Martin Luther's Theses and Pepe the Frog: The Spread of Media Artifacts and Messages Across Community, Culture, and Society

Over the past few weeks in class we have looked into the history of Martin Luther and how he was viewed as the fist social media mover. Though it’s quite ironic to be comparing such a historical figure to a meme, they both share similarities. In talking about the two different media ecologies I will be looking deeper into both media texts through the third articulation which “concerns 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”.

As it came to Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five theses, it all started with Luther posting the list of the plans to be discussed on the door of the church in Wittenberg. Which was considered quite unusual to happen. Even though it was written in Latin, it caused quite a frantic within the community and beyond. With the increase of talk on it, it began to spread and shared and the production came into play, as there were increasing demands for it. Copies of his message began to spread in manuscript form and then later in printed editions (pamphlets and broadsheets). However, not everyone can afford a pamphlet – but if you could it would mark your social status and show that you were also literate. With the speed of it circulation – it wasn’t just a shock to everyone but also to Luther. The attention it got was unexpected, as no one thought that a person-to-person method would draw such attention. The affect of it split the Christian church, even though that wasn’t his intention. Luther’s content was associated more with propaganda and was a religious agitation. It was “meant to create a community, that will bind a new religious creativity together through theology”, which resonated with the third articulation.

To my second media text “Pepe the Frog”, this meme was already on the Internet for a while before it got attached with the idea of it being a hate symbol. As the frog had many images of him mocking Donald Trump, Trump decided to take matters in his own hand and join forces with the meme (tweeting a picture of himself as Pepe the Frog). That’s when the popularity of the meme rise. This meme like Luther’s content created a sense of community through establishing shared beliefs amongst all – especially from Trump supporters. Likewise with the Ninety-Five theses the creator of Pepe the Frog did not expect the attention it got. Matt Furie, created Pepe the Frog initially as just an innocent inside joke between him and his cousin but as it became viral people took it out of context and molded it for their own entertainment. Additionally through the power of social network Pepe the Frog political edition spread rapidly.

In relation to both media text that I’ve talked about, both context were not intended to go on and promote danger or hateful ideas – however, with the spread of it created implications that were quite distant from its orgins. 

Work Cited 

Frank, P. (2016, September 30). The Strange Internet Journey Of Pepe The 'Chilled-Out'

Herman, Andrew. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo. 8 November 2016. Lecture.

Standage, T. (2013). Writing on the wall: Social media -- the first 2,000 years. New York: Bloomsbury.

Williams, A. (2016). How Pepe the Frog and Nasty Woman Are Shaping the Election. The New York Times.