You will type your portfolio response here. Using the article, "The Rise of the Meme," answer the prompt: Why are memes such a powerful form of communication? Remember to refer to the writing rubric as you work on your writing. This response should be two paragraphs in length. This equates to 5-7 complete sentences per paragraph.

Question

Have you seen the video of Pedro Pascal eating a sandwich? In a clip that became wildly popular
earlier this year, the Mandalorian star bites into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chews
silently, staring into space.
The clip comes from Pascal’s appearance on a food show, but it quickly became a meme—a piece of
digital content that is copied, tweaked, and shared online. People have added sad piano music, loud
crunching sounds, dancing cats, and funny captions. Versions of the meme have been viewed
millions of times.
Funny, right? Of course.
But memes can do a lot more than make us laugh. Memes offer us a way to connect with each
other, to express ourselves, to be creative and clever. Indeed, memes have become an important
form of communication.
New Meanings
Memes may seem like a new phenomenon, but they’ve existed in various forms for thousands of
years. The term meme can refer to any idea or behavior that is passed from person to person. A
scientist named Richard Dawkins is credited with coining the term in 1976—decades before
smartphones and the internet became part of our everyday lives.

Dawkins noted that as memes spread, they take on new meanings. Here’s an example: In the
lead-up to World War II, the British government designed a motivational poster that read “Keep
Calm and Carry On.” The message was meant to ease people’s fears during a frightening time.
In 2000, the poster resurfaced and became trendy. People began putting lighthearted spins on the
original wording, like “Keep Calm and Eat Tacos” and “Keep Calm and Game On.” Countless takes
appeared, on everything from T-shirts to mugs to greeting cards.
The 1939 poster had become a meme.

Millions of Memes

Memes as we know them now emerged in the early 2000s with the rise of the internet. Back then,
uploading and editing photos took time, so early memes were pretty basic. One of the most iconic
was a picture of a fluffy cat with a caption that read: “I Can Has Cheezburger?” After it was posted
online in 2007, thousands of people created their own silly cat memes, now known collectively as
LOLCats.

These days, memes are much easier to make. Digital tools allow you to riff on existing memes or to
create entirely new ones with just a few clicks or taps. Today, more than one million memes are
shared every day on Instagram alone.
But the ease of meme-making isn’t the only reason memes are everywhere. It’s also because they’re
a great way to communicate, says Will Styler, a linguist at the University of California, San Diego.

Memes have the power to capture a moment, an attitude, or a feeling in a way that anyone can
understand. Creating and sharing them can make stressful situations easier to handle—even
funny—and make you feel less alone.
“Oftentimes we use memes to express things that are too complicated to express through words,”
Styler says.
Memes in Museums
Memes don’t just reflect the feelings and ideas of individuals though. They can also tell us a lot
about our society. That’s according to Ricky Sans, the head of memes at Meta, the company that
owns Instagram.
Sans predicts that the memes we’re making and sharing today will one day be artifacts in
museums, where future generations will be able to study them to better understand what our lives
were like in the 21st century. After all, memes can provide insights into a society’s values and
customs at a given moment in time.
Take that Pedro Pascal sandwich meme. What might people 1,000 years from now learn from it?
They might learn that Pascal was a big star in 2023. They might get a sense of what we found funny.
They might conclude that sandwiches were a popular food.
Maybe they would even be inspired to try an ancient dish: peanut butter and jelly.

Answer 1

Memes are a powerful form of communication because they encapsulate complex emotions and ideas in a simple, relatable format. As noted in the article, memes have the ability to represent moments or attitudes that might be too intricate to convey through traditional language. They allow individuals to express feelings such as humor, frustration, or nostalgia without resorting to lengthy explanations. For instance, the viral meme of Pedro Pascal enjoying a sandwich serves not merely to entertain but also connects audiences through shared cultural references and experiences. By utilizing humor and creativity, memes create an inclusive space where people can engage with each other, thereby fostering a sense of community and belonging.

Moreover, memes have the unique capability to reflect societal values and trends, acting as a mirror to the zeitgeist of a particular era. As Ricky Sans highlights, the memes of today may become historical artifacts that future generations will study to understand contemporary life in the 21st century. They capture not just trends but also the collective consciousness, shedding light on what was significant to us at the time—whether it's the rise of certain celebrities or the prevailing culinary fads. In doing so, memes transcend mere entertainment; they become a crucial channel for cultural expression and documentation, reminding us of the importance of connection in our fast-paced digital world.