Basketball memes or political memes?

During the opening week of the new NBA season, there were also other culturally significant events happening around the world, notably, the United States Presidential election. Interestingly, there were several politically inspired memes that were circulated within basketball meme communities which incorporates images of presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mit Romney to interact critique and commentary regarding the world of basketball. The semiotic elements that are embedded into the texts is interesting due to the different conventions that exists within politics and sports, and yet, can be intertwined into discourse that is creative and also easily identifiable. The multi-layered meme below combines an image taken from a white house visits by the Los Angeles Lakers with a singular image of U.S President Barack Obama. The first layer of the meme reads "not yet..." with Obama holding a #1 Lakers jersey, the second layer reads "My people need me". The meme was circulated after Obama's presidential victory and combines the Laker's one-win start to the season to Obama's victory for an additional four year term, thus serving as a signifier to reflect the Lakers 1 win - 4 loss start to the NBA season. And whilst the meme may have been difficult to understand for some, this example shows that memes as texts can be used singularly or combined with other texts to broaden discourses and developing new genres in style, textual production and expressions.

This trend has continued throughout the NBA season. The image of U.S Preisdent Barrack Obama has been consistently used to convey ongoing basketball headlines throughout season, as well as, existing connotations within the basketball meme community. The meme below refers to the popular belief of Nuggets' Center, Javale McGee, as a less than intelligent individual in which Obama corrects McGee's misconception of Mavericks' Guard O.J Mayo, for Mayonnaise. 

The San Antonio Spurs organisation was controversially fined $250,000 by NBA commissioner David Stern when coach Gregg Popovich made the decision to rest his star players in a nationally televised match against the NBA champions the Miami Heat. Popovich cited player burn out as the decision to rest his stars, and many felt the large fine imposed by Stern was a tyrannical decision, without any sense of care for the well-being of the athletes. 

The meme below alludes to perhaps one of the more popular existing memes, of Kobe Bryant as a ball hog, who does not like to share the ball and assist his team mates in scoring points.

While diverse political commentary did occur, it happened sporadically and was not the central theme when political figures were used for basketball memes. This does not imply polyvocal participation was absent in memes. In fact, memes were a means to transform culturally established texts into new ones, with images from all aspects of society becoming cultural artefacts to negotiate the wealth of diverse identities and ideologies, and to engage in conversations and debates regarding the sport of basketball. Memes can be seen as a form of communication that represents contemporary participatory culture in which this newfound form of engagement can potentially have larger than expected cultural implications. Fishkin (2009) refers to such implications as the "trilemma" of democracy: equality, participation and deliberation. Jenkins (2006) sees all three instances of "trilemma" in the works of Harry Potter fan fiction and Star Wars mash-ups. Atton (2004, p. 9) argues that media created by "''you', have been powerfully  characterised by their potential

for participation...rather than media production being the province of elite, centralised

organizations and institutions, alternative media offer possibilities for individuals and groups to

create their own media”. Conversely, Lievrouw (2011, p.9) suggests that amateur media "have opened up the possibility for fulfilment of a greater range of the potentialities inherent in the idea of democracy itself. A more participatory democracy, facilitated by digital tools, is a democracy more fully realized”. In order to facilitate a better understanding of new media phenomenons like memes and the culture that is entrenched within it, we need to acknowledge and embrace the creativity, multiplicity and participatory of the public. Amateur media may be the perfect tools for just that.