Memes and viral videos

Like the meme community, the activities of online video-sharing communities like YouTube blur the distinction between producer and audience. Similar to quickmemes and knowyourmemes, YouTube use a rating system (like or dislike) to guide visitors towards popular videos. Culturally significant videos will also rise above others based on the number of views. Burgess (2008, 101) writes that internet memes in contemporary culture is a "faddish joke or practice" that becomes widely imitated and reproduced. When a video is spread, replicated and mutated "virally", its reproducibility seems to guide its cultural value. That is, a work’s reception has become a part of its reproducibility. In this understanding, like memes, viral videos online are spread and mutated via distribution networks in ways that media producers cannot control. Speaking on the cultural relevance of memes, Lolcat creator Ben Huh (2010) believes memes are "more relevant than most of what’s on television...just as the sitcom or the 30-minute news broadcast or the soap opera from radio were the hallmark of how a certain generation understood entertainment and culture". For instance, the "Hitler reacts" videos or "the Hitler meme", involves a dramatic scene from the 2004 film "Downfall" in which Hitler realises his imminent defeat during World War II and begins screaming at his subordinates. The film is in German and the videos are remixed so that instead of the fall of the Third Reich, Hitler is reacting angrily to matters like the weak real estate market or the vuvuzela controversy from the football World Cup. Individually, these videos has little influence but collectively, in their thousands and their millions of viewers, these videos signify the variety and versatility in how people express themselves in the digital world. 

Basketball videos are remixed with a similar approach, to convey personal opinions and ideas. For example, in recent years, there has been a popular trend for basketball fans to remix video clips from two particular Nike advertisements: "Rise" featuring Michael Jordan and "What Should I Do" featuring Lebron James. The original ads document Jordan and James' dedication to becoming elite athletes. Fan mash-ups of the advertisements have been reproduced to "Michael Jordan responds to Lebron" and "Kobe Bryant responds to Lebron James" which conveys the perception of Jordan and Bryant as superior athletes citing James's fragility under big match situations. Remixes have also included "Lebron James- What should I do" which is a spoof video of the ad, made by disgruntled Cleveland Cavaliers fans, the team James left to join the Miami Heat. The same ads have also been remixed with gameplay from video games such as NBA2K and Call of Duty, and comically parodied with other sports television personalities to athletes from the NFL and UFC. 

Like memes, the "How quickly they forget" videos maintain a core framework of the video title and the song "Serenata Immortale" as the theme. The videos compare the on-court accomplishments of Michael Jordan with contemporary stars such as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. 

The dynamics of memes and viral videos can be understood as involving the spread of replicable ideas through the processes of creativity, among individuals and communities connected by social networks (Burgess 2008, 110). Much academic focus is directed at the boundaries between old and new mass-media and the more egalitarian tone that is taking shape online. The notion of advocating for certain beliefs that go against the commercial grain of media producers or converting one's misfortunes into hilarious entertainment for millions of viewers can be as equally important in revealing a truth about the emerging trends in a digital age where the producers and administrators alike do not have full control. In some cases, expressions conveyed through memes or viral videos extend beyond the pleasure of laughter but satirical, sarcastic, expression, intentional or otherwise also jolts the viewer to confront other questions like, "what am I looking at?", "what am I laughing at?" or "do I agree with this message?" According to Walker (2010) in his New York Times article concerning the cultural influence of memes, he writes "This is what egalitarian cultural production really looks like, this is what having unbounded spaces really entails, this is what anybody-can-be-famous means...the real point is that to pretend otherwise isn’t denying the Internet — it’s denying reality". 

Original ads

Fan remixes