Throughout this blog post, I will
be analyzing Martin Luther’s 95 Theses and the viral meme Pepe the Frog in
relation to the 2016 US election. I will demonstrate these practices through
the context of the third articulation.
To begin, the third articulation
as discussed in class 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”
When Martin Luther’s 95 Theses
was created it caused a bit disturbance and began to spread rapidly around the
world. Luther’s 95 Theses was spread everywhere through manuscript, pamphlets,
broadsheets etc. This message was argued to be the first circulation of a viral
message. In relation to Luther’s 95 Theses Internet meme’s such as Pepe the
Frog quickly become viral through the sending, receiving and sharing process of
the Internet.
The Donald Trump meme as Pepe the
Frog was brought into being due to the event of the US 2016 presidential
election. Instead of being handed a hard copy of a message like Luther’s 95
Theses, Donald Trumps meme manifested its viral status around the world from
the use of social media. Donald Trump himself tweeted the image of him as Pepe
the Frog with the caption “You Can’t Stump the Trump”. This image almost became
like a brand logo or symbol of Trumps campaign.
As stated by Williams, "Pepe had been a symbol of
the disenfranchised, social outcasts. It was Trump’s natural audience."
(Williams, 2016). Thus, becoming a viral spread message similar to Luther’s 95
Theses.
Citations:
Williams, A. (2016). How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping The election
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