For this blogpost we are looking at media ecology and how it is a media form that creates a specific environment using the two examples of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and the meme of Pepe the Frog during the 2016 Presidential election. Both these examples relate to the 3rd articulation we discussed in class which is concerned with “how media artifacts and messages are brought into being and spread through a culture, community, or society, and is manifested in the spatio-temporal dynamics of relations of creativity and production, relations of distribution and circulation, and relations of consumption and reception”.
It is strange to think about how things were spread and went viral before the rise of digital and social media. When Luther’s 95 Theses was created it caused a bit of a uproar. It spread extremely quickly, first within the academic fields but then much further. Quickly, copies began to spread in manuscript form and the broadsheets and pamphlets were popping up everywhere. (Standage, 2013, p. 52). Luther lost control of his message as it was spread everywhere. This message is argued to be the first message to go “viral”. As it took was for Luther to send it to someone for the cycle of circulation to begin.
Pepe the Frog, though a meme that has been around for years, was extremely popular during the 2016 presidential campaign. This meme became political when Donald Trump tweeted out a of photo of him as Pepe.
It was circulated all over social media and quickly became a symbol for this election. Twitter took the meme and made it something of their own. All over social media everyone was sharing and retweeting Pepe the Frog memes relating to the election. Instead of being handed out in print like the 95 Theses it was spread over social media. Trump supporters saw it as a way to band together with him and establish a connect. "Pepe had been a symbol of the disenfranchised, social outcasts. It was Trump’s natural audience." (Williams, 2016). This meme created a sense of community between Trump supporters.
Standage, T. (2013). Writing on the Wall: Social Media- The First Two Thousand Years. p. 52
Williams, A. (2016). How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping The election.
Great post Kelly. I like your point on the idea that something going viral before the popularity of digital media arose is a weird concept. We never really think about how things began, and Martin Luther Letters are a prime example of the importance of history. It just goes to show how important the creation of the printing press was and how it has transformed over the years.
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