Colonizing Pepe: Internet Memes as Cyberplaces
Item
Title
Colonizing Pepe: Internet Memes as Cyberplaces
Space and Culture
Creator
Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon
Axel Pérez Trujillo Diniz
Subject
Internet
Pepe the Frog
cyberplace
meme
participatory culture
spatiality
Abstract
This article explores the Pepe the Frog Internet meme through a spatial approach that targets the ways in which netizens attempt to repurpose it, so as to build a communal space in which meaning is constantly negotiated and hijacked. We argue that Pepe the Frog and other memes can be interpreted as “cyberplaces” defined as computer environments that display the ideological polemics between netizens as they struggle to build a sense of community. Moreover, the rhizomatic stratification of such cyberplaces reveals a more nuanced view of meme dynamics, one that takes into account the agency of users as they efface and impose meanings on memes, not unlike the process of deterritorialization enacted on places.
volume
24
issue
1
pages
4-18
Date
February 1, 2021
short title
Space and Culture
Colonizing Pepe
Language
en
doi
10.1177/1206331218776188
issn
1206-3312