OLIYNYK YARYNA 2023

OLIYNYK YARYNA – a student of the Faculty of Humanities of the National University ”Kyiv Mohyla Academy”, laureate of the scholarship of the President of Ukraine in 2022–2023.

THE UKRAINIAN SEGMENT OF INTERNET MEMES AS A COMPONENT OF GLOBALIZED NETWORK FOLKLORE

The article is devoted to the investigation of Internet memes as a specific folklore genre, arisen as a result of development of global communication networks.

The submitted study is aimed at the characterization of the Internet memes as one of the basic forms of modern network folklore. The object includes the Internet meme as a cultural phenomenon, and its subject is the folklore and artistic aspect of Internet memes. The relevance of the investigation is determined by the constant growth of the influence of social networks on public consciousness, in particular with the help of the Internet memes and other means of carnivalization of virtual reality.

It is shown that the typical meme consists of visual and textual components determining its emotional and semantic content. The relation of these components with the artistic and folklore directions of the pre-internet age is studied. The visual one is related to postmodernism and pop art, while the textual one is the successor of the proverb, epigram, and anecdote. The key features characterizing Internet memes as a folklore phenomenon are identified: anonymity, collective co-creation, variability of content, and attribution to a laughing culture. A perspective task of systematic study of the rapidly developing Ukrainian segment of Internet memes has been formulated. Special attention is paid to the newest layer of memes generated by Ukraine’s resistance to full-scale Russian aggression.

Keywords: Internet meme, media genre, social networks, Internet folklore, globalization, national markers.

1. Denysiuk,ZHANNA. Memeticity of Communicative Practices in Conditions of Development of the Digital Information Space. Bulletin of the National Academy of Culture and Arts Management, 2021, no 1, pp. 13–19 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32461/2226-3209.1.2021.229534 [in Ukrainian].
2. DzIubina,Oksana. Classification, Structure and Functioning of Internet Memes in the Social Networks Twitter and Facebook. Young Scientist, 2016, no 2 (29), pp. 375–379 [in Ukrainian].
3. Dawkins,Richard. The Selfish Gene. Translated from English by Yaroslav LEBEDENKO. Kharkiv: KSD, 2017, 540 pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32461/2226-3209.1.2021.229534 [in Ukrainian].
4. Ivanova,D. The Meme as a Form of Internet Communication. Language World (Orbis Linguarum), 2022, vol. 20, no 3, pp. 376–385 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37708/ezs.swu.bg.v20i3.8 [in Bulgarian].
5. KyrylIuk,Olha. The Language of Network Folklore as a Means of Resistance to Informational Aggression. Language: Classical – Modern – Postmodern, 2020, iss. 6, pp. 32–48 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18523/lcmp2522-9281.2020.6.32-49 [in Ukrainian].
6. KraVcHyk-VasYleVska,V. Electronic Folklore as a Phenomenon of Digital Culture. Slavic World, 2009, iss. 7, pp. 127–138 [in Ukrainian].
7. Kępa-Figura, Danuta. (Internet) meme as a new media genre. Statement of the Question. Medialinguistics, 2019, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 103–121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu22.2019.108 [in Russian].
8. LysIuk,Nataliia. Linguistic Wars of 2014. Folk Art and Ethnology, 2015, no. 1, pp. 23–31 [in Ukrainian].
9. NEDOHORSKA, Anastasiia. «Good Evening, We are from Ukraine»– A Track from DJs from Kremenchuk has Collected Tens of Millions of Listens. Poltavshchyna. 13.03.2022 [online] [viewed 26 January 2024]. Available from: https://poltava.to/news/65215/ [in Ukrainian].
10. Olenina, Olena, Yuliia Pichuhina. Internet memes of Ukrainian origin in the Culture-Forming Practice of Modern Society. Bulletin of the National Academy of Culture and Arts Management, 2018, no. 3, pp. 77–81 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32461/2226-3209.3.2018.147211 [in Ukrainian].
11. ANON. Ukrainian Language in the Social Networks: Assessment of Usage. Centre Content [online] [viewed 26 January 2024]. Available from: https://ukrcontent.com/reports/ukrainska-mova-u-socmerezhah-ocinka-vzhivannya.html[in Ukrainian].
12. Chemerkin,Serhii. Internet Meme: What is it? Word Culture, 2015, no. 82, pp. 113–116 [in Ukrainian].
13. Cochrane,Leslie, Alexandra Johnson, Aubrey Lay, Ginny Helmandollar. «One does not Simply Categorize a Meme»: A Dual Classification System for Visual-Textual Internet Memes. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 2022, vol. 7, no. 1, pap. 5260, pp. 1–6 [online]. Available from: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/american-indian-code-talkers DOI: https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v7i1.5260 [in English].
14. Fialkova,Larisa, Maria Yelenevskaya. Ghosts in the Cyber World. An Analysis of Folklore Sites on the Internet. Fabula, 2001, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 64–89 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.2001.011 [in English].
15. Kępa-Figura, Danuta. Mem internetowy jak onośnik narracji o świecie [Internet Meme as a Carrier of Narration about the World]. Discourse Theses and Syntheses. Language – Culture – Media. Krakow: Institute of Journalism, Media and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University, 2019, pp. 171 – 188[in Polish].
16. Rushkoff,Douglas. Media Virus!: Hidden Agendas in Popular Culture. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996, 344 pp. [in English].