I found the discussions centering around the relationship between pop culture and geography fascinating. Anna’s story about being familiar with Eurovision, growing up in Portugal and discussing the North American perspective of the competition was fantastic. The discussion about pop culture memes and their longevity depends on how familiar people are with them (i.e. Boromir’s famous
“one simply does not walk into Mordor from LOTR) was something I also shared with my brother. It wasn’t something I had thought about before, probably because it’s so familiar to me.
While I found the use of memes to discuss inequality and injustices in the world helpful, I also find it a somewhat narrow and limited perspective of the developing world. Pop culture can tell multiple perspectives; however, that is largely dependent on the creator of a meme, gif, show etc. Inequality issues in the developing world exist (I know since I grew up in a developing country and during a civil war); however, there are also positive things taking place. I believe it’s also important to discuss those achievements. Like culture, memes too evolve, and I hope my perspective on how memes are used develops too.
For Further Reading On Memes
References
Nikolova, M, (2020, November 28). Squatting Slavs: One of the internet’s best-known memes is evolving. Emerging Europe. https://emerging-europe.com/after-hours/squatting-slavs-one-of-the-internets-best-known-memes-is-evolving/
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