When You Try to Tell People about Climate Change, and They Start Making Memes about You’

The Meaning-Making in Greta Thunberg Internet Memes

Bibliographic Data

ID8935189
AuthorsA Fiadotava (0000-0001-6985-1880, Twitter (United States), corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume134
Issue3
Pages304-322
Publication date2023-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0015587x.2023.2179227
OpenAlexW4386457192
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited21

This article discusses humorous memes dedicated to climate change activist Greta Thunberg. The analysis of the 264 memes illustrates that Thunberg’s environmental agenda is not central among the memes’ topics. Many memes use the catchy phrases in Thunberg’s speeches, recontextualizing them to achieve humorous effects. While some memes aim at ridiculing Thunberg personally, others use her image metaphorically. Memes abound in intertextual references, drawing parallels between Thunberg and characters of films, cartoons, and other internet memes. By embracing textual and visual aspects of Greta Thunberg memes, and the context of their creation, the article reflects on the interrelation between the content of memes and the social facts that inspired them. The focus is on the discrepancy between the original ideas of celebrities and the meanings reflected in celebrity memes. The analysis demonstrates that celebrity memes can bear various degrees of connection to the ideas of the people that they feature

Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Meaning (existential · Media studies · Parallels · Social media · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · History · Humor Studies and Applications · Media Influence and Health · Media Studies and Communication · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access