Can Jokes Bring Down Governments?

 Notes on Metahavens' 'Can Jokes Bring Down Governments?

‘Memes play a distinct role in protest; they seem to be the resistance of today, just as ‘political posters’ were yesterday - the embodiment of shared ideas in a community’ 

‘The development of memes at an accelerated pace… ideas arise, are immediately ‘market tested’ and then are seen to either take off, bubble under, insinuate themselves into the mainstream’ - Paul Mason

The qualities which ‘define the success of memes; longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity’ according to Richard Dawkins 

Longevity ‘indicates how long a meme can last’, fecundity applies to ‘the appeal of a meme, whether it is catchy and thus likely to spread’, copying-fidelity ‘is about the strength of a meme to withstand mutation in the process of copying and imitation’ 

‘Memes are not a phenomena of language; they are phenomena with language’ 

Susan Stewart in her book Nonsense: by classifying something as ‘nonsense’, ‘the legitimacy and rationality of sense making was left uncontaminated, unthreatened’ 

Limitations of memes are that ‘if a meme is to dominate the attention of a human brain, it must do so at the expense of ‘rival’ memes’ - Richard Dawkins

‘Successful memes balance their reference to a commonly held world with an element giving them a strikingly new meaning’ 

‘Every generation has to construct and reconstruct its political beliefs, and subsequent visuals, out of the stuff that surrounds it at any given moment. The same goes for the visual stuff of the internet; every generation will construct new ‘political’ beliefs out of all kinds of stuff which seemed initially non-political’

For example, the ‘leftist political jornal ‘kittens’ features radical leftist writing only alongside photographs of cute kittens’

‘Every bit of visual information on the internet can, through the spectre of self-politicisation, become revolutionary, because it exists in a shared gene pool’ 

Ethan Zuckerman calls this phenomenon the ‘cute cat theory of digital activism’; the ‘network standard’ for sharing innocent cat images has the ‘resilience to then also carry the exchanges of political activists’. Memes prove that this ‘network standard’ can ‘politicise’ the content existing within it, from ‘Rick Astely to the Lolcat’

Places like 4chan ‘mass-produced and weaponised the online meme’, using ‘trolling’ and pranks to ‘make the fun out of the ridiculous’. 4chan is anonymous; ‘refuge from work, obligation, class and name’ 

Metahaven, 2016. Can Jokes Bring Down Governments?. Moscow: Strelka Press.

 

Initial ideas - using the 'meme-as-virus' analogy

 Initial ideas

Breaking the rules

This initial concept investigates how I can break rules with the layout of my design; not using a grid, these double page spreads communicate the chaos in how memes are spread; they are provided with no context in order to replicate how memes float around and are shared on social media. I feel like I can explore the idea of memes as viruses better, through considering the actual layout of the outcome; I could make the publication fold out and out over again to create an overwhelming and chaotic user experience? 

Viral imagery 

This experiment follows more of a rule in how each page duplicates the amount of images and memes on the page; this replicates how memes are spread on social media, thus offering a user experience akin to this. The overwhelming nature relates to my essay in how it links to this virus analogy, and how memes begin on a 'micro' level and grow to a 'macro' level within society. 

Using a grid format and collaboration 

In order to relate to how in my essay I discuss how memes are shared on a personal level, I put a post on my story asking people to send me political memes to be featured in the publication. All of these images were sent to me, which represents the idea of sharing memes on social media. This format hijacks the instagram grid layout, which is a subtle reference to social media and how we interact on these platforms. I was thinking that I could use a square grid rule for the entire publication that could be folded out. This design for example, could start as a small square and grow into a massive grid, thus reflecting user experiences online. 

What I need to do now

I think I need to consider the layout of my design more, and how I can make the tactility of the design fit with my essay better; if I end up going down the meme route, I need to consider how the user navigates through it and what message do I want to convey. Do I want to discuss memes in a positive light, or a negative one?

Also, I want to start to look at the flip side of my argument; how could I create a practical outcome that relates to satire? The key points made in my essay are how satire isn't fully dead, it just now needs to use a more subtle and less controversial approach, with examples such as Crack Up Crack Down being a success. I think I want to see if I can ask Necj Prah a few questions on his design decisions of this publication, as it would give me a better insight into how I could create a practical outcome exploring contemporary satire.

Essay feedback

 Essay feedback

• Improve the introduction; consider the context of the ideas discussed in this. Focus more on contemporary design and satire and meme culture within graphic design specifically.
• Make sure all the references used in the essay are relevant to graphic design; cut out the Simpsons section as TV isn't really comparable to contemporary graphic design 
• Look at more examples like Crack Up Crack Down 
• Avoid making references to TV feeling like a main focus
• Make the essay more analytical rather than descriptive; look at the paragraphs where I provide context and relate them back to the question 
• Consider the triangulation of my ideas; go back and compare examples more to provide more of an argument

Next steps

I want to make these improvements to my essay in order to help guide my practical outcome more. In order to do so, I think I'm going to go back and reorganise and cut sections out to make the writing more analytical rather than descriptive. My main focuses now are to do this, carry out more reading into examples that relate directly to satire and meme culture in graphic design, and write my conclusion. I hopefully aim to do this just before Christmas, as I want to focus on the practical to ensure it aligns with the points made in my essay. 

Practical initial ideas

 Initial ideas for the COP practical 

Project description and purpose

• Investigating the relevance of satire today; contemporary satire designed for screen?
• Analysing meme culture; contemporary design inspired by memes; translating memes into printed matter?
• The parallels between satire and meme culture 

What is the problem?

• Is satire dead/ outdated?
• The dangers of meme culture; viral media 
• The spread of false information through memes
• The censorship of satire 
• Generational changes in how we consume; social media 

How will I engage with it?

• Replicating the ideology behind memes; Richard Dawkins' theory of memes; media viruses 
• Noam Chomskys' concept of media viruses and activism 
• Create a user experience that replicates how memes are spread and interacted with; make your own memes
• Translate the theory of Gen Z humour into print or screen; the user can personalise their experience 

Methodology

Core theories/ concepts/ arguments 

• 'Every joke is a tiny revolution' - George Orwell
• 'Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand' - Mark Twain
• Media activists use 'viruses' to promote 'counter cultural agendas', subverting the status quo and leading to 'some sort of revolution' - Noam Chomsky 
• 'Mimicry and remix' - the two kinds of memes 
• 'Hackable interface' - the user can hack the visuals to create their own narrative 
• The 'meme-as-virus analogy' 
• 'Forcing satire underground keeps it alive' - make a niche satirical publication?
• Albert Camus' 'notion of absurdism'; uses the 'myth of Sisyphus' as an analogy for memes
• The 'superiority theory' - humour stems from the ridicule of something we consider inferior to make us feel superior 

How can I break the rules? 

• Flip the argument on its' head; satire for screen and memes for print?
• Remove censorship from satire; themes of controversy 
• Use meme templates for the navigation of the design 
• Take inspiration from anti-art design and intentionally bad design; graphic design memes like using MS paint or word art
• Create a really chaotic visual narrative; the chaos and spread of information online 

Possible proposal ideas

• Creating a contemporary satirical zine that communicates the relevance of satire today; taking inspiration from Crack Up Crack Downs' subtle homage to traditional satire, the publication will investigate how graphic designers are reinventing satire to stay relevant in todays' political climate
• Creating a visual response to Albert Camus' 'notion of absurdism' that investigates the changes in generational behaviour; looking at how Gen Z for example embraces the absurdity of life through meme culture; the response could be image based with self deprecating humour and niche references to meme templates/ formats
• Use a rule of 'media viruses' to create a layout for a publication; as the reader moves through the books' narrative, the layout gets more and more crowded to reflect the nature in which memes are spread 
• The visual language of the outcome could take inspiration from anti-art and witty design; inside graphic design jokes similar to Elliot Ulms' business card design
• The practical could use physical forms of censorship of elements of the design to investigate how satire today is being limited by changes in societal ideologies; things are becoming more censored for the public due to satires' presence in the public eye

End of module evaluation

 End of module evaluation 

Overall, I'm really happy with how I responded to the brief, as I feel like my final outcome fits the tone of voice I wanted to communicate. My strengths within this project were definitely how I pushed my concepts to consider the physicalities of the printed outcome, allowing me to put my design into context more through designing for specific audiences and purposes. I really enjoyed the process of selecting binding methods and paper stock, as it helped me stray away from being too focused on visuals. In regards to my weaknesses in this project, I feel like I need to get better at typesetting; looking back on it, the tip-ins for my publication were somewhat lazy, as I could have integrated the type in more of an interesting and conceptually stronger way. Also, although I'm very happy that I managed to create an actual physical final piece, it feels like I could have made the design more well rounded and professional, as some elements seem a bit too hand made. 

In regards to the approaches I used for this project, I want to continue to keep more of a conceptual way of thinking, as I think this helped me develop more of a stronger outcome. I feel like it is easy for me to focus too much on the visuals and design elements of my work, as well as continuing my style; this project definitely helped me focus more on the concept than the content. For future projects, I want to improve this balance of using my design style as well as having conceptually informed ideas, as I want to build a recognisable style that will help me visually communicate my personality, as well as being appropriate for future projects - meaning I can't just make things that look nice, they have to work conceptually too! Working more conceptually was something I've done differently for this project; I kind of sacrificed using crazy colours and chaotic design to help make my outcome appropriate for the brief, making it a lot more minimal. The feedback I got for this minimal design was actually really nice, so it would be interesting to use this more in future projects.

The part of the design process I found the easiest was generating the ideas and visuals for the final outcome; I always find this stage of the project super fun, as it gives room for experimentation and playfulness. In contrast, the part of the project I found the hardest was deciding on what style to use for the final outcome, and refining my ideas; this was just mainly a case of trial and error, and I feel like feedback was incredibly helpful in this process. I think for future modules, this element of feedback will be even more important, so I hope we continue to be able to do crits and peer feedback sessions to help push our concepts as it helped me to not get stuck in my design style. 

I feel like I have reached my potential in this module, as like mentioned before I have dealt with conceptual thinking a lot more. Also, it was really fun to apply my ideas in a physical sense, through actually making my final outcome. Although this wasn't an actual requirement, I feel like I pushed myself more by making the final piece physically, as it helped me translate my ideas into a tangible product.  

In terms of workload, I think I managed it pretty well and my work ethic has been pretty good for this module; I think this is mainly down to the fact that the module was all about our interests, so I enjoyed the whole process. Due to this, I want to continue to make things I am passionate about, as it always helps me get in the right mindset and produce more work. 

Extra research for my essay

 Social media - the difference in how we consume memes

‘While memes were conceptualized long before the digital era, the unique features of the Internet turned their diffusion into a ubiquitous and highly visible routine’ (Shifman, L., 2013. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Boca Raton: CRC Press.)

Content flows swiftly from one medium to another, memes have become more relevant than ever to communication scholarship. (Shifman, L., 2013. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Boca Raton: CRC Press.)

‘The internet is especially adept at compressing humanity and making it easy to forget there are people behind tweets, posts and memes’ (Wortham, J., 2017. Why The Internet Didn’T Kill Zines. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/magazine/why-the-internet-didnt-kill-zines.html> [Accessed 12 November 2020].)

‘They shape the mindsets, forms of behavior, and actions of social groups’ (Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). A new literacies sampler. New York, NY: Peter Lang.)

‘Memes vary greatly in their degree of fitness, that is, their level of adaptiveness to the sociocultural environment in which they propagate’ (Aunger R. (2000). Introduction. In R. Aunger (Ed.) Darwinizing culture: The status of memetics as a science (pp. 1–24). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.)

‘The meme-as-virus analogy sees the similarity between memes and disease agents. Taking epidemiology as its model, it considers memes the cultural equivalents of flu bacilli, transmitted through the communicational equivalents of sneezes’ (Alvarez, A. (2004). Memetics: An evolutionary theory of cultural transmission. Sorites, 15, 24–28. Retrieved from http://www.sorites.org/Issue_15/alvarez.htm)

‘Memes diffuse at the micro level but shape the macro structure of society; they reproduce by various means of imitation; and they follow the rules of competitive selection’ (Shifman, L., 2013. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Boca Raton: CRC Press.)

Is satire dead? (no)

‘Political satire seems virtually impossible these days. How do you make fun of leaders and institutions when some of them are so bonkers. But satire is still healthy, if you’re willing to look in the right place: horror stories’

“Get Out” released a month after the inauguration, that ushered in a new era of political satire. Satire unmasks hypocrisy, while horror puts a face on our worst fears. The movie resonated with Americans who were shaken by the return of a racist ideology to the White House. The film worked as satire because it offered a fantastical version of real-life horrors, creating an imaginative space where audiences could process the truth without confronting it directly’

‘Satire also draws us in by promising to humiliate those who have power over us. Usually this humiliation is played for laughs, but that release doesn't seem to be enough anymore. “Parasite” invites viewers to revel in the blood-soaked decline of a wealthy, privileged family.’ 

‘It makes sense that todays most effective satires give tangible form to unacknowledged American nightmares’  (Newitz, A., 2020. Opinion | Political Satire Isn’T Dead. It’S Been Turned Into Horror Stories.. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/30/opinion/halloween-horror.html> [Accessed 12 November 2020].)

Is satire dead? (yes)

‘our defining satirical tradition has always been rather different: tangential, playful, surreal, creating amplified hyper-realities that excel politics rather than reflect it.’ (Williams, Z., 2016. Is Satire Dead? Armando Iannucci And Others On Why There Are So Few Laughs These Days. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/18/is-satire-dead-politicians-held-in-contempt-armando-iannucci-few-laughs> [Accessed 12 November 2020].)

Two personnel notes. First, there are no women in this piece; political satire is a very male world. Second, as Armstrong said bluntly: “Talking about satire feels like death. If I heard somebody go, ‘Now I’m going to write some satire’, and I had to think what that person looked like, I’d think, ‘That person looks like a wanker.’” -  Jesse Armstrong (co-writer of Peep Show)

“when a complaint is made about a satire show, the reply goes out immediately: ‘The intention was never to offend.’ The intention was to offend. If it hadn’t offended, it wouldn’t be funny. If we have beliefs, religious or political, and they’re not strong enough to stand up to a joke, then they can’t be that good.”- Armando Iannucci

Iannucci believes that in this polarisation – excessive sensitivity quelling humour on one side, radical insensitivity masquerading as humour on the other – comedy has come to replicate the new extremes of politics.

‘O’Farrell says, and not just because, without it, satire has “sort of died, really. There’s no pedestal to pull them off. The public hold them in such contempt.” - John O’Farrell (creator of Spitting Image)

‘Satirists are there to prick the pomposity of the establishment. That’s an over-beaten piñata. Everyone’s kicking the shit out of the establishment.’ (Williams, Z., 2016. Is Satire Dead? Armando Iannucci And Others On Why There Are So Few Laughs These Days. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/18/is-satire-dead-politicians-held-in-contempt-armando-iannucci-few-laughs> [Accessed 12 November 2020].)

‘Tracking to further extremes, it is really hard to mock Nigel Farage: he is already a caricature of a little England neo-fascist, defending Trump’s pussy-grabbing. He is a mockery already, and he isn’t laughing.’ (Williams, Z., 2016. Is Satire Dead? Armando Iannucci And Others On Why There Are So Few Laughs These Days. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/18/is-satire-dead-politicians-held-in-contempt-armando-iannucci-few-laughs> [Accessed 12 November 2020].)

‘A more plausible theory is that political correctness has made satire much more dangerous.’

‘I’m not sure you can blame the decline of political satire on these attacks on free speech. After all, some of the most celebrated works of satire have been produced under the most brutal, oppressive regimes. A case in point is Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, an indictment of life in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Admittedly, it wasn’t published until 33 years after Bulgakov’s death, but the fact that satire was considered so subversive by the Soviet authorities gave it a power and importance that it lacks in liberal democracies. Forcing satire underground keeps it alive.’

‘What accounts for satire’s declining health? I don’t hold with the textbook explanation, which is that standards in public life have sunk so low that nothing a satirist could come up with could be as bad as the reality’. Young, T., 2015. Is Satire A Dying Art?. [online] Spectator.co.uk. Available at: <https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-satire-a-dying-art-> [Accessed 12 November 2020].

Essay crit notes

 Essay crit notes

• Look at Jonathan Pie
• Private Eye; example of printed satire
• Focus more on social media and how its more personal 
• Look at how satirists work alongside politicians; giving them publicity 
• Satire is focused on more of a specific demographic; you have to be intellectual to understand certain satire
• Satire is more governed by publishers and producers; idea that its slightly censored and not as controversial as memes
• Memes aren't governed at all; there is a difference in how we share and consume them, which threatens the relevance of satire

Final physical outcome

 Physical outcome

Bumper stickers

After printing my stickers on normal gloss vinyl yesterday, I wanted to experiment with neon and reflective vinyls. This required a bit more effort, as it isn't possible to print directly onto these type of vinyls. Due to this, I had to print on clear vinyl first, the apply this to the neon and reflective ones.

I'm super happy with how the bumper stickers turned out, especially now with the addition of the neon and reflective versions. In order to continue the fun sense of voice within my publication, I think it could be interesting to use multiple colours in the book to create a more playful visual language. I also had to hole punch these in order to add them in as tip-ins at the final stage of my production. 

In context

These images show how I wanted my stickers to be in context; on personal belongings such as laptops. This captures the intention of Stick it to The Man, as I want the audience to use the stickers as forms of activism. I think the neon in particular works really well on laptops as it stands out. 

Final publication

In order to ring bind the book, I had to (very slowly) punch individual holes into each page that would fit the spiral bind. Although this was a very very very long process, the I'm super happy that it actually worked physically. It's a slight shame that I couldn't find a spiral bind in a neon colours, but the blue still fits with the books' colour scheme and is still very playful. 

The pages

An issue I found when printing and creating the book was that some of the bumper stickers hung off the edge of the book slightly; this made the publication not have a clean edge. However, peer feedback actually suggested that this worked nicely and added a nice element to the design, so it could be considered a happy accident. In a way, it definitely gives the book more of a scrapbook feel to it, which in a sense celebrates the collective nature of stickers. 

Another issue I found with the physical print is that the backs of the tip-ins aren't very visually pleasing as they're just plain. Obviously, I'm not sure if this matters too much as the tip-ins will be planted as seeds anyway, and the stickers will be taken out to use as well. The only thing is it takes away from the publication being fully rounded visually. 

This image showcases the reflective vinyl; it only really shows up with flash photos, but I can imagine that it would work with car headlights too. I'm really happy with how these turned out, as the reflective versions work nicely in being bold and in your face, thus relating to the idea of protests. 

Printing

 Printing tests and outcomes

G.F. Smith paper

I decided to order some G.F. Smith paper samples from the 'extract' collection to help me decide further on which one to print on for the final publication. 

Based off peer feedback and these physical tests, I definitely like the 'moon' colour paper stock the most as it offers the best contrast with my visuals, allowing them to stand out more and have a stronger visual hierarchy. In order to contrast with this however, I thought it would be nice to print some pages on the 'mustard' colour to help break up the publication and have certain image pages with an alternative contrast and compliment the outcome.

Stickers

These are my first batch of bumper stickers printed on standard gloss vinyl. I really like how they turned out as the colours are more vibrant than what I expected; I think these will offer a nice contrast with the 'moon' paper stock, thus placing more emphasis on the stickers within the books' visual language. Despite this, I still want to experiment with different vinyls, as it could introduce an interesting dynamic to the book. In order to experiment with this, I think I'm going to print on some neon and reflective vinyls as they might make the designs stand out more.