[Though it can't be seen without video, there's a bit of a shift on his end. Followed by clearing of throat.]
All right, gather around, boys and girls! This is Professor Toneido's Special Meme Studies 101 Introductory Lecture!
[Because as entertaining as Okuyasu's confusion is, Uendo doesn't actually want to make him feel like an idiot.]
The word "meme" was originally coined by scientists to describe how ideas spread from person to person. You know how genes are passed down and mutate through evolution, right? Memes are like that, but instead of biological traits they're about social practices and fads and the like. Some stay dominant, some die off. And then we got Internet with instant messaging and the whole concept of memes kind of... exploded.
Think of it like this: if you just tell the same joke to your buddies over and over, it gets old pretty quickly, yeah? But memes get spread around the world and keep evolving. They get changed and used in response to totally different contexts. Even if the original joke's not funny anymore, you can add a new twist to it and catch people by surprise! In a sense, you're both referring to the previous versions and doing your own thing with it at the same time, so it's like adding more and more layers on top of what came before.
Take the above illustration -- the meme came from a stock photo of a man being distracted by another woman while his girlfriend is understandably peeved. A bit of text and editing and you can apply it to just about any instance of someone being distracted, while the distinct framing of the original photo keeps the origin of the meme easily recognizable. Ergo! Every time you meme, you are effectively carrying on the legacy of your forebears through your own creative spirit!
[He's absolutely explaining all of this like a very passionate, enthusiastic teacher.]
Aaaand that is all for today! Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
no subject
All right, gather around, boys and girls! This is Professor Toneido's Special Meme Studies 101 Introductory Lecture!
[Because as entertaining as Okuyasu's confusion is, Uendo doesn't actually want to make him feel like an idiot.]
The word "meme" was originally coined by scientists to describe how ideas spread from person to person. You know how genes are passed down and mutate through evolution, right? Memes are like that, but instead of biological traits they're about social practices and fads and the like. Some stay dominant, some die off. And then we got Internet with instant messaging and the whole concept of memes kind of... exploded.
Think of it like this: if you just tell the same joke to your buddies over and over, it gets old pretty quickly, yeah? But memes get spread around the world and keep evolving. They get changed and used in response to totally different contexts. Even if the original joke's not funny anymore, you can add a new twist to it and catch people by surprise! In a sense, you're both referring to the previous versions and doing your own thing with it at the same time, so it's like adding more and more layers on top of what came before.
Take the above illustration -- the meme came from a stock photo of a man being distracted by another woman while his girlfriend is understandably peeved. A bit of text and editing and you can apply it to just about any instance of someone being distracted, while the distinct framing of the original photo keeps the origin of the meme easily recognizable. Ergo! Every time you meme, you are effectively carrying on the legacy of your forebears through your own creative spirit!
[He's absolutely explaining all of this like a very passionate, enthusiastic teacher.]
Aaaand that is all for today! Thank you for coming to my TED talk.