Global memes, global consciousness?
The importance of memes and meme culture
E. A. van der Brugge/
June 25, 2014TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...3 CHAPTER 1... 9 CHAPTER 2...21 CHAPTER 3...34 CONCLUSION...42 WORKS CITED...46INTRODUCTION
1. A “YouTube-band” created by several YouTube users combining YouTube videos.
In early 2013, two girls from Sydney uploaded a cover version of Korean pop song “Gangnam Style”. The Korean-Australian identical twins re-interpreted the popular rap song by stripping it down to its acoustics, using only one guitar, singing the verses instead of rapping and using their voices to harmonize over the chorus1. With over 38 million views today, the song became a hit of its own. Their cover generated many imitations from other YouTube users. Some of these users used their video to add new musical elements. A fellow YouTube user, who goes by the name pinnhuk, superimposed the video into his own video, in which he is seen playing along on a bass guitar, adding a ‘funky’ bass line2. Another YouTube user discovered pinnhuk’s video and added a piano part3. YouTube user Rafael Escobedo additionally added a drum part4. By adding a bass, piano and drum part to an already transformed acoustic version of Gangnam Style, an almost entirely new song was created and an impromptu ‘YouTube band’ was born. Additionally, these users are now connected with each other through videos created and shared on an online platform.
1 Lee, Janice, and Sonia Lee. "Gangnam Style - PSY (Jayesslee Cover)." YouTube. YouTube, 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <http://youtu.be/XZ3OLswKKAw>.
2 Pinnhuk. "Gangnam Style - FUNKY BASS." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/CMregJsU4g8>.
3 Kengima. "Gangnam Style (Guitar.Bass.Piano) Cover with Jayesslee and Pinnhuk."YouTube. YouTube, 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <http://youtu.be/2yzAQ2Pib1E>.
4 Escobedo, Rafael. "Gangnam Style - Funk Version - Youtube Band - Jayesslee - Kengima - Pinnhuk." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://youtu.be/4EmFqWpbhrI>.
These videos are part of a string of videos and other media that are all linked to each other, and exemplify the topic of this thesis and embody many aspects that surround it: meme
culture. Memes can be described as ‘units of culture that spread from person to person by
means of copying or imitation’ (Shifman 2011, 188). These particular videos in the example above are part of the Gangnam Style meme, a global phenomenon in 2012 and 2013. Memes and meme culture illustrate many fundamental attributes of contemporary popular and digital culture. Memes exemplify the way media is used in a participatory way, where texts are constantly adapted and reshaped by internet users, expressing their creativity. At the same time, memes are a manifestation of globalization processes. Gangnam Style is a worldwide phenomenon and its derivatives originate from many different parts of the world. These four videos in the above example are from Australia, America, Japan and Mexico. Together they formed an unexpected bond on YouTube, establishing a sense of community. Memes are part of new digital vernacular that demands further examination.
This thesis will explore the importance of memes and meme culture. Meme culture is a global, interactive, participatory cultural practice. This emerging practice is important because it connects people, especially on a local level, and possibly on a global scale. This has a positive influence on personal happiness and social capital, additionally on society, and perhaps the world. Particularly memes that are non-textual and non-verbal in nature have the ability to flow across borders and possibly add to a sense of global belonging or consciousness.
Memes are important for different reasons. Memes ‘serve as the building blocks of complex cultures, intertwining and interacting with each other’ (Shifman 2011, 189). They give valuable insight on different elements of contemporary digital culture. Memes exemplify a global participatory culture, that is able to connect people. This happens in different ways. Memes operate and are able to connect in a media environment based on spreadability, where both top-down, bottom-up, grassroots and commercial forces define the sharing of content through different cultures (Jenkins, Ford, Green 2013: 1). In addition, memes are cultural texts that highlight the creativity of user-generated content and the importance of making things in able to connect with others. The need for people to create and share memes among cultures brings communities together. Memes circulate in a global media environment, where local and global forces intertwine. This connecting is important because it makes social relationships and friendly connections stronger. Social connections and networks are important for personal relationships and well-being, but also for a better functioning of society. Because memes are also operating on a global scale and people from all over the world are willing to participate, this also asks the question if these connections are valuable on a global scale and add to a sense of global belonging?
Specifically, this thesis will focus on three different memetic videos, or video memes: The Gangnam Style meme, the Harlem Shake meme and Happy meme. Focusing on three memes, allows for a comprehensive analysis of the different aspects of meme culture. All memes can be considered global phenomena and show the potential range and depth of meme culture. All three originated on video-sharing platform YouTube, and most versions of these three memes are found in this format, but most memes, as are these, are not contained by one format and found in many different versions and formats. For example, image-macros, GIF’s, flash mobs, etc.
Memes
The concept of the meme was first introduced by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish
Gene (1976, 1989) where he describes the concept as ‘a unit of cultural transmission, or a
unit of imitation’ (192). Since its introduction the meme concept has been the subject of academic debate (Shifman 2014: 2). Regarding the nature of memes, within the academic field a distinction is made between a ‘mentalist-driven memetics’, where memes are considered ideas or bits of information that exist in the brain (Dawkins 1989, Dennett 1995); a ‘behavior-driven memetics’, where memes are seen as behavior and artifacts, instead of ideas (Gatherer 1998 in Shifman 2014, 38); and an ‘general memetic approach’, where every form of information that can be copied can be considered a meme (Blackmore 1999).
The meme concept as described by Shifman already existed before the internet, but the nature of the internet changed some of its elementary components (2014: 24). An example of a pre-internet meme is the ‘Kilroy was Here’ meme. This meme displays a simple illustration of a man with a long nose who is looking over a wall. It originated during World War II when a shipyard inspector wrote ‘Kilroy was Here’ on every section he had inspected. During the war, the Allied soldiers noticed the words and decided to copy it and add a drawing of a face. Here the meme emerged. After the war, the meme traveled to America, where it appeared in the form of street art and graffiti. The success of the meme can be ascribed to its easy reproducibility and its appearance in public spaces. For people it was it easy to notice the meme and reproduce it. Also, the meaning of the meme was mysterious and open to interpretation, so people could easily give a new meaning to the meme. According to research Shifman cites (25), people participated in the meme to belong to a small group of individuals who ‘shared the joke’. In this way, the act of reproducing a meme created an invisible bond with a community of ‘Kilroy’ writers, or a sense of involvement with a mysterious brotherhood.
While the concept has been part of academic debate, internet users have excitedly adopted the term, to describe ‘internet memes’ (Shifman 2014: 12). The definition of internet memes differs from the academic approach of memetics. Knobel and Lankshear argue that
internet users use the term ‘meme’ to describe ‘the rapid uptake and spread of a particular idea presented as a written text, image, language ‘move’, or some other unit of cultural ‘stuff’’ (2007: 212). The use and interest of internet memes has increased since 2006, as suggested by a search on Google Trends5. Internet memes are found on many different websites. Well known ‘meme hubs’ are 4Chan6, Reddit7 and Tumblr. Know Your Meme8 is also a popular website where memes are archived and categorized. Video memes usually originate from YouTube. What is also interesting is that several YouTube channels discuss meme culture. Benny and Rafi Fine, also known as the Fine Brothers, have a popular YouTube channel called TheFineBros9, where they have groups of kids, teenagers, elderly people, and even famous YouTube users react to viral videos. They have made videos reacting to The Gangnam Style meme and The Harlem Shake, among others10. On the PBS Idea Channel11 on YouTube Mike Rugnetta, an KnowYourMeme alum, discuses popular culture, technology and art, and has also discussed memes12.
A more nuanced definition is introduced by Limor Shifman in Memes in Digital Culture (2014). She describes internet memes as the following:
(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. (41)
Shifman emphasizes that memes should be examined as groups of cultural units, instead of individual pieces information. Memes can only be created with awareness of each other. She differentiates three dimensions that people can potentially imitate (40): content, form and stance. The first dimension is linked to the content of a certain text, keeping in mind the ideas and ideologies that the text conveys. The second dimension is linked to form and refers to the visible and audible dimensions of a text and also the ‘genre-related patterns’ within a text. The third dimension, stance, is linked to the information memes transfer about their own communication. Stance refers to the way the user positions himself in relation to the text, his 5 "Google Trends 'Internet Meme'" Google Trends. Google, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.google.nl/trends/explore#q=internet%20meme>.
6 4chan. 4chan, 1 Oct. 2003. Web. 25 June 2014. <https://www.4chan.org/>.
7 Reddit. Reddit, 23 June 2005. Web. 23 June 2014. <http://www.reddit.com/>.
8 "Know Your Meme." Know Your Meme. Cheezburger, 22 June 2014. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://knowyourmeme.com/>.
9 "TheFineBros." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 25 June 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/user/TheFineBros>.
10 For example, take a look at their video where kids react to the Harlem Shake meme: http://youtu.be/NeGe7lVrXb0
11 "PBS Idea Channel." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 25 June 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3LqW4ijMoENQ2Wv17ZrFJA>.
public and other potential speakers. Stance is potentially memetic, as are content and form. When recreating a text, users can imitate a certain discursive stance or take a completely different point of view. This differentiation between memetic dimensions could potentially improve our distinction between internet memes (53)
Chapter structure
The first chapter will examine how meme culture operates and how people make connections through the creation of memes and participating in meme culture. Memes operate on a global scale through an online media environment in which people share, create and transform media content. By analyzing “Gangnam Style” by Korean rapper PSY and its development as a meme it will become clear that the infrastructure of the internet allows and answers to a need for people to transform global media content and participation and creation helps people connect with each other. In the second chapter the value behind making connections will be examined by using The Harlem Shake meme as a case study. The creation of memes and participating in meme culture strengthens personal happiness and social capital within communities. Specifically, looking more closely at several memes it becomes clear that the Harlem Shake meme also locally adapts a meme and even explicitly celebrates local culture. This shows an existing presence of social capital but also strengthens it. People have a need to show their own local identities to the rest of the world. While meme culture increases social capital in local environments, this does not answer the question why people choose to participate in these global phenomena. In the third and final chapter I will examine if memes strengthen some sort of global bond between people. The memes that have a global reach are non-textual and non-verbal in nature. By examining the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams and its diffusion as a global meme it will become clear that some memes have the ability to transcend national barriers of and language and reach a global audience. Does this strengthen a form of global social capital? Can we speak of global consciousness that is instigated by meme culture?
Meme culture, then, is important because it reveals personal meanings and those of communities. And since memes operate on a global scale, with many people involved every time, this says something about the human condition and how we deal, or want to deal with each other. There is a group of people stimulating togetherness and showing a need to come together and create things together. And this is of importance, because a world that is more united, is a stronger world, a happier world. In the future, with environmental debates asking for global collaboration, people might have to work together more and memes might help with that a little.
CHAPTER 1
This chapter will examine how meme culture is operating and how they are able to connect people. This chapter will focus on “Gangnam Style” by Korean rapper PSY and its development as a meme. In the first part of this chapter the media environment in which Gangnam Style has been able to develop will be examined. It will become clear that Gangnam Style has been able to grow into the global phenomenon it became because of a media environment that is formed around sharing, creating and transforming media content, and is shaped around a need for people to participate and connect with each other. According to David Gauntlett, we are shifting from a ‘sit-back-and-be-told model’ to a ‘making-and-doing’ culture (2011, 8). This is illustrated by meme culture, and the second part of this chapter will focus on how this making and doing and repurposing of content is able to connect people.
2. PSY, or Park Jae-Sang, performing his ‘horse-dance’ in the music video of Gangnam Style
During the summer of 2012 and the following months, a global phenomenon by the name of “Gangnam Style” took the world by storm. Gangnam Style is a song by South-Korean pop star PSY, short for ‘psycho, whose real name is Park Jae-Sang13. The song became a worldwide hit and combined with its accompanying video inspired many people from around the globe to respond by creating user-generated content, which created the Gangnam Style meme. People took Gangnam Style and imitated, remixed, and transformed it to create new media content. The appropriation of media content by Internet users is characteristic for 13 Officialpsy. "PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스íƒì¼) M/V." YouTube. YouTube, 15 July 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0>.
contemporary internet culture and the media environment has developed in such a way that this appropriation is easily done and diffused around the globe. The many derivatives and the way they spread on a global scale are exemplary for how we deal with media on a daily basis. The growth in memes shows a need for people to be creative and communicate with each other.
Since the advent of web 2.0, the Web has become more participatory and answered to a need for people to easily share and create media content. The shifting role between producers and consumers that started developing, in what Jenkins (2006) coined ‘convergence culture’, has evolved further expressed in the abundance in user-generate memes found online. This need for people to be participatory and rework media content is not something new, but has been able to develop on a much larger scale since the internet. Before the World Wide Web, the appropriation of media content already developed in fan cultures (Jenkins, 2006). Meme culture also existed before the internet, but happened on a much smaller scale and without people knowing other participants or the reach of a meme (Shifman 2014). The Internet has made it possible for likeminded people to find each other more easily and share their creations, making the appropriation of content much more visible on a global scale. In addition to that, people are also more familiar with the internet and know how to use digital technologies. There is a large amount of easy-to-use software to edit content for people to use(Gauntlett 2011,83). Meme culture has been developing for a while now and people know what memes are and how to deal with them.
The way the current media environment is shaped can be explained by a concept Jenkins, Ford and Green have coined ‘spreadability’ in Spreadable Media (2013). They describe the term as follows:
‘Spreadability’ refers to the technical resources that make it easier to circulate some kinds of content than others, the economic structures that support or restrict circulation, the attributes of a media text that might appeal to a community’s motivations for sharing material, and the social networks that link people through the exchange of meaningful bytes. (4)
Jenkins, Ford and Green point to a growing participatory model where distribution is replaced by circulation, with an important role for the public, who aren’t just consumers but are responsible for forming, sharing, reassessing and remixing media content (2).
Jenkins, Ford and Green argue that today’s ‘networked culture’ is due to technical innovations and an integrated system of participatory channels and practices, but is more importantly build around social and cultural practices that have powered the rise of sharing
technologies (11). Spreadability serves as a comprehensive concept that accounts for the various aspects that are part of this media environment. Memes, as we now know and use them, are a result of this environment. The way meme culture has developed from a niche, non-visible community before the internet to a widespread, mainstream way of using media today, shows the need for people to appropriate content and share it with their peers. Now, this need is happening widespread and in large amounts. People are willing to participate and appropriate content globally, which in recent years the coming of ‘mega-memes’ like Gangnam Style, The Harlem Shake and Happy by Pharrell prove. Internet users are now more used to the flow of transnational cultural products. Cultural products, whether images, videos, moving images or memes now flow simultaneously and multidirectional at different speeds, constantly being renegotiated in different communities (Jung 2009, 71). According to Jenkins, Ford and Green most content that is shared today is entertainment (2013, 9). Gangnam Style as a transnational product was not completely foreign for the digital literate internet users who almost immediately repurposed the content within their communities. Memes, then, have the ability to be very ‘spreadable’ media products, Gangnam Style being one them. In what follows, Gangnam Style and its spreadability will be examined. Why did people decide to share and imitate Gangnam Style? A few environmental conditions have played a part in that: the media environment and the history of Korean popular culture. Additionally, Gangnam Style as a cultural product has played a large part.
THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF GANGNAM STYLE
Gangnam Style is a song from Korean rapper Psy, and while it might come as a surprise that a song from South Korea with mostly Korean lyrics has been able to speak to a mainstream, global audience, the Korean entertainment industry has been entering the global music market for the last 20 years.
South Korean popular culture has been developing into a global industry since the 1990’s, often referred to as the ‘Korean Wave’14. In the early 90s, during a time of economic prosperity in South Korea, a newly installed government liberalized cultural policy and allowed for a globalized Korean music scene to develop. During this time hip hop culture and rap music from America influenced the music scene, making it more focused on youths (Jung 2009, 69, 76). Due to ‘increasingly transnational and hybrid aspects’ (Jung 2009, 69), Korean popular culture has been able to reach audiences worldwide, first mostly Asian countries, followed by Europe, America and the Middle East (Lie 2012, 340). Korean popular culture flows in multifaceted directions and repeatedly repackages its content to target different consumers in different regional communities (Jung 2009, 71). Korean Wave pop stars in the 14 Hallyu (한류韓流) or ‘Korean Wave’ (a combination of the words ‘Korea’ and ‘flow’) applies to the popularity of South Korean cultural products, like cinema, television drama, popular music, and fashion outside of South Korea. (Jung 2011, 1)
early 2000’s like BoA and Rain repackaged and de-‘Koreanized’ their physical and musical image, embodying ‘the crossover, transnational, and hybrid aspects of twenty-first century cultural production and consumption’ (Jung 2009, 76). The English language is often used in song titles and sometimes within the song; music, dance and fashion styles are influenced by Western popular music; and visual imagery is also often more American or Japanese than Korean (Jung 2009, 76). This proved to be very effective, and has been used by other Korean artists and groups since then. Jung notes that Western principles have increasingly taken over Korean principles, as these are considered more in line with the globalized and ‘modernized world’. Western beauty and body standards, often a dominating preference in hybridized images, are now ideals also envisioned within Korean culture (Jung 2009, 76). The emergence of digital music in 1996 and YouTube in 2005 made it possible for K-pop fans around the world to easily download and visually experience the music, and record companies started building a strong online presence in order to reach them (Lie 2012, 353). In sum, the Korean music industry is very much an export-oriented brand industry that has been able to ‘sell’ abroad by increasingly dismissing Korean traditional values (Lie 2012, 362) and incorporating transnational and hybrid elements that involve ‘local and foreign elements at multiple levels’ (Jung 2009, 78). Consequently, the K-pop industry was very much prepared for global success, although Psy’s international success with Gangnam Style still came as a surprise.
Within K-pop, Psy doesn’t quite fit into the pre-fabricated mold of the K-pop star and in Korea is considered a more humorous and controversial performer. He entered the local music scene in 2001 and his first two albums stirred controversy for being inappropriate and potentially negatively influencing children, which earned him the title ‘The Bizarre Singer’. Despite controversies, he became a breakthrough artist after his third album15. Psy is in many ways an unlikely K-pop star. His appearance and demeanor do not match to the Western beauty and body values followed by K-pop stars. He is relatively older (he was 34 when Gangnam Style was released) and more unconventional looking than most K-pop stars. He presents himself less serious than most K-pop stars, with humor and peculiar dance moves as his traits. Musically, he also differs from K-pop with more controversial lyrics that offer social critique. He is a solo artist, whereas K-pop stars often perform in group formations, that hasn’t followed a strict training regime before entering the music scene16. In this way, Psy was more of an alternative and unconventional performer than a true K-pop star, and when he joined record company YG Entertainment in 2010, after military service
15 Wikipedia. “Psy.” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified: 10-06-2014. Date of access: 16-06-2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psy>
16 Korean talent agencies and record companies often let potential k-pop stars undergo an intensive training trajectory of five years. Often only 25 to 30 out of a 1,000 reach a professional platform (Lie 2012, 357).
and financial problems, his brand was more focused on and expected to be successful within Korea, but not outside of it.
In July 2012, Psy released his sixth studio album ‘Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1’ with “Gangnam Style” as the first single. The single and accompanying video were released on July 15th on YouTube and generated more than 500,000 views on the first day17. In South Korea, the song debuted on number one in the Korean pop chart and became a popular part of internet traffic and search18. K-pop fans also noticed the song and started blogging about it. Among the first was K-pop blog Eat Your Kimchi, who were also one of the first to pay homage to the song by imitating the video19. Crosswise and simultaneously, several celebrities with large amounts of followers, like T-Pain20, Katy Perry21 and Britney Spears22, popular media outlets, like Gawker23 and Billboard24 shared the song via news articles and social media, and it became a popular topic on Internet forum Reddit. This was followed by mainstream media outlets, like CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal who reported about the song and subsequently mainstream television, like VH1 and Ellen, aired the song. Despite the differences with K-pop described above, there are also similarities to be found, looking more closely at Gangnam Style, that can also can be ascribed to its international success and spreadability. Gangnam Style is a rap song, sounding similar to European-style techno songs made popular by artists like rapper duo LMFAO25. The song is accompanied by Korean lyrics, but contains a few English lines, mainly present in the catchy hook ‘Hey sexy lady’, which allows for the song to be appealing to audiences outside of Korea. The song contains an omnipresent rhythmic part, which enables listeners to engage in the song. According to Mark Samos, the song makes use of several production techniques. He refers to the part in the song where short flickers of sound swiftly accelerate
17 YouTube Trends Team. “‘Gangnam Style’ Is Your International Hit Of The Month.” YouTube. 07-08-2012. Date of access: 16-06-2014. <http://youtube-trends.blogspot.nl/2012/08/gangnam-style-is-your-international-hit.html>
18 Wikipedia. “Gangnam Style.” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified: 15-06-2014. Date of access: 16-06-2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangnam_Style>
19 Eat Your Kimchi is a popular blog and YouTube channel focused on Korean popular culture by a Canadian couple living in Seoul. Stawski, Simon & Martina. “Kpop Music Mondays : Psy ‘Gangnam Style’”. YouTube. Date of upload: 23-07-2012. Date of access: 07-04-2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=v9J8U4YcosE&feature=share&list=PL2337A41F2C218B63>
20 Najm, Faheem (T-Pain). “Words cannot even describe how amazing this video is...” 29-07-12, 2.43 p.m. Tweet.
21 Perry, Katy. “Help, I'm in a gangnam style k hole…” 21-08-2012, 2,19 a.m. Tweet.
22 Spears, Britney. “I am LOVING this video - so fun! Thinking that I should possibly learn the choreography. Anybody wanna teach me?! haha.” 28-08-2012, 12.36 p.m. Tweet.
23 Zimmerman, Neetzan. “Did This Underground Hip Hop Artist from South Korea Just Release the Best Music Video of the Year?” Gawker. 30-07-2012. Date of access: 16-06-2014. <http://gawker.com/5930283/did-this-underground-hip-hop-artist-from-south-korea-just-release-the-best-music-video-of-the-year>
24 Benjamin, Jeff. “Fall in Love With Psy's 'Gangnam Style' -- Korean Rapper Goes Viral.” Billboard. 31-07-2012. Date of access: 16-06-2014. <http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/480682/fall-in-love-with-psys-gangnam-style-korean-rapper-goes-viral>
25 Wikipedia. “Psy.” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified: 09-04-2014. Date of access: 13-04-2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psy>
to a surprising pause26, causing an interesting musical effect. Musically, this is similar to what is common in K-pop expressed in the use of the English language and the Western musical influences. The catchiness of the song attributed to the popularity of the song as it became an instant international hit. The music video also played a large part.
While the song and music video to most people is a hilarious visual video with many surprises and comical objects, Psy’s video is actually a social critique towards contemporary South Korea’s society. Gangnam refers to the Gangnam district, a neighborhood in Seoul, where Park himself grew up. Gangnam is one of the wealthiest areas in Seoul and many South Koreans aspire to be part of the lavish lifestyle. Psy uses Gangnam as a symbol for this part of South Korean culture, pointing to its high credit card debt rate, consumerism and materialism27. Psy plays a cartoonish exaggeration of a Gangnam man, who is trying to be part of the Gangnam lifestyle, but is constantly reminded of his failure, which is visually shown by him being in a children’s playground (instead of fancy beach), dancing in a bus filled with elderly people (instead of dancing in an exclusive club), meeting a girl on the subway (instead of in a more sophisticated or wealthy place) or ending up singing on a toilet. The use of a comical horse-like dance throughout the video; Psy does the dance on a skyscraper, next to people powerwalking, during a yoga session; also ridicules the Gangnam surroundings. Social satire is not very common in South Korean’s culture and also not in K-pop. This message of social commentary is lost on people outside of Korea who are not familiar with the Gangnam area and its meaning and South Korea’s economic situation. For these people Psy comes across more as a silly clown, acting outrageously and performing comic dance routines. This loss of meaning to its transnational audience created a focus on the performance and humor of the video, which related to a large group of people as the video became extremely popular.
In sum, Gangnam Style proved to be spreadable content. There were several environmental conditions that made it possible for Gangnam Style to spread quick and easy. First, the internet environment is shaped around the fact that content wants to be spread and transformed. People, now more than ever, know what to do with online content and their increased digital literacy helped spread Gangnam Style very quickly. Spreadability means that people like something enough to share it with their friends and family within their social networks. People want to share something they think is funny, or interesting, and make sure their friends and families know it too. This is happening on such a fast and multidirectional 26 Ligaya, Armina. “What's the secret to Gangnam Style's success?” CBC News. 2012. Date of access: 13-04-2014. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/what-s-the-secret-to-gangnam-style-s-success-1.1170828>
27 Fisher, Max. “Gangnam Style, Dissected: The Subversive Message Within South Korea’s Music Video Sensation.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media. 23-08-2012. Date of access: 17-06-2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/gangnam-style-dissected-the-subversive-message-within-south-koreas-music-video-sensation/261462/>
scale and shows the digital literacy of internet users (Jenkins, Ford and Green 2013, 5). Otherwise, people share something to connect with the people within their communities. When something makes you laugh, you want to share it to someone else, and relate to it together. This is connecting and what happened with Gangnam Style on a global scale. Second, the well-connectedness and online presence of the South Korean music industry, who have been working the last 20 years to reach global audiences with well-packaged transnational cultural products, allowed for Gangnam Style to easily reach an audience. As a cultural product, Gangnam Style is musically very catchy accompanied by a surprising, funny and high production valued music video which made people want to share and imitate it.
The spreadability of Gangnam Style also lies in relation with the amount of memes that people created because of the video. The fact that people wanted to imitate a video means they relate to a text. That they see something that they can transform and relate to their own identity. In this way connecting happens between people and texts and between people. THE GANGNAM STYLE MEME
When something is spreadable, people imitate it. This is what happened with Gangnam Style almost immediately and turned the song into a meme. The amount of memes made the song even more popular and transformed the song from a global hit into a global phenomenon. Within the first three weeks, over a 1,000 videos with the word ‘Gangnam’ in the title were uploaded on YouTube28. Some were copies of the music video, but mostly imitations and other forms of derivatives. The popularity spread quickly and the amount of memes grew exponentially. Many of the Gangnam Style derivatives have been viewed millions of times and variations can be found in almost every language and country. What is it about Gangnam Style that made people want to imitate it?
Shifman has analyzed numerous video memes and has found six elements that could possibly boost a video’s memetic quality: a focus on ordinary people, flawed masculinity, humor, simplicity, repetitiveness and whimsical content. She argues that the more successful memes contain at least three or four of these elements (2001, 84). Which elements can be found in the Gangnam Style video? Although Psy is a musician instead of an ordinary person in this situation, and has been since 2001, he was unknown outside of South Korea before Gangnam Style. Therefore, for the rest of the world he was more an ordinary person than a pop star. As described earlier, Psy does not fit into the mold of a regular k-pop star appearance-wise, who follow Western values of body image. Here men are young and good-looking, and in shape and masculine. In this sense, Psy’s masculinity is flawed as he is older than the average star and physically less in shape. He acts less masculine in the sense that 28 YouTube Trends Team. “‘Gangnam Style’ Is Your International Hit Of The Month.” YouTube. 07-08-2012. Date of access: 16-06-2014. <http://youtube-trends.blogspot.nl/2012/08/gangnam-style-is-your-international-hit.html>
he constantly makes fun of himself and his surroundings. He dances silly and doesn’t take himself too seriously. He acts as a sort of harlequin and wants to make people laugh. The video contains many comical elements and incongruent moments, which makes the element humor apparent. The simplicity is more complicated. The music video is clearly made by professionals and does not seem to be imitated easily. It does, however, contain a few simple elements that are very imitable, in this case, the lines ‘Gangnam Style’ and ‘Sexy Lady’ and the horse-like dance routine. The words and dance are both repeated throughout the song, which makes the element repetitiveness applicable. Last, the element of whimsical content is also present. At first glance, the subversive message underlining the song is lost on people outside of South Korea, and for these people the video is made up of strange and funny elements, which makes it whimsical. In sum, all the elements are found in Gangnam Style which makes the amount of derivatives not surprising. People saw elements they liked and related to and imitated them. The entire body of Gangnam Style memes show a few elements that were imitated in almost every version. The dance is often incorporated, a part of the song (often ‘Gangnam Style’ or ‘… Style’, or ‘Hey Sexy lady).
What is distinctive about Gangnam Style is the diversity and creativity that can be found within the meme. The creativity is firstly apparent in the different types of memes. Only looking at memes found on YouTube, there are parodies, mash-ups, remixes, imitations, covers and flash mobs found. A need to entertain and being original or creative are all important elements related to connecting. Interaction and validation are integral to this. People make something for the joy of making it, but also to be recognized by others, to be validated in what you do (Gauntlett 2011, 106). This connecting happens within online communities like YouTube, but also within local communities of friends, families and other types of community. YouTube is a large community of people who make videos and do so to connect with other within that community. People have YouTube channels with many followers who excitedly follow this person or group. Participating in a popular meme is on the one side an easy way to get many views but this is often not a reason for people to make one. Positive response and recognition is often more important. According to research José van Dijck quotes, people mainly have three motivations to create content online: entertainment, family and career. Entertainment is often one of the main reasons for people to participate (2009, 51) and with Gangnam Style this also seems to be the case. Many of the videos are meant to be entertaining, but could also be made for close friends and family, while others also have ambition to pursue of professional career in media production. At the same time the videos are not just made by regular internet users but also by companies and institutions who want to entertain while attaching their brand to the video. What will become clear is that people lose the original message of Gangnam Style to create new ones. Let’s have a closer look at some of these memes and how it connects people.
Many interesting examples of creativity can be found in the cover section of the song. On YouTube there are many versions of the song where Gangnam is covered, many of them being acoustic covers, but also instrumental and dance covers. Examples of Gangnam Style that are made for the YouTube community are for example covers. A cover can be described as a new version of a song. The term first appeared in the music industry in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. Griffiths (2002) argues that a cover song can have three types of relationships with its original: 1) renditions, which tries to imitate or copy the original; 2) transformations; which makes more explicit alterations to the song; and 3) appropriations, which makes changes in genre, market and also listening community. With many versions the song seems to be transformed into something new. An interesting instrumental cover is made by Albert Chang29, who used a looping pedal to play all the musical parts of the song himself. He uses a ukulele, a bass, a violin and his own voice to create a beat. The song is created into a classical version and is almost unrecognizable. Another notable example is the a capella version of Pentatonix30. In the video, the five members (four men, one woman) of the American a capella group stand in front of a camera and recreate Gangnam Style by harmonizing their five voices. They all wear sunglasses and the men wear suits with colorful shirts, referencing PSY’s style in the video. Besides these visual elements and mimicking the horse dance they created a new version by using only their voices. These covers all strip down Gangnam Style to some of its essential musical elements, highlighting the musical power of the song and show the ability of YouTube users to be creative with something.
A mash-up (sometimes refered to as ‘bootleg’ or ‘bastardpop’) finds its origin in music and can in its essence be described as a part or sample from two or more songs mixed together to create a new song. Often one song’s vocal parts are used and blended with another song’s instrumental or rhythm part (Serazio 2008: 79). The Gangnam Style meme has produced many mash-ups, differing from musical mash-ups to mash-ups with popular culture. Musical mash-up examples are Lady Gaga’s ‘Judas’ (2011) a capella mixed with the instrumentals of Gangnam Style31, or the instrumentals of Last Christmas (1984) by Wham with the vocals of Gangnam Style32. Gangnam Style has also been mashed up with popular culture. A creative example is ‘PSYwalker’33 where we see a scene from the movie The
Empire Strikes Back (1980) where character Luke Skywalker is walking on space ship the
Death Star and when he walks around a corner the chorus of Gangnam Style starts to play. 29 Chang, Albert. "Psy - Gangnam Style - Violin Looping Pedal Cover." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaLLUgR32fY>.
30 PTXofficial. "GANGNAM STYLE - Pentatonix (PSY Cover)." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nLLECY6m_Q>.
31 Zutsjie2. "Lady Gaga Ft. Psy - Judas (Gangnam Style) - Mashup/Remix."YouTube. YouTube, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://youtu.be/1VYU-9FHOjs>.
32 Monti, DJ Paolo. "Wham Vs PSY - Last Christmas, Gangnam Style - Paolo Monti Mashup 2012." Vimeo. Vimeo, 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://vimeo.com/54526179>.
33 KhalidSMShahin. "PSYwalker." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://youtu.be/tM9-ZYxpqbM>.
Hearing the music he hides and looks behind the corner, where we now see PSY dancing by, doing the horse-dance from the video. Creator KhalidSMShahin has implemented PSY from the music video into the scene from The Empire Strikes Back, creating a mash-up with a humorous and surprising effect. KhalidSMShahin creates many mash-ups of movies or crossovers between music and movies and also invites others to create mash-ups by uploading tutorials. Another funny movie mash-up is Gangnam Style mixed with a scene from The Shining (1980)34. The character Wendy Torrance runs scared, carrying a knife, through the Overlook Hotel. She slows down when the music of Gangnam Style starts to play and slowly walks towards the hall where the music comes from, in the original movie the hall with the iconic elevator. A close up of a terrified Wendy follows, followed by the opening of the elevator where we see the elevator scene from the Gangnam Style video, where a man dances on top of PSY, implemented in the elevator scene from the movie. In the original movie blood flows out of the elevator, but by implementing PSY there it becomes humorous and surprising. Creator IncognitusYT writes in the description of the clip: ‘Snowed in and isolated for months with only the sound of K-pop to keep you company? It'll play tricks on your mind eventually.’ Since Gangnam Style was so popular for so long, Wendy’s frightened expression could express many people’s feeling of aversion towards the song over time. The amount of memes that can be found online signals a growing involvement by internet users in the media landscape, something Gauntlett describes as the rise of a ‘making-and-doing’ culture (2011: 8). This ‘making-and-‘making-and-doing’ culture has been able to bloom because of an increasing participatory media model that is based on spreadability. The popularity of memes proves the willingness of people to participate in sharing, and more importantly, creating memes, which moreover shows the amount of everyday creativity of people. But what is creativity exactly?
Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi has done sociological research on the concept of creativity and describes it ‘a process by which a symbolic domain in the culture is changed’ (1997: 8). According to his approach creativity is part of an interplay between three components: the symbolic rules of a culture, someone who delivers creative innovation, and professionals with authority who acknowledge and corroborate this innovation (1997: 6). His definition of creativity asks for someone who is tremendously original and innovative, but also asks for a framework in which a group of experts validates this innovation. In order to define creativity in the context of meme culture, which demonstrates instances of everyday creativity rather than processes by which a symbolic domain within a culture is changed, I will use Gauntlett’s definition of the concept. Gauntlett focusses on people and the creative instances that can 34 IncognitusYT. "The PSYning (ORIGINAL)." YouTube. YouTube20, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
happen on a daily basis, the everyday ideas. And although the outlines of what is creativity become more blurred, Gauntlett argues that this is not his aim:
You could argue endlessly, if you wanted to be rather trivial, about whether one thing ‘is’ and another thing ‘is not’ creative. But that’s not really the point. The point is that creativity is widely dispersed and, more importantly, is one the most central aspects of being human. (2007: 19)
Gauntlett steps away from other approaches where the end product and acknowledgement of others is of more importance. He argues that creativity is to be understood as a process, and a feeling, where you achieve something you had not achieved earlier. (2011: 11). The many memes that are created on a daily basis and the effort of people creating them are best understood within this definition of creativity:
Everyday creativity refers to a process which brings together at least one active human mind, and the material or digital world, in the activity of making something which is novel in that context, and is a process which evokes a feeling of joy. (2011: 76)
Gauntlett refers to the Web as a place for this everyday creativity. The Web offers people opportunities to get creative and share it with the world (2011: 77) and this is expressed in the memes. YouTube as a user-generated platform supports creativity in allowing many different types of content to be shared of the website. Memes are only one aspect of the diversity found on YouTube. And next to that YouTube links this to a social media platform which allows people to react and share a video. This type of spreadability makes interaction possible and interaction is key to connecting. Memes and the internet environment in which they are created are made for people to connect with. Connect with friends, families, local communities, subcultures, likeminded strangers, fans. Memes bring people together and give new meaning to media content. The amount of memes that were created because of Gangnam Style prove that. People who make memes have a need to make connections with others, and hope to receive praise and recognition in return. This leads to important social bonds and produces a system of emotional support. Additionally, the value behind this connecting will be discussed in the next chapter, and elaborate more on community and local meaning is expressed.
CHAPTER 2
One Internet meme that has inspired many people to participate on YouTube is The Harlem Shake meme. The meme, which started late January in 2013, entails short videos of approximately 30 seconds of people dancing to the song “The Harlem Shake” by DJ and producer Baauer. Just like the Gangnam Style meme, this was a global phenomenon in which many people from all over the world took part, with videos from every imaginable country.In the previous chapter it became clear that creating memes and participating in meme culture brings people to together. The Gangnam Style meme showed that memes are locally adapted in order to create new and local meanings. In this chapter, the value behind connecting will be explored, using The Harlem Shake meme as a case study. Creating and participating is good for personal happiness and social capital. How does this work with the Harlem Shake meme?
INTRODUCTION AND SPREAD HARLEM SHAKE
‘The Harlem Shake’ is a song by American DJ and producer Harry Bauer Rodrigues, known
by his stage name Baauer, which was released on May 22, 2012. The song includes ‘a mechanical bass line, Dutch house synth riffs35, a dance music drop36, and samples of growling-lion sounds’37. The song resides in musical genres trap and bass, but also has hip hop influences38. The song was not particularly popular until late January 2013 when the phenomenon and the meme started, but became a global hit after its participation in the meme. The average Harlem Shake video is generally 30 seconds in duration. It starts with 15 seconds of the intro to Baauer’s song, usually started with the lyric ‘Con los terroristas’39. It is followed by a bass drop that is signaled by the lyric ‘Then Do The Harlem Shake’40 and followed by another 15 seconds of the song with the bass, and ends with a lion roar. In most 35 Also known as ‘Dirty Dutch’, a genre style that originated from the Netherlands, that often entails Latin drum-influences with intense, high pitched synthesized sounds and less prominent bass lines. "Electro
House." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_house#Dutch_house>.
36 A drop, or climax, is the part of a song where a change in rhythm or bass line takes place. "Drop (music)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_%28music%29>.
37 "Harlem Shake (song)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Shake_%28song%29#Music_and_lyrics>.
38 Caramanica, Jon. "A Hip-Hop Moment, but Is It Authentic?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/arts/music/macklemores-thrift-shop-and-baauers-harlem-shake.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1361411724-vxny4f8AgxD6jxnSy9qYZQ&>.
39 This lyric comes from the music track “Maldades” by Héctor Delgado, a reggeaton song from 2006, of which Baauer used a sample in “The Harlem Shake”. The lyric translates to ‘with the terrorists’.
"Harlem Shake (song)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Shake_%28song%29#Music_and_lyrics>.
40 This line is a sample from the song “Miller Time”, released in 2001 by hip hop group Plastic Little. "Harlem Shake (song)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Shake_%28song%29#Music_and_lyrics>.
of the videos, the first 15 seconds of the video is someone dancing by himself, sometimes wearing a helmet or a mask, accompanied by other people who are not aware of the person dancing. The bass drops and the video cuts to the whole group dancing enthusiastic and compulsive. In this part of the video, many participants wear weird outfits or costumes, or very few clothes, often accompanied by strange items. The location is not confined, it can be anywhere. Sometimes, but not always the video ends in slow motion.
On January 30 of 2013, Japanese-American student and video blogger George Miller, who goes by Filthy_Frank on YouTube uploaded a comedic video41, which included a segment of ‘Pink guy’, one of Millers comedic characters, dancing with three other friends in latex suits, using the first 30 seconds of Baauer’s song as the soundtrack. Miller is wearing a pink latex suit, which covers his entire body except his face. The others are all completely covered, wearing a grey alien suit, a red Power Ranger suit42, and a black suit with an Asian mask. When the music starts, they all dance by thrusting their hips and arms back and forth. When the music reaches the lyrics ‘Do The Harlem Shake’ they all dance more excessive, holding their heads back and flapping their arms quickly. After that it cuts to more hip thrusting and caressing of George Miller. The Harlem Shake segment ends after 35 seconds with more excessive dancing. Miller would post the segment as a single video a few days later on YouTube43.
Miller’s video was noticed by five teenagers in Australia who recreated their own version of the video on February 2, 2013 and uploaded it on their YouTube account TheSunnyCoastSkate, used mostly for videos of the sport long boarding44. Their version of the meme established the format of the meme. In this video five boys are sitting in a small bedroom. One is behind a computer, two are playing a videogame on a bed, another is also on the bed, and one is standing in the middle of the room wearing a motor helmet, which goes unnoticed by the other boys. Baauer’s music starts at the same time as Miller’s version. The boy wearing the helmet dances to the song, thrusting his hips, imitating Miller. When the song reaches ‘Then Do The Harlem Shake’, the image cuts to the five boys all dancing hysterically and flapping their arms. The boy wearing the helmet is still standing in the middle of the room, accompanied by the boy who was sitting on the bed, now shirtless. The boy behind the computer is now standing on a chair, facing the wall and the two gamers are still on the bed, all excitedly flapping their arms. After 20 seconds a short slow motion effect is 41 Miller, George (DizastaMusic). "FILTHY COMPILATION #6 - SMELL MY FINGERS." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeO3yCpLt0Q>.
42 The Power Rangers (1993) is an American live action television series for children and international franchise that features a squad of costumed superheroes, of which one is a red Power Ranger. "Power
Rangers." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Rangers>.
43 Miller, George (DizastaMusic). "DO THE HARLEM SHAKE (ORIGINAL)." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/8vJiSSAMNWw>.
44 TheSunnyCoastSkate. "The Harlem Shake V1 (TSCS Original)." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/384IUU43bfQ>.
used and after 30 seconds the video stops. The boys imitate the dancing and the song from Miller’s version, but choose to let one boy dance in the first part, while the rest of group does not pay attention to him. At the ‘Then Do The Harlem Shake’ point, a hard edit is made which highlights the differences between the images, causing a comedic and surprising effect.
In Florida, two fellow long boarders saw the Australian video and decided to replicate the video45. They followed the SunnyCoastSkate version closely, using a similar location and formation of 6 boys. They are all relaxing in a bedroom, one behind the computer, one on the bed, three playing a game on the television, and one wearing a helmet, dancing to the song, while going unnoticed by the others. After the drop, three of them are shirtless, one dances against the wall, one is upside down twerking46 against the wall, one is balancing on a chair rocking it fast, the others are jumping on a couch in the back. After 30 seconds, the video ends in slow motion. At this moment in time, the different Harlem Shake videos generated a few thousand views. In the following days the videos view count would increase to around a hundred thousand views.
On February 7, 2013 a new imitation appeared which was uploaded by a company called Time Warner, with the title ‘Harlem Shake v3 (office edition)’47. This version is located in a single large space, filled with several desks, but maintaining a very spacious look. There are around 25 to 30 people working behind the desks, except for one guy who is wearing a helmet and is dancing behind his desk, again going unnoticed. When the music reaches ‘Do The Harlem Shake’ everybody is dancing hysterically or doing whimsical and arbitrary things. In the front of the screen someone is punching an inflatable giraffe and someone is one the floor is trembling. People are on desks or have attained new items, like a helmet, skateboard or bike. It also ends in a slow motion. They promoted their version on their YouTube channels and Twitter.
Around the same time, an important blog called EDM Snob tweeted the Florida version48. Baauer, and the record label he was signed with, started to promote the video on Twitter, together with several artists like Diplo and Major Lazer associated with the label. They were responsible for the views on that day which made the meme increase in its popularity and eventually go viral. Because of their tweets, other companies and advertisers, like popular websites College Humor and Buzzfeed, but also groups of friends and families started 45 PHLOn NAN. "The Harlem Shake V2." YouTube. YouTube, 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014.
<http://youtu.be/W52rnrwG9p0>.
46 Twerking is a dance style, often performed by a woman, in which someone moves to music by bending the knees in a lower body stance and thrusting their hips. The dance style has become mainstream since the mid-2000s through hip hop videos and the Internet.
"Twerking." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 June 2014. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twerking>.
47 Hiimrawn. "Harlem Shake V3 (office Edition)." YouTube. YouTube, 6 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/0IJoKuTlvuM>.
48 EDMSnob. “hahahahahahaha @baauer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W52rnrwG9p0 …”. 6 February 2013, 9:09 A.M. Tweet. <https://twitter.com/EDMsnob/statuses/299203173082624000>
posting and promoting their own Harlem Shake videos49. According to Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends manager, by February 11, a total of 12.000 Harlem Shake videos were posted on YouTube, with a total of 44 million views and an average of 4000 videos posted a day. By February 15 the total was approximately 40.000 with a total of 175 million views.50 On March 24 the total view count would pass 1 billion51. After the first videos went viral, within less than two weeks the phenomenon exploded worldwide. In this the Harlem Shake is quite unique; to generate so many derivatives so fast. To compare, Gangnam Style went viral around the end of July in 2012, and started generating some derivatives within the week, but it wasn’t until September 2012 the meme took off. After six months the video reached the one billion view count. The Harlem Shake meme exploded within days and after ‘only’ two months the meme reached the one billion view count.
The large body of Harlem Shake videos shows creativity, communities coming together and local adaptation of memes. Similar to the Gangnam Style meme, Harlem Shake memes have the ability to connect people with each other. Social connections might seem as something trivial or meaningless, but the opposite is the case. Gauntlett argues that ‘without human empathy, communication, trust, and general purpose, goodwill and friendliness, society would quickly dissolve in a horrible apocalypse of never-ending misunderstanding, crime and conflict’ (2011, 115). Social connections are important for personal happiness and social capital. Connections among family, friends and communities, and creating, specifically together, affects happiness. Strong social connections creates social capital, which benefits a society as a whole. For these reasons, memes are valuable.
HAPPINESS AND SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE HARLEM SHAKE MEME
One of the values behind connecting is the fact that it affects personal happiness. Happiness is a complicated concept to define and to measure. Richard Layard defines the concept as ‘feeling good, enjoying life and wanting the feeling to be maintained’ (2005, 12) and additionally recognizes that happiness varies with every person and measuring it is subjective. He names several factors that affect happiness, which he calls the ‘Big Seven factors affecting happiness’. These are family relationships, financial situation, work, community and friends, health, personal freedom, personal values. Apart from financial situation and health, these aspects are all related to with the quality of our relationships 49 For a timeline of the Harlem Shake meme I used an article by Kevin Ashton.
Ashton, Kevin. "You Didn’t Make the Harlem Shake Go Viral-corporations Did." Quartz. Atlantic Media, 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 June 2014. <http://qz.com/67991/you-didnt-make-the-harlem-shake-go-viral-corporations-did/>.
50 Kevin, Allocca. "YouTube Trends: The Harlem Shake Has Exploded (Updated)."YouTube Trends. YouTube, 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014.
<http://youtube-trends.blogspot.nl/2013/02/the-harlem-shake-has-exploded.html>.
51 Russell, Mallory A. "The Harlem Shake Hits 1 Billion Views!" Visible Measures. Visible Measures, 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 21 June 2014. <http://www.visiblemeasures.com/2013/04/04/the-harlem-shake-hits-1-billion-views/>.
(2005). Happiness is thus associated with social connections. Gauntlett relates this happiness to participation and making things. He argues that people need goals and things to exert for themselves (2011, 125). When people decide to make a meme, they actively make the decision to do and create something and this affects their happiness.
Creativity in the Harlem Shake is found in the various locations, the amount of people and the actions that take part in a video. The swimming and diving team of the University of Georgia Athletics managed to make a version underwater52, a climbing team who reached the top of Mount Everest made a version53, and a group of skydivers accomplished to create a Harlem Shake video in the sky54. There are many versions to be found that claim to have created the largest Harlem Shake video, an example is the version in Tel Aviv, Israel which claims to have made a video with over 70,000 people55, but there are many other versions to be found as well. There are different Minecraft editions56, a Balkan edition that features 13 men lying faced down and naked on grass, thrusting their hips57, and also one that features a washing machine58. The machine is in its centrifugation stage, with its door open, and at the point of the drop someone throws a brick in the machine, which makes it shake very wild, and eventually leads to its destruction.
In addition, strong family relationships, community and friendship are indicators of happiness and meme culture often operates in and stimulates these circles. The large body of Harlem Shake videos shows groups of people participating. Most of the time, these groups are familiar with each other and can be described as communities. This can be a group of friends, as the first few videos have shown. This can be a family, for example a man who made a Harlem Shake video with his two grandmothers59, or a father with his young son60. It can also be people who work together, as the version by Time Warner demonstrated. And next to that there are many groups of people who are associated with each other through sports or schools that created versions. Examples of this are The English National Ballet61 or
52 GeorgiaMens SwimmingDiving. "UGA Men's Swim & Dive Harlem Shake."YouTube. YouTube, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/QkNrSpqUr-E>.
53 Garthwaite, Rosie. "Everest Base Camp Harlem Shake." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/D_Ke3PXMqmw>.
54 Red Bull. "Harlem Shake (Skydive Edition) - THE END." YouTube. YouTube, 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/RT_4NIPsMCY>.
55 Depluspro. "Officially the Biggest Harlem Shake in the World 70K Ppl @ Tel Aviv." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/AmqJ1FoC404>.
56 NitroXgun. "Top 10 Harlem Shake Minecraft." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/AdafzRAbAjQ>.
57 Getman, Arthur (Артур Гетман). "Harlem Shake (Balkan Erotic Epic)."YouTube. YouTube, 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/vFKRecKkWos>.
58 George Whitney. "Harlem Shake Washing Machine." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/rgg1WUJhUc4>.
59 Rao, Hank. "Harlem Shake (Grandma Edition)." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/siF0iQOm6wg>.
60 McClard, Matt. "Harlem Shake With My Son." YouTube. YouTube, 7 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/uB_Id1UOM6E>.
61 ENB Journal. "Harlem Shake (English National Ballet Style) HD **ORIGINAL**." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/KlCjt6FQQC0>.
many universities, of which the University of Texas made one with a large group62. In sum, participating in meme culture possibly has a positive effect on happiness for the people involved.
Related to happiness and social connections is the concept of social capital. Social capital is a concept that is used in social theory and focusses on the importance of social relationships. Friendly relationships among individuals and groups, and maintaining them over time, allows people to work and do things together, and reach goals that they could not reach by themselves, or otherwise might be much harder to accomplish. Connecting happens within networks and these networks become resources that can eventually form social capital (Field 2003, 1). In the previous chapter it became clear that memes are able to form connections between people. Memes have the ability to bring people together, but does it actually make social bonds stronger among these people? Do memes have an influence on social capital?
Social capital then relates to social networks and relationships, and differs from other types of capital, like human capital (individual expertise), physical capital (equipment), and cultural capital (individual knowledge) (Gauntlett 2011, 130). Robert Putnam defines the concept as following:
Social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them (2000, 19).
Social connections are formed around mutual trust and reciprocity. A group of people or society with strong ties based on trust and reciprocity is more productive than a distrustful one. Putnam argues that recurrent interaction between different groups of people tends to generate norms of reciprocity and trust (2000, 21). Social capital then, occurs in different forms with various applications, ‘some are episodic, single stranded, and anonymous’ (2000, 22). A family can be a type of social capital, or being a member of a civic organization or bowling league as Putnam notes (2000, 21). A group of people recreating a Harlem Shake video then also applies to social capital, as a form of social interaction that has the ability to generate reciprocity and trust. Putnam divides social capital in a bridging and bonding form. Bonding social capital highlights connections among people who are already closely related to each other, such as family, friends and neighbors. Bridging social capital is expressed in social settings between people who are more distant from each other, such as youth groups,
62 University Co-op. "BIGGEST Harlem Shake (University of Texas at Austin) Original." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/eTXV4AdZ-dE>.
different types of institutions or co-workers (2000, 22). The Harlem Shake meme generates both types of social capital, which operate simultaneously and interlinked with each other.
3. “A family from the Philippines dancing to the Harlem Shake”
Bonding social capital is strengthened in the friends and families that participated in a Harlem Shake video. A large amount of the Harlem Shake videos is performed by these type of social relationships. An example of this a video made by a family from the Philippines63 who used the description box below the video to state: ‘Why? Why not, we’re a family that has fun together!’. The video is situated in a living room and features a family of four children, a mother, father and presumably grandmother dancing the Baauer’s song. In the video several family members are laughing and interacting with each other. Their participation, interaction and description indicates that they are enjoying the experience of making a Harlem Shake video. This type of interaction within their family has positive effects on their happiness and strengthens their bonds among each other. Putnam describes bonding social capital as a type of ‘sociological superglue’, that supports reciprocity and solidarity (2000, 22-23).
63 Everything Cebu. "Harlem Shake (Filipino Family Edition)." YouTube. YouTube, 8 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/Dvj8dlDjfBY>.
4. Haarlem Shake in Leeuwarden
5. The Haarlem Shake in Leeuwarden.
Bridging social capital is instigated by the several Harlem Shake versions that took place in public spaces. Many videos strived to create the ‘largest’ Harlem Shake video by inviting as many people as possible to participate. Two young men, Renzo Engwerda and Remco Krol, from Leeuwarden, a city in The Netherlands, also aimed for this and started an online campaign to invite people to participate in a Harlem Shake video in Leeuwarden. On February 11, 2013, they released a teaser video on YouTube to invite people to their event64 and in addition created a Facebook event65. During the following week the upcoming event became known among growing amount people, with 6,573 people that were invited and 803 people who checked the ‘attend’ box on the Facebook event. When Facebook attendance reached 600 people the local government interfered in order to maintain the event, but also
64 Krol, Remco. "The Harlem Shake - Leeuwarden (Teaser)." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014. <http://youtu.be/AYHoOOpO4_U>.
65 Krol, Remco, and Renzo Engwerda. "''Do the Harlem Shake'' - Nederlandse Versie (Youtube Viral)." Facebook. Facebook, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 June 2014.
