visible, and

therefore to an extent, help keep people aware of the randomness of social order.

Findings suggest that the memes examined in this study bring attention to some of the

random practices and ideals of hegemonic capitalist society - this is made evident by user

comments that enter in dialogue with the dominant interpretations presented in the

memes.

Methodological Interventions

Stuart Hall’s (1980) method for encoding/decoding was developed to look at

traditional broadcast media, where dominant interpretations were very much in line with

dominant ideologies. Transmission of hegemonic media messages was the accepted

norm. In the age of the Internet and Internet memes dominant and oppositional have been

recontextualized and turned on their heads. Methodological findings about Hall’s (1980)

method of encoding/decoding from this thesis project suggest that the dominant reading

changes depending on context. In this case, @justhumansof itself then becomes the

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author. What appears to be the case is that the dominant interpretation of a subversive

meme can be hegemonically subversive, while an oppositional interpretation could very

much support the hegemonic status quo. The topsy-turvy nature and the type of symbolic

inversion associated with carnival and carnivalesque spaces, in part, contributes to the

reversal of dominant and oppositional interpretations. The dominant readings presented

by @justhumansof oppose hegemonic interpretations. The “Chip in Now to the Biden-

Harris Transition” image from figure 3 is an exemplar of how the context in which a text

is presented, in this example, within the context of online carnival, changes how that text

is interpreted by audiences. This finding is a significant methodological intervention that

provides an understanding to how the encoding and decoding of texts, specifically

Internet memes, is influenced by carnivalesque contexts. Now that the overall findings

have been discussed some of the limitations faced in this thesis project are discussed in

the following section.

Limitations

There are a few limitations to this study regarding scope and timeframe. One

limitation in this study is that it only focuses on two out of seven of Baym’s (2015)

concepts for understanding the affordances of technology. Out of Baym’s (2015) seven

concepts: interactivity, temporal structure, social cues, storage, replicability, reach, and

mobility - this study only incorporates two concepts: reach and temporal structure. This

limitation is due to the overall attempt to keep this thesis project narrow and concise.

Other limitations related to maintaining a focused scope deal with the overall number of

memes and comments selected. Selecting a greater number of memes and comments for

analysis would help provide more insight into the polyvocal nature of interactions in the

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comment sections and between audiences and memes. Also, investigating threaded

comments to observe how communication between users who agree and disagree with

each other unfold in different meme contexts across Instagram accounts might yield

interesting findings. A few considerations for possible future studies are discussed next.

Future Studies

A possible future study can look at how the full set of Baym’s (2015) seven

concepts can be applied to the study of subversive memes and parody use. For example,

it might be useful to conceptualize how Baym’s (2015) concepts of storage and

replicability can be used to understand how other meme accounts are used to store memes

and comments that users can access at future times. The affordance of storage also

affords users the ability to replicate memes and their messages with relative ease because

they can search up any meme of interest if they remember which account posted it.

Other possible future studies could take a more critical approach to some of the

research findings used to inform this thesis project. For example, findings from Milner’s

(2015) research that describes Internet memes as a form of public discourse could be

applied with greater scrutiny as to what public discourse means within the context of

Instagram, other online platforms, and comment sections. Another finding used in

support of this thesis project which could be looked at more closely comes from

Manosevitch and Walker’s (2009) research. Findings from their research suggest that

online comment sections can serve as sites of production of legitimate public discourse

and deliberation. However, the legitimacy of the type of public discourse proposed to be

taking place in the comment section of Instagram meme accounts should be put through

greater scrutiny given that the type of public discourse taking place in Instagram

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comment sections may not be all that public, given the existence of the digital divide.

Another area that could be developed further by future projects with a similar

interest is a clearer delineation between use of the terms public discourse and online

commentary. Finding and incorporating research that supports the idea that online

comment sections might in fact distort public opinion is outside of the scope of this

project, but necessary to better understand the implications of the types of communicative

interactions occurring on carnivalesque meme accounts. Future projects with a similar

focus should be wary of assuming that memes, meme sites, and parody can produce

meaningful discourse, at least the type of discourse produced with the common good in

mind. This is because findings from this study suggest that much of the communication

occurring on Internet meme sites seems to be more one-sided and opinionated than

dialogic.

Another idea of interest that can be explored by future studies is how Bakhtin’s

(1968) concept of carnival has become commodified. Exploring how large-scale music

festivals, such as the Electric Daisy Carnival and Burning Man offer the illusion of

subversion of power or carnivalesque unmasking. Burning Man and Insomniac Events

promote carnivalesque ideals of liberation, inversion of hegemonic power, and the

upending of the established order, yet are owned by large corporations such as Insomniac

and Live Nation. Additionally, these events are not free, nor are they inexpensive. Within

the commodified carnival, hierarchies are reproduced and maintained - as one can

purchase a premium ticket that provides access to VIP cabana space with free bottled

water and unlimited alcohol while everyone else is out there sloshing around amongst the

masses who only have access to tap water and generic-brand drinks. This is an area that

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can illuminate an interesting phenomenon - how carnival and carnivalesque memes are

being co-opted by corporations and other powerful entities. In the next and final section,

conclusions to this thesis project are drawn and discussed.

Conclusion

This analysis of Internet memes on @justhumansof and the type of

communication taking place in the comment sections can help communication

researchers better understand what kinds of conversations are taking place about

hegemonic capitalist structures that have many Instagram users supporting and rebuking

the critiques presented by memes posted on @justhumansof. The memes analyzed in this

thesis project use carnivalesque unmaskings to highlight and expose some of the

conditions created by late capitalism. In its attempt to create a sense of symbolic

inversion, @justhumansof utilizes carnivalesque themes of carnivalesque unmasking,

parody, and critical laughter to challenge capitalist hegemonic power. Even in cases

where carnival produces “no noticeable politically transformative effects…it may often

act as catalyst and site of actual and symbolic struggle” (Stallybrass & White, 1986, p.

14). Given this assertion, even though @justhumansof works to critique media, corporate

and political power on a hyper-capitalist platform: Instagram, it might be able to serve as

a site that affords users the ability for symbolic action that can bring attention to or

perhaps help expose the taken-for-grantedness of hegemonic power.

Moreover, "carnival is presented by Bakhtin as a world of topsy-turvy, of

heteroglot exuberance, of ceaseless overrunning and excess where all is mixed, hybrid,

ritually degraded and defiled" (Stallybrass & White, 1986, p. 8) - this is precisely what

memes and memetic spaces do - they are topsy-turvy in that a lone meme can blemish the

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established reputation of a powerful corporation or political figure. This is because of the

reach afforded by Instagram; a single meme has the potential to reach massive audiences

around the world proliferating via the use of hashtags and the reshare feature. Memes

constantly make fun of politicians, celebrities, and popular media. Memes degrade the

public image of important figures by spotlighting offensive tweets from their past or by

calling out present-day misbehaviors. They also ritually defile what, in many cases, is

considered to be sacred. Regarding the binary of the sacred and the profane, memes often

reframe sacred values, for example, within the context of this study, memes intentionally

critique dominant practices of capitalism that many people take to be natural and true and

flip them on their head to reveal that those practices have been manufactured by the

ruling capitalist class. Additionally, memes function via (re)mixing and the creation of

new hybridizations. Central to Shifman’s (2014) definition of Internet memes are the

concepts of remix and mimicry, which are tied back to Bakhtin’s (1968) articulation of

the way carnival works, as a world of topsy-turvy.

The Illusion of Subversion

Some of the findings from this thesis project suggest that the symbolic inversion

of power and the carnivalesque communication environment found within

@justhumansof merely create the illusion of subversion. As Eagleton (1981) states:

“Carnival, after all, is a licensed affair in every sense, a permissible rupture of hegemony

…” (p. 148). From this perspective, because the carnivalesque unmaskings and critiques

of hegemonic power found in the selected memes from @justhumansof take place on

Instagram, they are ultimately ineffective in challenging the hegemonic status quo. In this

case, Instagram is the hegemonic entity licensing this permissioned breach of power.

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Since Instagram allows a space for this subversive content to be posted, why would it

provide the tools to undermine its own authority? Instagram is owned by Facebook,

which is a large corporation. Hence, it is safe to assume that a corporation would not

sanction the erosion of its own power. Losing power or influence in any degree seems to

be antithetical to corporate values. From this perspective, it would serve to benefit

Instagram, as a branding and e-commerce platform, to pass off parody and meme

profiles, such as @justhumansof, as mere jokes - as being purely for shits and giggles.

The notion of a momentary licensing of social upheaval used as a tool of the elites to

maintain social order has been documented: “The fact that laughter is a good way to

release pent-up aggression harbours the risk of it being conservative, as for example

when laughter is sponsored and used by the ruling classes… in this case it functions as a

kind of catharsis and as a prophylaxis for revolution” (Horlacher, 2009, p. 22). This

implies that when the masses of a society are allowed a single day to blow off steam, they

are more likely to return to work the next day without revolting. Stallybrass and White

(1986) posit: “whether the ‘licensed release’ of carnival is not simply a form of social

control of the low by the high and therefore serves the interests of that very official

culture which it apparently opposes” (p. 13). Therefore, how subversive can content

posted on a hegemonic serving platform potentially be if it is permitted? In the same

manner that Eagleton (1981) and Stallybrass and White (1986) are critical of Bakhtin’s

(1968) notion of carnival and the carnivalesque, it is equally important to be critical of

the true subversive potential of carnivalesque sites of parody and mimicry, particularly on

Instagram.

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 However, this is not to say that parody and memes do nothing. The laughter and

comical effects created by memes and parody do something, as Perfetti (1992) claims: “If

comic texts did not actually challenge official orthodoxy, they did enable a process of

dynamic cultural renewal, so that the unofficial realm of folk culture could continually

force interaction with the otherwise static world of official ideology” (pp. 179-80). It is

through the process of cultural renewal that memes and parody force a dialogue between

the people and hegemonic institutions. This type of forced dialogue, if anything, serves to

keep hegemonic power visible and therefore to an extent help keep people aware of the

arbitrariness of social codes and order. Furthermore, Perfetti (1992) notes: “The comic

action, in fact, brings attention to the ‘relativity’ or arbitrariness of social codes” (p. 183).

This is how memes and parody, as types of comic acts, work to challenge the rules of

society. They may not initiate a full-on revolution, but they highlight and bring attention

to the random order of social norms and rules. The memes examined in this study bring

attention to some of the arbitrary practices and ideals of hegemonic capitalist society.

Thus, parody unmasks and critical laughter ruptures. As Orwell (1945) famously stated:

“each joke is a tiny revolution… whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty

from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the

joke” (p. 284). In this sense, if each meme can be thought of as a tiny revolution, then it

is also important to be cognizant of what larger invisible strands of power are in place to

prevent the occurrence of large-scale revolution. So, to what degree can subversion take

place on a platform built upon reinforcing the capitalist status quo? How much change

can the carnivalesque memeverse truly afford? And how much of that is illusory?

Apparently, it is complicated. It is both and.

83
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