Pepe, Luther and Modes of Production

The way in which media is produced and circulated can greatly effect it’s meaning, the emotions it invokes as well as the capital and power that can be accumulated throughout the production of said media. These articulations or connections between each aspect make up media ecologies, or assemblages, incorporating every element of the production of media. The process of a message or image becoming viral, can be attributed to in the context of both Martin Luthers 95 theses and Pepe the Frog the production of media the resulting alterations of the media and responses.

            The social creation of meaning refers to the way in which meaning can be changed through social practices such as the sharing and distributing of messages or images. This can be seen through the meaning of Pepe the Frog changing through Donald Trumps presidential campaign, prior to which Pepe the frog had been drawn as Adolf Hitler and used by white nationalists to spread their beliefs, during Trumps campaign, Pepe being drawn as him resulted in Pepe being associated with the bigotry that Trump embodied.

            Pepe the frog being associated so heavily with Trump has resulted in the original image being classified as a hate symbol, as it was associated with images reproduced by white nationalists. This articulation between texts resulted in emotional responses from the public over social media as the symbol gradually, resulting in negativity and dislike from the public. The social media ecology enables the accumulation of both power as well as capital because of white nationalist ideals being spread through the prevalence of the meme over websites such as 4chan and reddit.The creator of Pepe the frog has also been able to make money through the sale of merchandise related to the meme.

            Pepe the frog exemplifies perfectly the ability for messages and memes to spread via social media and the Internet; the spread of messages in the past however, over print can be seen through the virality of Martin Luther’s 95 theses. Social practices such as the spread and distribution of Luther’s theses shaped the meaning, which was interpreted by Christians across Europe. The use of pamphlets to convey information allowed for many copies of Luther’s 95 theses to reach audiences, which it would not be able to if it were another medium at the time. The spread of Luther’s writings to as many people as they reached allowed for discourse on the subject, resulting in further critique of the catholic church and the formation of Protestantism as a response to Luther’s views of the sale of indulgences. This sparked many emotional responses over Europe towards Catholicism resulting in centuries of conflict. The media ecology of print allowed for a viral spread of Luther’s ideas across Europe, the replicability of print allowed for precise, unaltered reproduction of Luther’s agenda against the Catholic Church. The result of being able to heavily reproduce ideas lead to a vast accumulation of wealth for the printers and distributors of Luther’s ideas, as well as power for Luther himself because of the extent of the reach his ideas had for the time, making him a prominent figure in the reformation of the catholic church as well as all over Europe.

References

Frank, P. (2016, September 30). The Strange Internet Journey Of Pepe The 'Chilled-Out ... Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/matt-furie-pepe-frog-meme_us_57ed3a6fe4b0c2407cdc4298

Herman, A. (2016). Week 7 lecture 2 [Lecture Notes]

Mohn, T. (2016, October 28). Long Before Twitter, Martin Luther Was a Media Pioneer. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/arts/design/long-before-twitter-martin-luther-was-a-media-pioneer.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=wide-thumb&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=1