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Robert LoveladyProfessor Sherry StewardENC 441518 July 2014IntroductionMemes are one of the most well-known kinds of jokes or forms of humor on the internet, and consist of image-text combinations. They are a large part of internet popular culture, and range in variety and frequency. In various meme websites, one can find hundreds of stand-alone image and text combinations, or hundreds of unique copies of the same image with a different style of text applied, following an associated template. Many use memes not only to make jokes, but to send a message or make a point through humor. They way memes are designed and used can be thought of using rhetorical frameworks, in order to better understand them as an internet phenomenon. Memes often attempt to make a point, and while they are authorless and disconnected from their creator when they are viewed, they still have a certain ethos about them. Whether we are agreeing to laugh at something a meme points out, or react to a meme that is pointing out something frustration about society, we are being affected by its message, and we may not necessarily be concerned with the credibility of its message nor aware of how it makes such a message. Here, I propose to analyze how memes establish ethos, by exploring the rhetorical context of the world wide web, the rhetorical moves made by involving humor, and how audiences perceive credibility on the web.Since it would be futile to attempt to analyze memes in general, due to their vast diversity in style, appearance, and use, I will focus three examples of a specific type of image-text memes that are popular, which I will use as a case study to speculate the effects of design and use on the ethos of memes. These memes will be a specific subset of what I describe as template memes, which all feature the same image, and have a sort of style or formula that the text must abide by. For instance, the Imminent Ned meme follows a template of a specific image of the Game of thrones character Ned Stark, with the caption Brace yourselves, X is coming, where X is a phrase the creator inserts. Ultimately, through analyzing memes as digital rhetoric, I will examine how the World Wide Web is redefining the way we receive rhetoric in a changing online environment.

MethodsMy analysis will begin with selecting three examples of a specific type of meme, in order to qualitatively compare the variety of rhetorical moves they make as part of the same genre of memes. These memes will be chose based on their popularity, so that plentiful examples are available for analysis. In addition, they will be obtained from different settings to observe how the use of the meme itself impacted a larger online discourse. I will apply readings from my research on online ethos and memetics to understand what a meme does, and how it has evolved over time from a simple concept of shared cultural ideas to what we have today as image-texts. In addition to analyzing the setting of and the use of the three chosen memes, their design will be analyzed as well. Features such as the font, image, length of text, and clarity of message will be analyzed, to further explore how each meme develops ethos with an audience. FormatIn addition to a textual analysis, this final project will include some form of image to aid the analysis of an example meme. I plan to take an image of a meme used in an online discussion or form of social media, and use line, arrows, text blocks, and other visual tools to help analyze how a meme was used in a specific setting, what its design accomplished, and how it affected the discussion. Alternately, I have thought about using an image of a meme before the textual analysis that makes a believable, but not entirely factual claim or accurate observation in order to have some affect upon the reader of this final project. As my textual analysis proceeds, I would reference this meme periodically to draw parallels between concepts I describe from my readings to support my arguments about users perceptions when they encounter memes on the web. For example, if I included a meme making a humorous observation about a politician that also carries a subtle message about them, later on I would be able to show my reader an example of how humor can be used to establish ethos. I might write something like Did you find the meme on the front page funny, even if you didnt fully agree with its perspective? According to (author name), if you laughed at it, youre already more likely to agree with it, even if it holds a conflicting view (Discuss article by author).The only concerns I have for this research is that there are many factors involved in what makes a meme rhetorical, and that I need to be able to focus on a few key factors and make a successful argument only with them, supported by the readings Ive done. I feel like I could research this for weeks, involving oral tradition, the history of comedy, memetics, Aristotelian ethos, and more; however I must maintain a narrow scope.

Annotated Bibliography

Bell, M. (2013). What I Really Meme Is .. Internet@Schools, 20(2), 24-25.This article starts with an unfamiliar view of internet memes, and attempts to define them in the context of going viral in social media. Richard Dawkins is cited here as one of the original contributors to the field of discourse on memes, and Bell interprets the genetic context of Dawkins idea and compares it to social media. Bell has the advantage of being able to recall culture from the 1970s, when Dawkins article was published, and draws some parallels between modern memes and cultural memes from that period. Bell then compares memes to fads and popular culture to cite their success amongst youth. Bell asserts that memes can be beneficial to the field of education, and makes several recommendations based on examples from schools across the country. Finally, Bell explores the creation of a modern meme, and how electronic media plays a role in making a meme from an image and text. This article helps bridge the gap between Dawkins use of the term meme to describe a cultural exchange of an idea and modern humorous image-text memes. Bells perspective from the 1970s will help me explain the concept of a meme and its importance on the internet as more than just an exchange of humor. Like Bells suggestion that memes can be useful in a learning context, this article supports the idea that memes do something, which is an idea I will use to establish how memes have a certain ethos. Bell interestingly mentions that some meme generators she uses had advertisements embedded in them, which she wanted to avoid. This indicates a subtle reason why ethos is important for a meme, as many factors can impact the credibility of a standalone image-text. Bells description of how a meme is created today will be helpful to explain how cultural beliefs take form in modern day memes. 152/155

Brzsei, Linda. (2013) Makes a Meme Instead: A Concise History of Internet Memes. Dissertation. Utrecht University. Retrieved from:http://www.academia.edu/3649116/Makes_a_Meme_Instead_A_Concise_History_of_Internet_MemesThis dissertation recognizes much of the important literature in the field of memetics and culture, and applies an academic lens through which to understand their work in the context of digital culture and the internet. Brzsei starts with visiting the roots of memes on the internet and exploring the history of the first memes, and traces the development of memes for humor and social media. While this is a difficult task to pursue, Brzsei utilizes a variety of sources to best track the history of certain memes, and analyzes where they originated and in what context. While Brzsei utilizes some theories to analyze memes as a cultural phenomenon, she stays in touch with her more culturally aware audience, and utilizes memes in her paper, as well as witty section titles that are relevant to the ideas she explores. Overall this serves as both a brief history of memes and the history of their use.This paper will be useful in explaining the origins of memes and analyzing the specific places they first appeared in, which I can use to also trace the development of their ethos. As technology was developed and we saw the rise of the internet, the idea of credibility in electronic media began to change as well, so a history of the development of this technology in the context of memes will allow me to aim at specific examples at developing ethos in image-text memes. While there are many sources that analyze the work of Dawkins with regard to memetics, I often find they are not helpful because the academic context limits the way scholar analyze memetics with regard to the internet today. This is a more recent work, and since the author is more familiar with the content matter, their analysis of memetics and Dawkins ideas are more useful for my exploration of memes. 154/154

Hbler, M. T., & Bell, D. (2003). Computer-mediated humor and ethos: Exploring threads of constitutive laughter in online communities. Computers & Composition, 20(3), 277. doi:10.1016/S8755-4615(03)00036-7This article by Hubler and Bell explore how online communities establish ethos though humor by analyzing online groups and writing center email-lists. They observe that humor is important in establishing and sustaining discursive relationships in a workplace, and that humor plays a critical role in negotiating different hierarchies. This idea is supported by the idea that humor is related to structure and rhetorical processes, which are community building practices that web users can engage in maintaining a social structure such as a workplace. Examples are shown to demonstrate how ethos can be built using humor, by either establishing it through positive humor or negative humor. Hubler and Bell further explain how speakers create group ethos, and how the humor of each individual eventually reflects that of the group, while at the same time using a sort of humor template, and making a unique joke their own. This source helps draw some parallels between Dawkins work and others to humor and modern web users. By studying a group that utilized electronic media to spread and create humor, a sort of ethos emerged from individuals and the group, leading to de-emphasized authority. This idea then connects to other sources regarding the de-valuing of authorship on the web and how notions of web ethos are changing, by providing examples in a humorous context like memes do. The study also analyzes the influences of the character of the speaker/ rhetor of groups, and how joking was used much like a classical rhetorical appeal to establish those influences. Finally, this article emphasizes computers as the primary media through which this exchange of humor took place, describing the environment and constraints of a mailing list and how it was used to share jokes in a work environment. 146/145

Imminent Ned/ Brace Yourselves, X is coming. (2013). Retrieved July 14, 2013 from http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/imminent-ned-brace-yourselves-x-is-comingKnowyourmeme.com is a well-known website whose goal is to serve as a sort of encyclopedia for memes, documenting their origin, the origin of the source material, and their use. All articles on knowyourmeme follow a template that explores the origin of a meme, how and when it spread, what some examples are, and provides a template sometimes. This particular meme, Imminent Ned, is from the HBO show Game of Thrones, based off of A Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin. Knowyourmeme describes this meme as an image macro series featuring a primary character, and explains that this type of meme is replicated by many users by altering its text. One problem with this source is that it is openly edited, however the non-academic tone allows readers to understand content in simple terms, sometimes using metaphor and referencing cultural phenomena that scholars may be less familiar with. I plan to use knowyourmeme for several memes I will analyze, in order to trace the time and place of their origin. This website also provides some statistical data on how often the meme has been used and google searched, giving me a rough estimate of its prevalence. The type of meme is also described here as an image macro series. While there is no official name for this type of meme, it is the type I plan to base my analysis off of. There are some links to other popular meme websites on this page that will probably help me find some specific uses of this meme, so that I can talk more about how it is used in different places on the internet. The rhetorical context- the situation, audience, and kairos of the meme will impact its ethos, which I will take into account when I analyze it. 153/150

Leick, James. (2011, May). What Defines a Meme? Our World is a Place Where Information Can Behave Like Human Genes and Ideas Can Replicate, Mutate, and Evolve. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778/?allThis article elaborates on Dawkins ideas on genetics and memetics, tying the realm of ideas and science together. James elaborates on how ideas create other ideas and how they are understood by a person to create new meanings or understandings of a concept. He elaborates on genetics as a metaphor for processing ideas, with replicating genes being analogous to replicated ideas, spreading from person to person, being passed down. James further explains Dawkins metaphor by describing that memes exist can exist as ideas that survive between brains, traveling between people, and being passed down in new and different forms. He cites Dawkins metaphor for religion, which like simpler ideas- tunes, catchphrases, and images, survives in the back of the mind and surface in the actions and ideas of a person through their subconscious. James also describes memes as being dependent on language for transmission, which have changed with the advent of electronic language.This article interprets Dawkins work to explain how the transmission of ideas becomes dependent on the medium it is transferred through, and how ideas can survive from generation to generation. This article will help me explain Dawkins concepts in addition to some other sources. It has taken several articles with different descriptions to fully understand the concepts Dawkins discusses, and to build my ideas on the spread of memes through social media. Using Jamess explanation of Dawkins concepts, I can also trace the origins of memetics as ideas spreading from mind to mind through shared information, evolving to take place in a cultural medium, spreading ideas through humor and other means. The way these memes spread rely on ethos, which I an examine with the understanding that Jamess explanations provide. James also traces the spread of some early memes on the early internet, which gives me some background information to add to meme history.153/154

Marsh, C. (2006). Aristotelian Ethos and the New Orality: Implications for Media Literacy and Media Ethics. Journal Of Mass Media Ethics, 21(4), 338-352. doi:10.1207/s15327728jmme2104_8This article explores ethos as a rhetorical concept taught by Aristotle, which has changed in modern media alongside changes in oral tradition. Marsh begins by speculating that new oral cultures feature reduced levels of critical assessment of media messages, in contrast to classical notions of ethos which are set in the context of oratory skills. Ethos is described as essential in casting an oral spell over an audience, which in Greek times, relied on oral tradition to transmit and store cultural norms. Marsh contrasts this to modern tradition, where human intellect is utilized more to critically analyze a message rather than store it. This is the foundation of traditional alphabetic literacy, by which modern ethics was derived from critical thinking rather than memorizing oral tradition. However, Marsh identifies that recent oral cultures which use mass media are featuring reduced levels of critical assessment of media messages, and leaves the implications of this open-ended. This article is important to understand of how ethos has changed since ancient Greece, and how it apparently is changing again with the advent of the world wide web. Oral tradition is useful when analyzing ethos, as it provides ways to think about the goals of an orator or rhetor, and how they affect their message. Marsh describes that Aristotle taught rhetoric as it was and not how it should be, claiming that ethos was merely a media construct; an achievement of what the speaker was saying, and was not affected judgments of a speakers character before they began delivering any oration. Marshs claim that modern media is causing unanalytical reactions by modern audiences is compelling when considering memes largely make sensory appeals through image and text, instead of logical ones. Marsh speculates the fate of modern ethics, which I am interested in distinguishing as fundamentally different than the ethos of a print-medium generation. 153/154

Vandaele, J. (2010). Narrative Humor (I): Enter Perspective. Poetics Today, 31(4), 721-785.Vandaeles article explores narrative humor with several different studies conducted by scholars in the field of comedy study. Vandaele poses the question asking what narrative humor is, and uses initial assertions maintain that comedy is a form of narrative, which forces audience members to internall switch between intentions, beliefs, goals, emotions, and other factors of the participants of a situated comedy. However, the differences between comedy and narrative are what Vandaele focuses on, and claims that comedy is reliant on incongruity, while narrative is not. With this idea comedy is redefined involving agents, incongruity, and exploiting relations between agents involved. Vandaele also uses this idea to critique other studies in the field, by pointing out complications with others theories, and by contrasting them to the established idea of metanarrative humor. Vandaele defines narrative as more than a story, but rather discourse, which is an important part of establishing comedy. This article establishes some theory behind what makes comedy successful and are the primary elements of situated comedy in narrative form. In addition, the author analyzes the narrative humor issue from both sides, drawing comparisons and differences between narrative and comedy as processes involving an audience. This analysis will be useful in determining the audiences role in a comedic situation involving a meme, and determining how the meme establishes a narrative. Many memes are designed with narrative in mind, ranging from 4-koma panels to lengthier multi-image memes, and this article can compare the relationship of an agent to a participant or audience member of a meme, or multiple audiences. Classifying a meme as a type of narrative will be useful in order to make this comparison, and the information provided in this article will enable me to do that as well. This would allow me to analyze the ethos of a meme as perceived as a narrative.149/157

Warnick, B. (2004) Online Ethos: Source Credibility in an Authorless Environment, American Behavioral Scientist 48(2): 25665.Warnicks article explores the concept of changing credibility in a web environment, where traditional factors that affect ethos, such as authorship and affiliation, are absent or different from the way were used to studying them. Warnick establishes ethos in the context of ancient Greece, and explains how moral character was valued over evidence in a trial (a common setting for ancient oratory). Warnick draws parallels between this model of ethos and modern web credibility, where users often gauge websites by similar means. Warnick utilizes three studies which utilized surveys to assess what users viewed as most important when seeking out a website. The results reveal that users were most influences by design, usefulness of information, relevance, and other superficial criteria. These findings support Warnicks idea that in order to assess web credibility, we need to move away from thinking in modernist ways, whereby we assess the value of a print source.This article provides more information about ethos on the web, and it details specifically what some users find most useful in assessing the credibility of a website. Results such as font type and use of white space were among design factors that led people to either abandon websites or continue to use them, rather than assessing the site authors or sponsors. This is interesting as it indicates what users value, and my analysis of a type of meme can benefit from applying this study to understand why messages are so reliant on image-text combinations. This also helps create a new understanding for how memes are assessed, as this article indicates that authorship is not important to the average internet user. Furthermore, analyzing the average audience member on the internet will be necessary in order to analyze how memes establish credibility, and how they manage and meet expectations of web users.151/150