Interestingly, these used to be called 'jokes' before memes existed.
It's like calling every photo of you a fucking selfie. It's only a selfie if you did it yourself of yourself. The end.
And yeah, I'm with you. Now every funny picture is a meme. No, it's just a funny picture.
Now get off my lawn!
You got my meme response now you get my academic reply.
A meme is a remix of an existing idea/joke/image. Unless you are creating something new whole cloth it could be considered a meme. Even though the term hadn't been coined, what Mark was doing with 3/4 of those autographs was altering the context of the card image, thus he did create memes.
Now get off my lawn.
Actually the term was coined all the way back in the 70s, by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene.
It means a cultural gene. It's a piece of culture that is so pervasive it can be said to be a part of the genetic code of the society. Examples are the smiley face, tic tac toe or other simple common games, that S thing we all drew as kids, etc.
Not all jokes are memes, and not all memes are jokes.
My old manual Minolta SR-7 camera had a timer button for selfies. I was cool before it was cool to be cool.
Listen up boomer, if you didn't want people on your lawn, you shouldn't have moved into a NIMBY WASPspsps HOA neighborhood.
/issues fines for grass over 1.12 inches high
ok grandpa let's get you back inside
I was going to ask what people mean when they say "meme" now, because they do not seem to be using the word the way that I use it.
A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures. In popular language, a meme may refer to an Internet meme, typically an image, that is remixed, copied, and circulated in a shared cultural experience online.
Per Wikipedia, emphasis on what I consider the relevant bits. What way do you use it?
By your own highlighted parts, the cards in the OP are not memes. People don't alter pictures of those signed cards and they don't mutate. They don't change via selective pressures as we don't see new versions where people change the image or the text. Additionally, those pictures of the trading cards are not remixed. They're shared unaltered. The OP is missing key traits of being a meme. The OP is a picture of some funny jokes that Mark Hamil wrote on some trading cards he autographed. They're certainly entertaining, but they're not memes.
Is it a meme now?
I use the first definition. To use the word simply to mean a picture that is shared doesn't really match the original usage of this word. The act of sharing pictures is a meme. Some pictures that get shared a lot are memes. Mark Hamill writing on a picture is something obviously some people call a meme, but I think those people are using a new, and as far as I can tell, pointless, meaning of the word.
Is it a meme now?
The Selfish Gene was first published in 1976, a year before Star Wars.
I’ve even seen recent writers struggle to describe self-replicating ideas as “mind-viruses” and the like. I dunno, if only there was already a word for that guys!
My favourite joke of his is a very lowkey one: changing his twitter display name to Mar 🐫
Mark Hamill showing how he's such a Joker.
It was always in the cards.
Don't beat that metaphor to death... there's Robin for that
Akin to a Trickster if you ask me.
MFW a post doesn't get enough upvotes.
You got 200 upvotes in under an hour. How many do you need King Xerxes?
~~You~~ Mark Hamill got 200 upvotes in under an hour.
I'm just a dirty reposter in this scenario.
Wew. Lots of Lucas and Disney fanbois it looks like based on the vitriol. I'm GenX. We lived through the "Gap of SW" where we made do with mid-good SW novels, toys, games, cameos and the occasional SW-related tv movies. We were so hyped to the heavens for the Prequels that we didn't see the warning signs when Lucas shat on SW by making the Special Editions. I walked out of the cinema in confusion after watching TPM. It's like a Believer being told by God himself that your religion is a sham. Lucas is a sfx visionary and world builder but he is a hack in script writing and needed people to tell him off. The actors like Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford frequently refused to act out the lines Lucas wrote. Carrie Fisher even became a script doctor due to her experience with Lucas' terrible scripts.
Wew. Lots of Lucas and Disney fanbois it looks like based on the vitriol.
I wish Mark Hamill was my cool uncle
Think the bong is still for sale?
Never tell me the odds!
So you’re telling me there’s a chance…!
He learned from the best... George Lucas did everything he could with Bill Moyers to open source the whole humanity meme pattern inspiration in Star Wars. He was trying to tie pre-film, pre-cinema, patterns to film. Passing down the meat and potatoes of society to each generation.
Kind of wild to think that Star Wars was filmed when "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" was cutting edge literary theory.
Damn, come to think of it he probably went to some of Joseph Campbell's lectures.
I went to Star Wars Celebration VI back in 2012 and it was $225 to get Mark Hammil's autograph. I opted instead to get Peter Mayhew's for $60. RIP Mr. Mayhew.
Mar🐪 is a legend of legends.
But he's too famous of an actor to write funny things, everybody knows that after you've been in a couple of big movies, you aren't allowed to do funny bits on the Internet anymore.
Maybe he's one of those "meme accounts" or something.
The fuckin bong joke is majestic. I assume he was pulling these out of his ass at signings, too. Nice handwriting, Mark.
I could never be famous enough to sign stuff, people would get it back like what the fuck is this? My sig would be all inconsistent, too. Hamill is a pro, though. Even back then.
You know? He handled going from nobody to Luke Skywalker pretty damned well all things considered.
Star Wars Memes
Hello there. Somehow, Star Wars memes have returned. It's not a trap, this is where the fun begins.
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Other universes to visit:
Separatist systems:
Oh hey some real SW content for a change (perhaps):
!starwarstelevision@lemmy.world
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IMPORTANT
Please do not post the "good friend" or similar copypasta
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Our galactic citizens have requested more specific rules, so here are a few.
The general idea is, if you're looking here for rules, you're probably someone who doesn't need to have them spelled out. You're fine. But anyway:
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This is a community for Star Wars memes. This means typically screenshots of Star Wars media with some text or context that's meant to be funny and/or thoughtful. All SW media is welcome: movies, games, comic books, fanart... Other kinds of content, like video links or meta memes (about this community, or Lemmy), are fine as well, just keep it on topic.
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We are all friends here, and love (sometimes love to hate) Star Wars. Be nice to each other.
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As fans of fictional media, we can be passionate. If you very strongly disagree with something or someone, take a deep breath before reacting. Anger leads to the dark side!
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Everything in Star Wars has happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, and it's a rich universe of millions of words and millions of years of history. So current Earthly matters really shouldn't concern us here. In other words, leave politics, philosophies and convictions behind the door. This applies even if it's about something related to Star Wars.
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Original content is preferred. Reposts are fine, just please limit to a maximum of 3 per day, per citizen. It is recommended, but not required, to mark original memes as (OC) and reposts as (repost).
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Local mods are the Jedi council. They may take actions that are necessary to maintain peace and stability of the Republic, even beyond the rules outlined here. Follow their guidance.
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Regular rules of the Lemmy.world instance apply.