Editing Visual rhetoric (section)

=== Memes ===
Though a relatively new way of using images, visual Internet memes are one of the more pervasive forms of visual rhetoric. Visual memes represent a genre of visual communication that often combines images and text to create meaning. Visual memes can be understood through visual rhetoric, which "combines elements of the semiotic and discursive approaches to analyze the persuasive elements of visual texts."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Huntington|first=Heidi|date=2013|title=Subversive Memes: Internet Memes as a Form of Visual Rhetoric|url=https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/spir/article/view/8886|journal=Selected Papers of Internet Research|volume=14}}</ref> Furthermore, memes fit into this rhetorical category because of their persuasive nature and their ability "to draw viewers into the argument's construction via the viewer's cognitive role in completing "visual enthymemes" to fill in the unstated premise."<ref>Blair, J. A. (2004). The rhetoric of visual arguments. In C. A. Hill & M. Helmers (Eds.) Defining visual rhetorics (pp. 41-61). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.</ref> The visual portion of the meme is a part of its multimodal grammar, allowing a person to decode the text through "cultural codes" that contextualize the image to construct meaning.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Milner|first=Ryan|title=The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media|publisher=MIT Press|year=2016|isbn=9780262034999}}</ref> Because of what is unstated, memetic images can hold multiple interpretations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hahner|first=Leslie|date=2 February 2017|title=The Riot Kiss: Framing Memes as Visual Argument|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00028533.2013.11821790|journal=Argumentation and Advocacy|volume=49|issue=3|pages=151–166|doi=10.1080/00028533.2013.11821790|s2cid=140824851|via=Taylor & Francis}}</ref> As groups create and share a specific meme template what is unstated becomes a fixed reading with "novel expression".<ref name=":4" />

Shifman, in an analysis of [[Know Your Meme|KnowYourMeme.com]], found that popular memetic images often feature juxtaposition and frozen motion.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Shifman|first=Limor|title=Memes in Digital Culture|publisher=MIT Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-262-31769-6|pages=89}}</ref> Juxtaposition frames clashing visual elements in order to "deepen the ridicule" with a large incongruity or diminishes the original contrast by taking the visual object into a more fitting situation.<ref name=":9" /> Frozen motion pictures an action made static, leaving the viewer to complete the motion in order to complete the premise.<ref name=":9" />

Considered by some scholars to be a subversive form of communication, memetic images have been used to unify political movements, such as umbrellas during the [[Umbrella Movement]] in Hong Kong or the images of tea bags by the [[Tea Party movement|Tea Party Movement]] in 2009.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mina|first=An Xiao|title=Memes to Movements: How the World's Most Popular Medea is Changing Social Protest and Power|publisher=Beacon Press|year=2019|isbn=9780807056585}}</ref>

According to a 2013 study by Bauckhage, et al., the temporal nature of most memes and their "hype cycles" of popularity are in line with the behavior of a typical fad and suggest that after they proliferate and become mainstream, memes quickly lose their appeal and popularity.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bauckhage |first1=Christian |last2=Kersting |first2=Kristian |last3=Hadiji |first3=Fabian |title=Mathematical Models of Fads Explain the Temporal Dynamics of Internet Memes |journal=Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media |date=28 June 2013 |volume=7 |issue=1 |url=https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/ICWSM/article/view/14392 }}</ref> Once it has lost its appeal, a meme is pronounced "dead" to signify its overuse or mainstream appearance.<ref name=":4" />

Among the intrinsic factors of memes that affect their potential rise to popularity is similarity. A 2014 study conducted by researcher Michele Coscia concluded that meme similarity has a negative correlation to meme popularity, and can therefore be used, along with factors like social network structure, to explain the popularity of various memes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coscia |first1=Michele |title=Average is Boring: How Similarity Kills a Meme's Success |journal=Scientific Reports |date=May 2015 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=6477 |doi=10.1038/srep06477 |pmid=25257730 |pmc=4175728 |bibcode=2014NatSR...4.6477C |doi-access=free }}</ref> A 2015 study by Mazambani et al. concluded that other factors of influence in meme spread within an online community include how relevant a meme is to the "topic focus" or theme of the online community as well as whether the posting user is in a position of power within an online setting.<ref name=":10">{{cite journal |last1=Mazambani |first1=Gideon |last2=Carlson |first2=Maria A. |last3=Reysen |first3=Stephen |last4=Hempelmann |first4=Christian F. |title=Impact of Status and Meme Content on the Spread of Memes in Virtual Communities |journal=Human Technology |date=30 November 2015 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=148–164 |doi=10.17011/ht/urn.201511113638 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Memes that are consistent with a group's theme and memes that originate from lower-status members within the group spread faster than memes that are inconsistent and are created by members of a group that are in positions of power.<ref name=":10" />

Scholars like Jakub Nowak propose the idea of popular driven media as well. Successful memes originate and proliferate by means of anonymous internet users, not entities like corporations or political parties that have an agenda. For this reason, anonymity is linked to meme popularity and credibility. Nowak asserts that meme authorship should remain anonymous, because this is the only way to let people make the statements that they want to freely.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nowak |first1=Jakub |title=Internet meme as meaningful discourse: Towards a theory of multiparticipant popular online content |journal=Central European Journal of Communication |date=11 May 2016 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=73–89 |doi=10.19195/1899-5101.9.1(16).5 |doi-access=free }}</ref>