Multimodal figuration in internet memes

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Multimodal figuration in internet memes
Silya Benammar, Université de Haute-Alsace Mulhouse
(silya.benammar@uha.fr)
Abstract
Internet memes have become an essential part of Internet-based communication in
recent years. Considering the importance of figuration of language, instances of
figuration in Internet memes are no surprise. Understanding how multimodal figuration
in memes function is essential to comprehend memes in general. Thus, in this paper, I
will look at the role that figurative language plays in memes and how it functions. To do
so, I will begin with Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) before shifting to multimodal
cases of metaphor. I will also examine the case of multimodal metonymy and
multimodal simile to determine how each figure functions in Internet memes,
highlighting the importance of figurative combinations. Early results showed that
figuration in memes is often combined (e.g., simile and metaphor), leading to
categorization issues when studying figuration and multimodal figuration in Internet
memes.
Internet-Memes sind in den letzten Jahren zu einem wesentlichen Bestandteil der
internetbasierten Kommunikation geworden. In Anbetracht der Bedeutung der
Figuration in der Sprache sind Beispiele von Figuration in Internet-Memes keine
Überraschung. Zu verstehen, wie die multimodale Gestaltung von Memes funktioniert,
ist für das Verständnis von Memes im Allgemeinen unerlässlich. In diesem Beitrag
werde ich daher untersuchen, welche Rolle die figurative Sprache in Memes spielt und
wie sie funktioniert. Dazu beginne ich mit der Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), bevor
ich mich multimodalen Fällen von Metaphern zuwende. Ich werde auch den Fall der
multimodalen Metonymie und des multimodalen Vergleichs untersuchen, um
festzustellen, wie diese in Internet-Memes funktionieren, und dabei die Bedeutung von
figurativen Kombinationen hervorheben. Erste Ergebnisse haben gezeigt, dass
Figuration in Memes oft kombiniert wird (z. B. Simile und Metapher), was zu
Kategorisierungsproblemen bei der Untersuchung von Figuration und multimodaler
Figuration in Internet-Memes führt.
1. Introduction and theoretical framework
1.1 Internet memes
Internet communication has become quite ubiquitous in the past few years.
From sending emails to now posting images and videos on social media
platforms, the use of the Internet, and more broadly speaking, the Web 2-0, has
changed the way we live. The core characteristic of the Web 2-0 is the
participation and interaction of people online (Aghaei et al. 2012). Another
significant characteristic of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is
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multimodality (Kress/Van Leeuwen 2001; Stöckl 2004; Kress 2010; Jewitt et al.
2016; Ledin/Machin 22020). While multimodality is not unique to CMC, it is
particularly interesting to look at online examples. Multimodality online can
appear through the use of emojis, such as “☺”, videos, sounds, or images, but
also internet memes (Mittelberg 2007; Skovholt et al. 2014; Thompson/Filik
2016; Evans 2017; Hinnel 2018; Das et al. 2019; McCulloch 2019). The notion of
meme comes from Richard Dawkins’ work on genetics (Dawkins 1976). In its
original sense, it referred to the transmission of cultural items such as fashions,
ideas, and sounds from brain to brain (ibid.: 192). While the means of
transmission differ from genes, memes, in Dawkins’ terms, are also prone to
natural selection, meaning that they must fight for survival. Some memes will
replicate and survive, while others will not and die (Dawkins 1976).
Some of the core notions developed by Dawkins could still apply to Internet
memes, such as the central idea that they are cultural items, as well as their need
to replicate in order to survive in the online world. Internet memes have
attracted the interest of scholars who have started looking at memes, the role
they play, and how they are used (Shifman 2014; Shifman 2013;
Wiggins/Bowers 2014; Milner 2016; Dynel 2016; Piata 2016; Ambrus 2017;
Miltner 2018; Hirsch 2019; Yus 2021). Limor Shifman (2014: 41) defines internet
memes as: “(a) a group of digital items sharing common characteristics of
content, form, and/or stance, which (b) were created with awareness of each
other, and (c) were circulated, imitated, and/or transformed via the Internet by
many users.” An essential point that Shifman makes is that often the terms
memes and viral are used interchangeably. The author explains that a viral post
will appear once and will be viewed by many people. Internet memes, on the
other hand, are viral elements that evolved into memes, following modification,
parody, and/or imitation (ibid.: 73).
While primary research has focused on understanding what memes are, some
scholars from the field of linguistics have taken an interest in the role that
language plays in the creation and understanding of memes (see Piata 2016;
Dancygier/ Vandelanotte 2017; Lou 2017; Zenner/Geeraerts 2018; McCulloch
2019; Lugea 2020). Such studies highlighted the importance of cognition and
language in meme interpretation.
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1.2 Figurative language
In the field of cognitive linguistics, for years, the emphasis has been put on
metaphors, more specifically conceptual metaphors. Conceptual Metaphor
Theory was introduced by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in 1980. They
claimed metaphor to be more than a simple rhetorical tool, as the way we think
is metaphorical in nature (Lakoff/Johnson 1980). Other scholars quickly took
interest in the topic, bringing many other aspects to it, revealing the importance
of figuration in the way we think, act, and speak (ibid.; Lakoff 1987; Kövecses
2010; Forceville/Urios-Aparisi 2009; Dancygier/Sweetser 2014; Hidalgo-
Downing 2015; Barcelona 2003; Terry 2019). Considering the multimodal nature
of internet communication, and especially internet memes, it is essential to take
into account studies popularized by Charles Forceville that focus on
multimodal figuration such as multimodal metaphor, multimodal metonymy,
multimodal simile, and multimodal hyperbole (Forceville 2009;
Forceville/Urios Aparisi 2009; Ferré 2014; Hidalgo-Downing 2015; Hidalgo-
Downing et al. 2016; Lou 2017; Dancygier/ Vandelanotte 2017). Multimodal
metaphors are defined as “metaphors whose target and source [domains] are
represented exclusively or predominantly in different modes” (Forceville 2009:
24). In recent years, scholars have taken an interest in studying figurative
language in regard to the digital age we currently live in (Bolognesi et al. 2019;
Sweetser et al. 2019; Veale 2019). For instance, Dancygier and Vandelanotte
argued for a vision of internet memes as “emerging multimodal constructions
relying as much on image as on text” (2017: 565). Adrian Lou studied specific
memes, known as when memes, for which he argues that they should be looked
at as instances of multimodal similes and not metaphors (Lou 2017: 106).
2. Research questions
The present paper participates in the ongoing argument regarding multimodal
discourse following a cognitive linguistics approach, and more precisely the
multimodal analysis of Internet memes. It aims to reinforce past research as
other types of memes will be looked at. To this end, the following sections will
present the corpus used in writing this paper, as well as the methodology
followed. The body of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of Internet memes
to answer the research question: how does multimodal figuration function in
Internet memes?
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In this study, I will therefore look at three cases of figuration, metaphor,
metonymy, and simile, in order to hopefully reinforce ongoing research
conducted by cognitive linguists in regard to Internet memes, and to further
broaden the scope on Internet memes to other forms of memes in order to
highlight the function of figurative language in memes.
3. Methodology
Thousands of memes are shared by users daily online. As mentioned above,
most scholars studied specific cases of memes, such as image macros
(Dancygier/ Vandelanotte 2017; Lugea 2020; or when memes (Lou 2017). While
image macros can be considered the prototype of an Internet meme, and when
memes a central type of meme online, they are only two of the many types of
memes that are created and shared nowadays. For this study, I have decided to
conduct a qualitative analysis of some specific memes taken from a larger
corpus.
A corpus of 150 Internet memes was collected arbitrarily using different
platforms. Using Google Images, the keywords internet memes was used for the
search, which mostly returned image macros. Because one of the goals of this
study was to look at other types of memes, I resolved to using social media
platforms, more precisely Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On Twitter, the
memes were collected on specific accounts that are known for their meme
content, such as @9GAG. On Facebook, they were retrieved from the meme
page F R E S H S T O L E N M E M E S, and lastly on Instagram they were
collected using the hashtag #internetmemes.
Using this method, 150 memes were collected. However, since this study aims
to look at memes in English, other memes that were produced in French,
German, and Spanish had to be discarded. Internet memes are not only
produced in English, as scholars have looked at memes in other languages as
well (see Bonenfant 2014; Johann/Bülow 2019). Moreover, some memes were
shared by different users on different platforms and lead to duplicates in the
set. Instances of the same meme were also discarded, which lead to the final set
being composed of 139 unique Internet memes. The set of memes studied for
this project is available online (https://github.com/SisiB97/InternetMemes
Data.git). For the sake of length and time, only some examples of memes will be
singled out and studied below.
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4. Metaphor
While the focus of the present paper is multimodality, it is essential to cover
metaphor in a broader sense. As mentioned above, metaphors were the focus of
Lakoff and Johnson’s book, Metaphors We Live By (1980). Before this book, which
introduced Conceptual Metaphor Theory (henceforth CMT), metaphors were
merely seen as tropes used in literature and poetry to enhance the appeal of a
text. In rhetoric, the use of tropes such as metaphor was simply viewed as a sign
of wit. Therefore, the use of tropes such as metaphors was a way of showing off
one’s intellectual faculty of talking beautifully and, more importantly,
persuasively. However, as stated by Lakoff and Johnson, “metaphor is
pervasive in everyday life, not just language but in thought and action”
(Lakoff/Johnson 1980: 3). Taken that metaphor is pervasive in language, action,
and thought, finding instances of its use in internet memes is no surprise. But
before pursuing the study, let us consider the following linguistic example of a
metaphor:
(1) He is exploding with anger.
This is an example that could be uttered by someone getting angry and not
being able to contain it anymore. The sentence involves a combination of several
conceptual metaphors that are closely related to one another; anger is HEAT,
ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER, which is a subcase of the ANGER IS HEAT
metaphor, as well as the BODY IS A CONTAINER FOR EMOTIONS metaphor. The
metaphors mentioned above are pervasive in Western cultures, meaning that
we live by them, use them, and encounter them very often without necessarily
realizing that they are metaphors because of how entrenched they are in both
thought and language.
With example (1), one could easily visualize a representation of this sentence,
for example, by representing someone with specific features related to heat,
such as fire or smoke. That shows that metaphors are not merely linguistic but
also visual, as seen below in Figure 1.
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Fig. 1: Cartoon representation of Anger (Disney-Pixar movie Inside Out)
In Figure 1, we have apparent depictions of features proper to heat, the most
salient one being the fire coming out of the character’s head. Secondly, the color
red is often associated with several emotions such as “anger, embarrassment or
sexual arousal” (Elliot 2015: 2). This image could eventually be used in addition
to example (1) as a way to represent it visually, but it can also entirely replace
the statement, becoming a fully visual metaphor (cf. Bolognesi et al. 2019). Since
a linguistic metaphor would be a metaphor in which both domains are
represented linguistically, a visual metaphor can be described as a metaphor
whose domains are represented visually, as is the case in Figure 1. That said,
this first part sets the foundation for the remainder of this section by showing
how CMT works in verbal examples and how it can apply to other modes of
communication, as we have seen with images. Let us now have a look at our
first instance of a meme:
Fig. 2: “How boyfriends calm their angry girlfriends down” meme
The meme in Figure 2, more specifically the template, was shared by hundreds
of users online, using the template and adding text to describe various
situations. In this image precisely, two parts can be distinguished. The first one
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is the text which says “[h]ow boyfriends calm their angry girlfriends down”. It
is a general statement people may agree with or not. The text alone is
metaphorical as it is based on the ANGER IS HEAT metaphor, and its subcase
ANGER IS HEAT OF FLUID IN CONTAINER metaphor. It can be observed via the use
of the expression calm […] down, which is related to the idea that anger increases
heat in one’s body, here the girlfriend’s, so by calming her down, the boyfriend
is decreasing the level and intensity of anger (MetaNet Metaphor Wiki). The
second part of Figure 2 is the image that can be considered the actual meme for
it combines text and image, and the caption gives context to the image below it.
This second part is strikingly interesting as we have a photograph of a man
pouring gas into a fire. The man, the jerrycan, and the fire constitute the three
subparts of the meme. Though the relationship between anger and the image
seems unclear at first, after reviewing each text or tag, the viewers are able to
recognize the conceptual metaphors, then construe meaning, and consequently
understand the meme. Concerning the photograph itself, several pieces of text
were strategically placed on top of specific parts or features of the image, the
same way we put tags on kids at school, for instance. These tags work as means
of identifying each part of the meme and what role they each play in relation to
the meme.
As mentioned above, three parts need to be recognized: the man tagged as the
bf, which stands for boyfriend, and the fire tagged as the angry GF, which stands
for girlfriend. Finally, on the red jerrycan, the phrase relax, babe, was added on
top of it. Even though one could argue that water can be found in the jerrycan,
it is most of the time associated with gas. In this particular example, the image
is based on the ANGER IS FIRE metaphor (Lakoff 1987: 388), where the man is
literally adding fuel to the fire (see Fig. 3 below). In this case, the meme needs
to be understood as follows: by saying relax babe, the boyfriend is actually
adding fuel to the fire, hence making his girlfriend angrier rather than calming
her down. After recognizing the construction, the conceptual metaphor, and the
different roles involved in the meme, the viewer will be able to draw the
subsequent additional meaning that is implied here, which may be that men
often fail to calm their girlfriends down. What the boyfriend does and what he
says contrast and have the opposite effect from the one intended. In addition,
the meme seems to also be underlined with a sexist, or perhaps more demeaning
meaning that is derived from it, with the use of the word babe which has a strong
sexist and patronizing undertone. This highlights the spread of sexism to newer
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forms of communication, namely memes, which has received the attention of
scholars in recent years (cf. Drakett et al. 2018; Paciello et al. 2021).
Fig. 3: Mappings for the ANGER IS FIRE metaphor (adapted from Kövecses 2010: 123)
Unsurprisingly, this first example in Figure 2 shows that the conceptual
metaphors we use daily when we talk about anger can also be found in memes.
Moreover, this type of metaphor could be considered a multimodal metaphor
(Forceville/Urios-Aparisi 2009), as two modes are mixed here: the visual and
linguistic modes. However, other examples using a similar template appear to
be more fitting instances of multimodal metaphors.
Fig. 4: “Me; A new Spongebob Meme format; The Internet” meme
-Image of a
campfire
-The angry person
-The rational self of the
angry person
-The anger
-The intensity of anger
-The cause of anger
Domain of FIRE Domain of ANGER
Source Target
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In Figure 4, the meme represents SpongeBob, a cartoon character which inspired
thousands of memes on social media. This meme combines visual and verbal
modes, making it multimodal. Considering the visual mode first without the
textual input, the image would not be meaningful on its own. Hence, unlike the
meme in Figure 2, which did not require the additional tags on the text to make
sense, in Figure 4, the tags on the image are necessary. In this example, three
parts are particularly salient and placed strategically on the image: “me; A new
Spongebob Meme format; The Internet”.
In Figure 4, there is no additional context, as was the case before, where the
caption functioned as the context. Here, the conceptual metaphor IDEAS ARE
FOOD is presented multimodally, as the source and target domain involve two
distinct modes (Forceville/Urios-Aparisi 2009; Piata 2016; Dancygier/
Vandelanotte 2017). The source domain of FOOD is presented visually with the
food being forced into SpongeBob’s mouth, while the target domain of IDEAS is
presented textually with the sentence “a new Spongebob meme format”. This
meme is therefore intended to be understood as being force-fed new SpongeBob
memes.
Furthermore, the contrast between what is said and what is shown is rather
important. The image depicts SpongeBob, while the text criticizes SpongeBob
and, more precisely, its overuse in Internet memes. Therefore, while metaphor
appears to be important, irony is equally important here. Herbert Colston
explained that the goals of irony could be “to show negative emotion (94%)”,
and “to be humorous (65%)” (2015: 18). In the SpongeBob meme, the irony
appears to express humor. However, it is essential to point out that the ironic
statement also seems to express negative emotion toward the idea expressed in
the meme. As shown above, figuration is present and is often combined with
other figures. Therefore, focusing solely on one figure is difficult, as figures are
often combined to make meaning (Burgers et al. 2018).
5. Metonymy
While at the beginning cognitive linguists mostly focused on metaphor, leaving
aside metonymy, the imbalance seems to have been corrected as scholars started
looking at metonymy more often. Lakoff and Johnson defined metonymy as the
“use of one entity to refer to another that is related to it” (1980: 35). They add
that even though metonymy primarily has a referential function, similar to
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metaphor, it also has an understanding function, and is a conceptual
phenomenon that dictates how we think, talk, and act in our daily lives (1980:
35-37). To illustrate the idea that metonymy is a conceptual phenomenon, let us
consider the following example from Lakoff and Johnson:
(2) She is just a pretty face (1980: 37).
This example, which could be found in everyday conversation, is metonymic,
as at its root the metonymy FACE FOR THE PERSON can be found, which is
pervasive in Western cultures as can be seen in both photography and painting
(ibid.).
With conceptual metaphor theory came the notion of domains. In metaphor, the
mapping is between two domains, the source and target domains. Domains are
also part of how metonymy functions. While metonymy involves mappings as
well, the nature of the mapping will be different from metaphorical mapping.
In metonymy, the mapping is established within the same domain because at
the core of metonymy is contiguity (Figure 5) (Littlemore 2015). In addition,
while metaphorical mappings are monodirectional, from source to target
domain, in metonymy, mappings can be multidirectional (Sweetser 2017: 701).
Fig. 5: Representation of a multidirectional metonymic mapping within one domain
While verbal instances of metonymy have been studied at length in the past few
years, visual and, more precisely, multimodal instances of metonymy have
recently piqued the interest of scholars. Emoji are perhaps one of the most
widespread instances of such visual metonymy in CMC. Vyvyan Evans argued
that “[m]etonymy is, in fact, what makes emoji work (2017: 187). He added that
emoji work as EFFECT FOR CAUSE metonymy, in that emoji usually depict specific
emotions, which can be viewed as the effect (2017).
In regard to Internet memes, Limor Shifman explained that “memetic photos”
are one of the several types of memes (2014). Such memetic photos function like
Face
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emoji in that they provide visual representations of an emotion (see Figure 6
below).
Fig. 6: “had to wake up so early” tweet
In Figure 6, the author of the tweet complains about having to wake up too
early, and to illustrate that, they added the photo of the YouTuber Nicole TV.
The caption on top of the image provides context as to why the author used this
photo. However, knowing the context of the image or who is represented in the
image is not required to understand what is meant. The gesture, namely facepalming,
as well as the facial expression, as Nicole seems to be blowing air out
her mouth, are both known to represent exhaustion or even frustration, to a
certain extent. In that sense, the gesture metonymically evokes an emotion,
similarly to emoji, which depict emotion. The metonymy, therefore, is
multimodal in that the EFFECT is depicted visually, while the CAUSE is presented
textually in the caption, showing the importance of taking a cognitive approach
to the study of Internet memes.
In 2017, Barbara Dancygier and Lieven Vandelanotte (2017) argued that
metonymy is essential to memes. As seen above, conceptual metaphors are
easily found in memes. In June 2019, actor Keanu Reeves appeared on stage at
Microsoft’s E3 conference to present the video game Cyberpunk 2077, in which
he portrays one of the characters (knowyourmeme.com). Following this
conference presentation, a picture of Keanu Reeves standing up on stage was
shared online, and it was quickly modified by social media users, creating the
widely known mini-Keanu Reeves meme (Fig. 7). These two images gave rise
to a tremendous number of memes online.
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Fig. 7: Keanu Reeves and mini-Keanu Reeves
Fig. 8: “My mom explaining what’s wrong with me to the doctor; Me”
This image is well representative of one of the essential aspects that constitute a
meme, that is, modification, or “transformation” (Shifman 2014: 41). It is easily
noticeable that the first image has been transformed, shrunk into the second,
which led to the creation of a plethora of memes. Many memes involve the mix
of the two images together, but other instances only use one of them, mainly the
second image that represents mini-Keanu Reeves. Regarding the collected
corpus, mini-Keanu Reeves is very often used on its own, unlike the standard
picture of the actor, which is only used combined with the modified image.
There is thus an asymmetry in this example in particular in that only in the
context of the modified image of the actor can the original picture express its
meaning. However, the regular picture could stand alone without any semiotic
constraints.
In this example, and this is true of many other memes of the same type, both
standard and mini-Keanu Reeves are mixed into one picture to create the meme.
Similar to the previous meme, the text was added to the image by using the
same tag principle as before. Two different parts need to be recognized in this
meme, my mom, who is doing something, and me. The mom part is placed on top
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of normal Keanu Reeves, and the me part is placed on top of mini-Keanu Reeves.
The first thing that people will recognize is that moms will always be bigger
than their children, and here it is presented through metaphor. As a matter of
fact, the image here provides a visual representation of the IMPORTANCE IS SIZE
conceptual metaphor (Grady 1999; MetaNet Metaphor Wiki). As human beings,
we often understand ‘importance’ in spatial terms, as in “this is the biggest
project of my life,” understood as “this is the most important project of my life”.
In the case of the meme, the metaphor is visual since importance is depicted
through regular Keanu Reeves. Parents are usually seen as more important in
the sense that they are the ones who have authority over their children, and they
provide for their children’s needs. Along these lines, it is worth noting that the
meme evokes a specific frame (Fillmore 1976). In regard to frame, Fillmore
stated that “the idea is that people have in memory an inventory of schemata
for structuring, classifying, and interpreting experiences, and that they have
various ways of accessing these schemata and various procedures for
performing operations on them” (1976: 25).
Such frames metonymically evoke additional meaning, in this case through the
image, which can be essential in the overall understanding of the meme. That is
known as “frame metonymy” (Sweetser/Fauconnier 1996). Frame metonymy
has also been studied in regard to Internet memes (Dancygier/Vandelanotte
2017). Images are compelling at evoking specific frames (Fillmore 1976). In the
example above, the frame evoked is the parent frame, which is evoked visually,
with regular Keanu Reeves, and textually with the word mom, making it even
more evident what frame is evoked here and what type of relationship is
established. The parenting frame is highly related to the frame of authority and
responsibility (MetaNet Frame Wiki). The two latter frames can furthermore be
associated with the notion of importance that is existent in the metaphor since
importance often evokes responsibility and authority as in “he is an important
person”, or “she is a person with responsibilities”, when referring to or talking
about the head of a company, for instance. Presidents and CEOs are often
depicted as responsible because they are in charge and authoritative to the
extent that they need to establish rules that must be followed for the sake of the
company or country.
Concerning the mini-Keanu Reeves meme, the same frames are evoked through
the image, as well as the text. Given the responsible and authoritative nature of
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parents, as they are the ones in charge of the children, the mom in the meme is
taking care of the child by talking with the doctor while the child waits for her.
Understanding the metaphor IMPORTANCE IS SIZE may lead viewers to observe
mini-Keanu Reeves as characterizing the opposite of the parent in the sense that
the child is not responsible, let alone authoritative. Furthermore, for a child of a
certain age, having his mother talk to the doctor instead of talking to the doctor
himself is frustrating, even humiliating. This example highlights the role of
combined figures in the overall functioning and understanding of memes.
6. Multimodal simile
While frame metonymy appears to be present in most memes, there are specific
memes that involve specific figures. In 2017, Lou published a paper on when
memes and why they should be studied as cases of multimodal simile rather
than multimodal metaphor. Outside of the fields of linguistics or rhetoric, simile
is often only dealt with when discussing metaphor as a means to explain what
a metaphor is. Similes should be understood as figurative comparison, as
opposed to literal comparison (Israel et al. 2004; Carston/Wearing 2011). In fact,
one of the initial steps of determining whether a figure is a metaphor, or a simile
is to look for markers such as like or as. While it is often believed that the markers
mentioned above are the only ones available to construct a simile, Israel,
Harding, and Tobin argued that “similes really are just explicit, figurative
comparisons, and therefore any construction which can express a literal
comparison should in principle be available to form a simile” (2004: 125). This
argument challenges the simplistic view that is generally held about simile, as
example (3) shows.
(3) The difference in water volume released is the equivalent of melting the
entire Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets (COCA 2022).
To contextualize, the example comes from Rutgers University, where
researchers argued that “[e]ven if humankind manages to limit global warming
to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), […] future generations will have to deal with sea
levels 12 to 22 meters (40 to 70 feet) higher than at present” (ScienceDaily). While
example (3) does not have like or as (typical markers for simile), it is a simile.
The comparison is realized through the use of the term the equivalent of, which
implies a comparison between the difference in water volume released and the
melting of Greenland and Ice Sheets. Israel et al. (2004: 124) also argued that
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comparisons are closely related to cognition as “one cannot make a comparison
without thinking about both of the things one is comparing”.
Fig. 9: “People in horror movies be like”
In Internet memes, similes are present in the verbal form. Figure 9 involves the
case of a multimodal simile that is constructed as “X be like”, as can be seen in
the caption. This construction is pervasive on social media and in nonstandard
African American English. While in this example the simile is cued verbally
through the marker like, the caption only provides the viewer with one part of
the simile, the thing being compared. To understand the meme, the image below
is necessary as it depicts a man running in the direction of death, which is
indicated on the sign. Without the image, the caption above does not make
sense. Once viewers connect the caption and the image, they can construe the
meaning, namely that characters in horror movies tend to put themselves in
dangerous situations, which often leads to the character’s death. One of the most
salient examples of this would be the character entering the house of a murderer
and shouting “Anybody here?” while fully aware that the killer is indeed in the
house.
This example can be considered as an instance of multimodal simile since both
the visual mode and verbal mode work together to make sense of the simile.
Various attributes are involved in the example. First and foremost, the
characters mentioned in the caption are visually represented by the man in the
image. Attributes from the characters are mapped onto the visual representation
of the man, such as the fact that they are (most of the time) humans. Secondly,
the road sign verbally evokes the frame of death, which is perhaps a central
aspect of horror movies. These attributes need to be put together for the meme
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to be meaningful. In the data set, several instances of memes involved this “X
be like” construction.
In other examples, simile and metaphor appear to be combined in the meme, as
can be seen in Figure 10 below.
Fig. 10: “Sliding into adulthood like”
Figure 10 displays another instance of a verbally cued simile, as seen with the
marker like used here. The caption reads “Sliding into adulthood like”. In this
part of the meme different frames are evoked metonymically. The first one is
the verb sliding, which evokes a more complex frame that may consequently
involve aspects such as loss of control and having fun carelessly as a child. In
fact, when sliding down, we do not have control over the speed, and therefore
the landing, which may result in falling down the slide, and perhaps getting
injured. Moreover, the term adulthood evoked a frame similar to the one
mentioned regarding mini-Keanu Reeves. In this meme, the main part of the
frame that seems to cohere with the meme involves (unexpected)
responsibilities and not depending on someone else.
Even though there is a clear case simile here, the caption also involves a
conceptual metaphor. In the caption, “Sliding into adulthood” involves the
CHANGE OF STATE IS CHANGE OF LOCATION conceptual metaphor (MetaNetWiki).
Becoming an adult is going from one state, being a child, then becoming a
teenager, before becoming an adult. Moreover, sliding down necessarily
involves a change of location from the top of the slide to the bottom of it.
Considering the case of the images below, it is easy to relate the previous
metaphor with two other conceptual metaphors, namely GOOD IS UP and BAD IS
Benammar: Multimodal figuration in internet memes
141
DOWN, as the images depict becoming an adult as something negative. That is
inferred with the facial expression of the boy, which is gradually getting worse.
We might conclude that the child is grimacing because he is picking up speed
and was not expecting it, therefore losing control. In that sense, the first image
might refer to the early beginning of becoming an adult, where things are not
too bad, but quickly evolves in an uncontrollable, unenjoyable situation at the
end.
To focus now on the simile, as mentioned before, it is cued verbally. However,
the text on its own will not make much sense because we need the sequential
images in order to understand what it is like to become an adult. At first, the
child is very slightly distressed, but it grows into a panic as the last picture
shows that the kid is not amused by the slide at all. This occurs as he seems to
be reaching for the sides of the slide in order to slow down. The simile needs to
be understood as “becoming an adult is like sliding down a slide, you quickly
lose control, and start panicking”. Additionally, the images can be understood
as representing each stage of adulthood. It may start slowly and rather gently,
but it grows into something you cannot control, leading later to panic. Similar
to the previous meme in Figure 9, here the simile is multimodal and explicit as
the text which involves a marker and the images work together in the creation
of similarity. However, other memes can be considered similes without
necessarily involving traditional verbal cues.
While this trope has received relatively less attention than metaphor, scholars
who have looked at it found that there are different types of similes. Two types
that are often dealt with are narrow scope and broad scope simile (Moder 2008;
Dancygier/Sweetser 2014). Moder defines narrow scope similes as “restricted
in their interpretation by the explicit linguistic specification of the attribute or
dimension along which the mapping from the source to target domain is to be
made” (2008: 312). Simply put, narrow scope simile focuses on very specific
features and attributes. On the other hand, broad scope simile is defined as
“relational rather than attributive and more open in their possible
interpretations” (Moder 2008: 313). Broad scope similes, unlike narrow scope
similes, require further explanation to make sense. While both are distinct, they
can both be found in Internet memes.
Regarding multimodal similes in Internet memes, Adrian Lou studied the case
of when memes. According to Lou, such memes should not be studied in terms
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of multimodal metaphors or conceptual blends but rather as instances of
multimodal simile. He proposed that “a multimodal simile, like its verbal
counterpart, triggers mappings without relying on the presence of a final
blended space where all inputs are integrated” (Lou 2017: 115). Additionally, he
provides a classification of four when memes, which he presents as follows:
The multimodal broad-scope simile features a visual input that is
jarringly incongruous with the text. Processing the simile requires the
unpacking of its frame metonymies, which evoke compressed ideas
of particular events and people which the simile tries to compare the
target domain to.
The multimodal narrow-scope simile exhibits more accessibility; even
though the image and the text are initially incompatible, both the
image and the text highlight a similar perceptual pattern that
facilitates mapping across modalities.
The multimodal mimetic simile contains an image that visually
depicts the actions being expressed or implied in the meme’s text. […]
Lastly, the source-focused simile presents a comparison that constructionally
resembles the other when memes. However, the simile’s
textual element retains the absurdity of the image, rather than
likening it to something intuitively comparable. The simile thus
subverts conventionality by restricting audiences from directly
relating to what the simile tries to convey (Lou 2017: 128).
Out of the four categories aforementioned, three of them were found in the data
set, but because of space restriction only two will be studied. The first is that of
a multimodal broad-scope simile, which is observed in Figure 11.
Fig. 11: “when you’re chilling in the World Trade Center and suddenly get airplane wifi”
The meme in Figure 11 is composed of the caption which reads “when you’re
chilling in the World Trade Center and suddenly get airplane wifi”, followed
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143
by two photographs of a young boy, using some kind of device, perhaps a tablet.
In the first photo he appears to be looking at his device, while in the second
photo his facial expression seems to be conveying surprise, as his eyebrows are
lifted up, and his eyes are wide open. Moreover, the low quality of the
photographs seems to enhance the feeling of surprise.
Understanding this meme would require viewers to have the required
knowledge to fully grasp the meaning behind it. In the caption the frame of the
World Trade Center is activated verbally, and is furthermore narrowed to one
specific aspect, namely the 9/11 catastrophe, which is activated via the use of
the word airplane which is reminiscent of the planes crashing into the building
causing the death of thousands of people. Following Lou’s taxonomy (2017) the
meme in Figure 11 falls within the first type of when meme as background
knowledge is required in order to understand why the person is suddenly
picking up airplane Wi-Fi, as it should only be possible on board of the plane.
This meme also highlights the importance of causality in some memes, as here
there is a cause (the caption) and the effect it produces (the photograph).
While multimodal broad-scope similes are relatively present in memes, it
appears that multimodal narrow-scope similes are more pervasive in memes.
As a reminder, multimodal narrow-scope similes are more accessible than
multimodal narrow-scope similes in that they require less contextual or
background knowledge.
Fig. 12: “That feeling when you hit the edge of a table with your elbow”
The meme in Figure 12 introduces us to another version of when memes, one
that involves the entire construction “that feeling when”, which was then
shortened to the when construction. This construction can be found in its
complete form and also abbreviated to TFW, which stands for “That Feeling
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When.” Following the caption is the image from the 1999 TV cartoon Ed, Edd ‘n’
Eddy (1999), in which one can slightly distinguish a human shape. However, the
image is massively pixelated, which makes it challenging to distinguish
apparent aspects of the person. On the one hand, because of the low quality of
the image, viewers might be more inclined to keep scrolling without paying
much attention to the content. However, on the other hand, one might argue
that because it is a low-quality picture, viewers might then spend more time on
the image to try to decipher its representation, which might then lead to the
meme receiving more attention than if it were a clear, high-quality image
(Enns/MacDonald 2012: 9). In fact, Enns and MacDonald argued that blurry
images require more attention from the viewers than a clear image would.
While the caption – “that feeling when you hit the edge of a table with your
elbow” – and the image below appear to be incongruent at first, we are able to
construe meaning between the two. One reason why we can do so is because of
the multimodal narrow-scope simile at play here. While multimodal narrow
scope simile seems to be more prevalent in Figure 11, it is essential to note that
the text is explaining something about the image, but the image is also
explaining something about the text, therefore making it clear that the
boundaries between different types of similes are rather fuzzy and open to
interpretation. In Figure 12, there are two parts, the text, and the image, from
which we have specific attributes, in this case, a feeling. The feeling (the target)
described in the caption is most commonly known as what happens when we
hit our funny bone, and more precisely, the ulnar nerve on the bone of our arm.
Hitting it results in an unpleasant but benign tingling sensation in our arms.
That is another reason we can understand this meme, namely, personal embodied
experience, which in this case is shared by many. The pixelated image visually
represents the tingling sensation that goes through one’s arm as one hits their
elbow on a table corner, which is commonly known as the funny bone.
The meme in Figure 12 highlights a fundamental feature of simile, which is that,
as Lou puts it, “[e]mphasizing one specific feeling or attribute is one of the
rhetorical strengths of the simile, and we see that this is the same strength being
augmented in its multimodal form” (2017: 117). In fact, regarding visual
rhetoric, Charles Hill showed that static images are among the most vivid types
of information available (2008: 31). Therefore, by adding an image to the
caption, the creator is reinforcing and emphasizing the overall strength of the
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145
simile. The meme in Figure 12 establishes the similarity between what is
described in the caption and the experience it represents.
Adrian Lou argued that when memes should be considered instances of
multimodal simile rather than multimodal metaphor (2017). Another type of
meme, based on a different construction, seems to follow a similar pattern, and
therefore fall within the same category.
Fig. 13: “How it feels to eat with someone who's always on their phone”
The caption in Figure 13 reads as “How it feels to eat with someone who’s
always on their phone”. The verb to eat metonymically evokes the restaurant
frame, or at least a frame related to eating. This frame is furthermore reinforced
by the image which represents a man sitting alone at a table in a booth in what
appears to be a restaurant. Similar to other memes, the caption here expresses a
feeling or an emotion regarding a specific situation; in this case, it is how
someone feels when they eat a meal with someone else who is constantly on
their smartphone, and therefore not paying attention to either their meal or their
friend.
At first, the caption essentially appears to be meaningless if used without the
image. While the sentence is understandable, the use of the how construction is
similar to how the when construction was used in the previous examples. Yet
how examples require another part of the construction in order to make sense.
When presented with the image, the meme starts to be meaningful. While the
image is necessary to understand the meme, little to no contextual knowledge
is needed, aside from knowing that a smartphone can capture someone’s
attention for a long time. Because there is very little contextual knowledge
needed, this meme is a multimodal narrow-scope simile. Once offered the two
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parts of the meme, viewers can easily distinguish which attributes are being
mapped from source (image) to target (how it feels) in order to come up with
the intended meaning of “eating with someone who is always on their
smartphone feels like facing or talking to a wall”. In other words, it feels bad.
Because frame metonymy is inseparable from memes, it is essential to point out
that the image also evokes a frame, namely the one related to human communication.
There is a correlation between the wall in the image and a person on their
smartphone while eating with someone else, across the table from them.
Attributes that are proper to walls, such as the fact that they are non-human,
emotionless, and unlikely to start a conversation or to answer back, can refer to
someone who spends much time on their smartphone. These features are
highlighted and then mapped onto the “person who is always on their phone”.
Communicating with a wall is impossible, just as communicating with a person
on their smartphone during a meal is useless, as they are focusing on their
phone and are perhaps less likely to respond or pay attention to the person in
front of them. In this case, the situation presented in the caption is similar to
what is represented visually in the image. Specific attributes will stand out and
make it possible for the viewers to construe meaning and understand the
similarities between the situation and the image. That is what provides the
second element necessary to construe the simile. Therefore, because of the way
that how memes function, we can argue that they are relatively similar to when
memes and can therefore be considered multimodal similes.
7. Conclusion
This paper looked at how metaphor, metonymy, and simile function in Internet
memes. The first and perhaps most essential finding is that Internet memes are
often the result of the combination of at least two figures (e.g., simile and
metonymy), as can be seen in Figure 10, for instance. While conceptual
metaphor studies appear to have attracted most of the attention in the past,
other tropes such as metonymy and simile appear to be more central to memes
than metaphor, as scholars have shown in the past. While multimodal similes
were significantly more present in the form of when memes in the data set, I
argued that cases of how memes should also be studied as multimodal similes,
as other instances in the set fall within this category. This research paper also
has its limits, of course. Firstly, the data set comprised of a total of 139 memes,
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147
which is a relatively small number compared to the numerous examples of
memes that exist online. Secondly, only three figures of speech and thought
were studied here: metaphor, metonymy, and simile. However, other figures,
such as hyperbole and irony, were found in the data set, too. Lastly, I only
studied Internet memes in English in this paper, but memes are not uniquely
attested in the English language. Future research on memes and figuration
could involve a larger corpus and a more comprehensive range of figures.
Moreover, because of the diversity of the Internet and its worldwide use, memes
in other languages could be studied to look for similarities or differences
between them.
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I thank colleagues for feedback on this paper at the conference “Multimodal
Tropes in Contemporary corpora” held in Lyon in 2022. I also thank two
anonymous peer reviewers for their useful advice. All remaining mistakes are
my own.