Bored Panda got in touch with Mary F. Rice, Associate Professor of Literacy at the University of New Mexico, who has written about the use of memes in education. First, we wanted to hear her take on why people enjoy making memes in general. 

“I think that people like being able to communicate with images. I also think that people like being clever. We have lost a lot of opportunities to woo and wow each other with cleverness in modern life and the meme offers that. I also think that memes offer opportunities for meaningful subversion.”

“There is a way to encode a message for a general audience and a message of subversion for an esoteric audience that lets people express identities, build solidarity, and communicate more discreetly,” she shared. She has worked with this topic before, particularly when it comes to explaining the “meme-ing” of life.

She has also worked with the idea of using memes as an educational tool, so we wanted to hear her ideas on how an educator can “keep up” with the ever-changing landscape of memes in a field that requires lesson plans a syllabus, and other things done in advance. You have to ride the tide of social media. Back in the day, social media was a broader landscape, even in 2020 it was.”

“Now, those communities have folded into themselves and there are more social media applications and people insulate themselves within them much more. So, it is harder to keep up with memes, although memes still do go viral, and they still do jump platforms. Also, it is important to let students be generators of and sharers of memes.” Bored Panda has covered meme communities dedicated to a vast variety of topics, from cats to crocheting. 

“That is true with any part of your curriculum. You can think of curriculum as a ‘list of stuff’ to do or memorize, but it is better to conceptualize it as what lives and grows when teachers, learners, and information merge in a social and political context. The students have just as much right to bring activity into the space as I do,” she shared. 

Given her expertise, we wanted to hear Mary’s take on what makes a classically good meme. “There are two parts to the meme. The image and the text. Each part has to speak to the audience. Sometimes the image will speak to the audience because they understand it as a cultural reference (like if it is Leo Messi and they know exactly who he is) and then there is also a level where the meme can still work even if all they know is that the person is a soccer player.”

The images here point towards the latter, as they are generally devoid of text, relying on pure “vibes” to communicate. “Good meme makers can make a meme where those who know Messi and those who don’t, can still ‘get’ the meme. That is where the text comes in. The text has to reference something people understand as a universal situation that could also refer to something at the moment from popular culture or current events. Again, if you can get a text that can speak to an esoteric audience and a general one, that is ideal.”

Mary left us with some parting thoughts on the importance of memes. “Making and sharing memes is part of democratic praxis or action. But also, the decision to not share, not comment, or not engage at all with something is also an action in the digital age because of how algorithms work. I encourage your readers to be agentive in all they do (or don’t do) with memes online.”