Memes– they’re relatable, funny, and at times- painfully so. They have unknowingly become a massive part of our lives. Memes have successfully managed to take over our social media feeds, and they seem to be a temporary fix for the eternal human struggle. 

We have seen people turn to memes at the end of a long day, after a terrible movie and amidst a global pandemic.

We often see self-reflective emotions of humans, added with a silly image and entertaining text- describing things happening around us, to us– funny or not. Their popularity rose as people labelled memes extremely ‘relatable’. 

The ‘meme culture’ has ruled the Internet for almost a decade now – proving that it’s here to stay. Most of us often don’t sit down to think about the times’ Internet had us in splits (and now we got you thinking, ha!) But diving into understanding the unseen presence of social media fragments in our everyday life is an amusing thought. 

Upon coming across the word ‘meme’, my mother rushed to me and asked,” What is this me-me?” I couldn’t help but laugh as I corrected her, “Mom, it’s actually pronounced “meem”. But as I started to explain, I drew a blank. 

We probably spend hours looking at memes, scrolling through our unending feeds. Some pages have garnered millions of loyal meme-followers. Friendships have been nurtured as well as tarnished by it. Sharing memes has become a new testament of importance. Ah, the times we live in. 

Believe it or not, Instagram and Facebook, the abode of memes, have made millions off of them. But did you ever wonder how this became an essential fragment of our otherwise mundane lifestyles? 

The term “meme” was coined way back in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in his book ‘The Selfish Gene’. He called it “Mimeme”, deriving it from a Greek word meaning ‘that which is imitated’. Meme, as a concept, means ideas that spread from brain to brain – a cultural analogue to genes that mutate, replicate and are subject to natural selection. 

Memes that garner less popularity eventually becomes extinct. Some are so successful that they even manage to ‘break the internet’.

The Internet evolved, and so did memes. From videos on Youtube to GIFs on Facebook and Instagram, we’ve come a long way. This trend has validated the growth of humour based content. From celebrities to giraffes, no-one is spared. Independent Magazine, UK has curated stories of ‘five people who became memes’.

They explore how people, who were featured in some of the ‘viral-memes’, understand their sudden fame through mostly-awkward-photos. Be it Bad Luck Brian or Scumbag Steve, they say their pictures became what they did mostly because of a silly prank a friend or a relative played. The ever-classic “distracted boyfriend” meme – It’s all too relatable when your boyfriend gets distracted by another girl walking past. 

Keeping up with the trend, The Guardian came up with a meme about masks in the times of coronavirus. Celebrities often embrace the meme-culture with a pinch of humour. Kim Kardashian, the queen of funny faces, was featured in too many. She leveraged this popularity and created kimojis, which are funny emojis of her face. Drake’s 2015 “Hotline Bling” became a meme for generations to see.

In Bollywood, too, the meme mania is quite evident. Pieces of many new-cinema trailers go on to become heavily shared memes. These have also become a juggernaut of the public’s opinions. It’s valid to the extent where an actor measures the popularity of their movie or trailers by the number of memes made on it. Anushka Sharma from the 2018 comedy-drama Sui Dhaaga became q subject for meme-makers. She said “It is a compliment that my character has been stuck in people’s head after they watched the trailer,” in an interview with Mid-Day.

The quote- “the only constant in life is change” is apt in this case. People have evolved with the age of the Internet. Companies are using memes as a marketing tool; they’re getting copyrights for them as well. A meme falls under the category of ‘artistic works’ under section 2 (c) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

Just get the right combination of relevant images and witty caption and who knows if this is how you’ll become a millionaire.