The Image Macro Election: Legibility, Shareability, Reproducibility

Chuck TryonMedia in Transition ConferenceApril 3, 2013

Obama is Not Impressed

Image macros/graphic memes as powerful messaging tools

Obama campaign’s dexterity at navigating social media (Mckayla Maroney)

YouTube supplanted as the election-defining medium

Relationship with Internet memes as they have been defined by Patrick Davison

Legibility

Image macros combine images (often borrowing from popular culture) with political commentary

Readers infer the meaning through combining knowledge of visual cues with written message

Thus the “politics” of the film itself might matter less than the affect associated with the moment that is being cited

Images of Willy Wonka, Boromir, etc. equally available to conservatives and progressives

Connected to the notions of “cleverness” that Barbara Klinger associates with quoting movie scenes

ShareabilityImage macros reflect not only the sharer’s political values but also something about their cultural tastes

The desire to share may be driven by political or cultural affinity

Shareability built upon existing networks that facilitate one-click sharing—Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr (especially “influencers” like George Takei)

Challenge of tracking how information/ideas circulates—sharing often takes place within political echo chambers

Reproducibility

Thanks to meme generators, which allow users to select images from a menu of “most popular” options, making image macros has been automated

This automation makes it easy to mix-and-match memes in order to create meta-commentaries

Allows Ryan Gosling to show up in Binders Full of Women or “The Most Interesting Man in the World” to appear in Eastwood parodies

Essentially this results in “one-click” political participation/commentary

Implications of “one-click” politics is a bit more complex

Texts from HillaryOrganized chronologically with Hillary receiving text while flying on a plane

Depicts Clinton as imperturbable problem-solver (rewrites 3 AM ad from 2008 campaign)

Most images were compiled in briefly popular Texts from Hillary Tumblr.

TFH challenged copyright (photographer Diana Walker)

More Texts from Hillary

EastwoodingResponse to Eastwood’s RNC speech, which seemed to contrast deeply with Eastwood’s star image

Illustrates the failure of Eastwood’s attempt to launch a successful meme about Obama

Like other memes, Eastwooding borrowed from and remixed older memes and pop culture forms

In addition to image macros, many people posed with empty chairs (“Eastwooding”)

Binders Full of Women

Helped to drive perception that Romney’s policies on workplace and health issues hostile to women

Lent itself to mixing with other pop culture memes—including Boromir and Ryan Gosling (“Hey Girl”)

More Binders

Conclusion• Conservative circulation of

political memes including “Smirking Biden,” a response to 2012 VP debate

• Photoshopped images can also spread false or misleading ideas—the famous R-Money photo is a fake (although it arguably helped to reinforce the 47% storyline

• See my reflections on the “Image Macro Election” here: http://www.chutry.wordherders.net/wp/?p=3520