Deep-Fried Internet Horse
Deep-Fried Internet Horse
Flash Fiction:
He laughs when he cries… Dab
Artist statement:
The picture and the writing both show the use of jokes and memes to hide crippling depression. The
picture is super distorted and has stuff all over it like mainstream memes to further increase the
mainstream meme effect. The noose in the picture is used to show depression or general negative
thoughts, but it is obscured by all the jokes.The meme is both about the memes and the people
behind the memes. A common theme among modern day memes is a cry for help. My perspective
has not really been influenced this year.
Reflection:
Every single human being has an identity, it is who you are, but how much control do you have in shaping who you are? Many people in America seem to share two common ideas about how identities are formed, nurture or nature. Nurture means the conditions in which you grew up in influenced who you are, nature means you are you because you were born that way. The two ideas conflict so both sides debate on what the truth actually is, but most seem to agree that there is a combination of both at play. Some of the traits you are born with influence your personality a certain way, but your upbringing really seems to have the biggest part to play.
Human beings all over the world have been able to change their personalities for the best or worst. Most people know someone whose personality has changed, it is not that uncommon. People have overcame their genetics to become who they want. For example trans people have drastically changed themselves physically and mentally as shown in “Growing Up Trans.”: "I had to learn how to be a boy" ("Growing"). Despite this there is a group of people that believe that you can not shape your personality, and you are the way you always will be and had been.
In the Invisibilia Podcast “The Personality Myth” the hosts state, “An assumption in the field of personality is that personality is stable.”(Personality"). Invisibilia shows that personality can change over time, they do this by talking about their friend named Delilah and an inmate named Dan. Dan put on a TED Talk in the prison where prisoners would read poems, do speeches and perform arts such as ballet. Delilah, interested, decided to check it out and met Dan. She realized that despite being an inmate, Dan was a very kind guy. She noticed a hatred tattoo on his neck, which was strange because according to her “his personality had nothing to do with hatred."("Personality") Later she looked him up and found out that he was a rapist, this was strange to her because he did not seem evil at all. She confronted Dan and discovered he was a changed man after some experiences he had, and changed his life for the better. This podcast shows that personality is adapted over time and can be changed.
I agree with the Invisibilia podcast on the fact that you can change your personality over time. They had done a bunch of research on it and interviewed psychologists who studied the field in the podcast so their claims had backing. Based off of my personal experience I can link my behaviors to something my parents taught me for the most part. For instance I habitually turn off lights when I leave a room because they taught me to try to conserve energy at a young age. The way my brother was raised was different to me and you can definitely tell based off of how different we are. My brother and I are pretty much exact opposites of each other he is hyper and outgoing and I'm mellow and introverted.
In the end, personality is something that forms and changes through your life based off of your environment. This is in contrast to what some people in the world believe, but it is the most logical answer on why we are the way we are based on how you grow up and how your parents can influence your whole life. In the Invisibilia podcast it shows examples on how personality can change, most notably the story of Dan. I have experienced changes to my personality through my life and very much agree with Invisiblia’s statements. Personality is something that you adapt and change overtime.
"A common theme among modern day memes is a cry for help." It's so sad on how people feel like they have no one to turn to when depression and anxiety overcomes them, and that the only way to reach out and a feel less alone is through memes. This is however, not necessarily bad. Humor has been used as a way to make something weird/unknown/scary less of that. Humor on deeper topics is often used as a way to step back and point at the absurdity of a situation, and I believe meme's are just another form of this.
ReplyDeleteThis was a lot deeper than I thought it was gonna be. Made me laugh and (almost) cry so that's ironic I guess. You have a unique stance in your reflection and make quite a few great points.
ReplyDeleteEven though your artist statement and your flash fiction is shorter, I thought it was really deep. I like the whole idea and I think it's really well thought out. It was really well written, good use of words. I think most people would look at this and maybe laugh at first, but after they look at the picture and realize what it means they would think that's a good way to explain it. At least that's what I did.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the title of this I had no idea if this was a joke or not but it ended up being really good. I like how the flash fiction and artist statement were short and simple but it was really good as well.
ReplyDeleteReading the title of this, I didn't know what to expect but reading the artist statement, I started to feel the darkness about what it really means. Memes can hide a lot, as you said by the mainstream memes hiding the noose, which was a little darker than I expected. At most, what we can do to keep depression at bay is have hope. Having hope that things will get better with time can be all someone needs to keep going. There's a quote I like that a friend told me, "Sometimes you have to fall the hardest to stand the strongest." It's pulled me through a lot of hard times and I hope that it will you too. Having things to escape to is another good thing to have. Things to escape the troubles of the day is more than enough to help you fall asleep and hope that tomorrow will be better. Stand strong, my friend, and let the memes flow.
ReplyDelete