Week 7: Refining Meme Research


My research explores the theme of  “Buddhist styled youths” related to how Internet memes illustrate Chinese youngsters’ identities as “Buddhist styled”, which means low-desire, non-ambition, tolerance and depression of emotional fluctuation.

My proposed research questions are: First, what made the Buddhist styled youths memes so successful that most youngsters identified themselves as Buddhist styled youths? Second, what are the relationships between Buddhism and Buddhist styled youths memes?

In order to answer this question, I will study 10 Internet memes related to how Buddhist styled youths memes express the idea of Buddhist styled way of thinking.

Memes will be selected on the basis of the following criteria: include elements of Buddhism (such as lotus, golden lights, cross-legged gesture, etc.), appearing online in last 12 months, text reference Buddhist styled way of thinking (low-desire, non-ambition, tolerance and depression of emotional fluctuation).

The following 2 Internet memes provide examples of the types of memes I will be collecting and analyzing. Both of them contain Buddhism elements: lotus, peace face and cross-legged gesture.





The first picture is a classic Buddhist styled youths meme that has many versions. In this version, the text shows a depression of emotional fluctuation: I don't get angry when others get angry. No one is replacing me if I'm too angry and get sick. It is very rhyming when read in Chinese.
The character in the second picture is not human, but the dog’s gesture and facial expression are much like a Buddhist. The text -- Just to go, every shop is fine. Fast or slow, five-star comment --expresses a Buddhist styled shopping attitude: low-desire and tolerance.






评论

  1. Soup Twin-12018年10月22日 14:24

    Very interesting example. Thanks for clarifying this type of meme. I think the second research question is most relevant for the study parameter.

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