Week 3: The Cry of the Memelord

This week, I was particularly drawn to Amy Wagner’s video essay, “Article 13: Banning Memes & Cultural Expression.”  More specifically, the section of the video that starts from 6:16 to about 7:35, wherein she describes the cultural importance of memes.

I chose this section because I felt it held the most rhetorical value for her argument of the impacts of Article 13. Below is my (rather crudely drawn) interpretation of her storyboard:

Rhetorical Significance

    In this section, Wagner posits an astute definition of the somewhat elusive and hard-to-define memes and their importance to human culture by highlighting their prevalence in the real world. As it is nearly impossible to exist in a developed country without the internet, the chance of any individual coming across a meme is undoubtedly guaranteed. As a matter of fact, even if we do not exist in a digital space, we will still come across memes in the real world. Regardless of that fact, her choice to include this section at this point in the video expresses a keen sense of rhetorical understanding. What I mean is that she makes use of an effective tone shift from the comical definition and examples of memes to the prevalence and cultural importance of them before transitioning into her next section, which takes on a much more academic tone than the previous sections. 

In an almost funnel-like fashion, the video’s components consist of the following (condensed) sections:

Introduction and thesis→ 

Definition of memes→ significance of memes (the section I am focusing on) → Definition of Article 13 → Impact of Article 13 

→ restatement of thesis and conclusion.

(Image Source)

What’s Happening?

    In this shot, Wagner keeps her audience engaged with visual and aural assets. The assets include her tempo, background music, as well as the visual examples of memes in the real world, and the meta-Rick Roll (us as the audience being Rick Rolled and the audience at the Macy’s Day Parade). Wagner takes careful consideration of her audience, which consists of individuals who likely know the memes she references already, and those who may not, by offering in-depth explanations of each meme. By providing visual examples, aural definitions, and scholarly arguments, she prepares her audience for her thesis. It somehow reminds me of a batter setting up to hit a home run; the amount of preparation in her timing alone is superb.

What’s Worth Changing?

    While I do think the visual editing of this section is excellent, I feel that she could have spent a little more time fixing the sound levels of the background music. There are moments when the music is too loud and distracting and moments where the music seems to drop in levels dramatically. This minor change could make the impact of this transitional section much more effective in its rhetorical significance.