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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS 326"
COURSE NAME: "Meme Culture and Aesthetics"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2025
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Valentina Tanni
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: MW 10:00 AM 11:15 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisites: COM 220
OFFICE HOURS: by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will offer an overview of the history and aesthetics of Internet memes, a cultural phenomenon that is getting more and more relevant by the day. Born in the mid-Nineties in the context of the newly founded World Wide Web, it rapidly evolved from being just a form of humorous, viral-prone type of content, to a more nuanced, complex, and rich language. Memes today can in fact be considered an art genre: collective, performative, and often ephemeral. The course investigates the different formats and approaches to meme production and tries to contextualize them within the history of image-making and artmaking. Special emphasis will be placed on the analysis of relevant case studies chosen from different contexts and time periods.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

The course will start by exploring a few possible definitions of Internet memes, using a wide array of texts from different scholars. Subsequently, a few lectures will be dedicated to the topic of digital images, with the goal of understanding their specific nature, also in relation to analog ones. In the final part, the course will analyze some specific trends that are very widespread in Internet cultures, such as weirdness, absurdism, and performativity.

Lectures and discussions will be supported with several multimedia contents. Students are strongly encouraged to propose their own case studies and other useful media material for the class. Readings include texts by influential theorists such as Henry Jenkins, Ryan Milner, Limor Shifman, Hito Steyerl, Kenneth Goldsmith and Joshua Citarella, among others.

All studying materials (slides and essays) will be available in digital format.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of the course students will be able to:
1. understand and analyze the language of internet memes
2. understand and recognize the main aesthetics born in the context of internet culture
3. recognize the influence that internet memes have on contemporary culture at large
4. contextualize internet memes within the larger history of image making and communication
5. advance one’s ability to produce qualitative research reports and papers
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Attendance & ParticipationParticipation includes doing the assigned readings and actively contributing to class discussions. 10%
Midterm examDetailed guidelines will be provided.30%
Final research paper & Oral presentationStudents are required to prepare a research paper on a topic related to the course material and to deliver an oral presentation of their findings. Detailed guidelines to be provided.40%
Ongoing Assignment | Meme DiaryStudents are required to keep a visual diary about internet memes throughout the semester. The document should be updated weekly and submitted at the end of the course. Detailed guidelines will be provided.20%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
SCHEDULE

PART I – WHAT IS A MEME?

 

Week 1. Introduction and course overview: contextualizing memes

 

Reading:
Richard Dawkins, Memes: the new replicators, in The Selfish Gene, 1976



Watching:
Susan Blackmore - The Idea of Memes, YouTube video, 2000

Richard Dawkins - Just for Hits, YouTube video, 2014

Henry Jenkins - Spreadable content makes the consumer king, 2014
Oliver Laric - 50 50, artist video, 2007-8

Week 2. Defining and analyzing memes

Reading:
Mike Godwin, Meme, Counter-Meme, Wired Magazine, 1993
Limor Shifman, Defining Internet Memes, in Memes in Digital Culture, MIT Press, 2013
Glenn Anderau, Daniel Barbarrusa, The Function of Memes in Political Discourse, in Topoi 43, 2024

Week 3. Defining and analyzing memes II

Reading:
Bradley E. Wiggins, The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture, Routledge, 2019.
Ryan Milner, Logics: The Fundamentals of Memetic Participation, in The World Made Meme. Public Conversations and Participatory Media, MIT Press, 2016

Week 4. Images in the digital age

Reading:
Valentina Tanni, The Unstable Image, in Memesthetics. The Eternal September of Art, 2020
Hito Steyerl, In Defense of the Poor Image, 2009
Nick Douglas, It’s Supposed to Look Like Shit: The Internet Ugly Aesthetic, Journal of Visual Culture, 2014

 

Watching:
The most famous baboons on the internet, YouTube video, 2016

 

Week 5. Remixes and Détournements

 

Reading:
Eduardo Navas, Remix[ing] Sampling, in Remix Theory: The Aesthetics of Sampling, 2012

Guy Debord and Gil Wolman, A User's Guide to Détournement, 1956

Watching:
Kirby Ferguson, Everything is a Remix, 2012-2023 (excerpt)


PART II – MEME AESTHETICS

Week 6. Brief History of Internet Memes

 

Reading:
Linda Börzsei, Makes a Meme Instead: A Concise History of Internet Memes, 2013
Aidan Walker, Memetic Infrastructures, How Would We Know What a Meme Is? Examining Know Your Meme and The Art Of Internet Culture Archiving, in Critical Meme Reader III. Breaking the Meme, Institute of Network Cultures, 2024
Nathaniel Sloan, Beyond Based and Cringe: An Examination of Contemporary Modes of Irony and Sincerity in Cultural Production, 2021

Watching:
How 'Kilroy Was Here' Was the First Meme Ever, 2021


Week 7. Midterm examinations

 

Review / Test

 

Week 8. Life and Death of a Meme: Pepe the Frog

 

Reading:
Caspar Chan, Pepe the Frog Is Love and Peace: His Second Life in Hong Kong, in Chloë Arkenbout, Jack Wilson and Daniel de Zeeuw (edited by), Critical Meme Reader: Global Mutations of the Viral Image, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2021.

 

Watching:
Feels Good Man!, Documentary, 2020

 

Week 9. Weird content: Nonsense and Absurdism

 

Reading:

Valentina Tanni, The age of non-sense, in Memesthetics. The Eternal September of Art, 2024

Matthew Barad, Millennial Desperation: A Tale Told in Memes, 2017
Yuval Katz and Limor Shifman, Making Sense? The Structure and Meanings of Digital Memetic Nonsense, 2017
Fabian Mosele, Italian Brainrot: when AI Slop Becomes Culture, 2025
Gunsely Yalcinkaya, Blessed and emoji-pilled: why language online is so absurd, 2023

Valentina Tanni, The World is Cake, in Exit Reality. Vaporwave, Backrooms, Weirdcore, and Other Landscapes Beyond the Threshold, 2024

Watching:
Dada and Surrealism: Europe After the Rain, Documentary (1978)

 

PART III – PERFORMATIVITY

 

Week 10. Fail again, fail epic

 

Reading:

Emma Cocker, Over and Over, Again and Again, 2010, in Lisa Le Feuvre, Failure, 2010
Valentina Tanni, Fail again, fail epic, in Memesthetics. The Eternal September of Art, 2024

Watching:
Bas Jan Ader, selection of performances, various dates
Ecce Homo, The Fresco Fiasco, the "botched restoration", Documentary, 2020

 

Week 11. Performance and self-expression

Reading:

Kenneth Goldsmith, The Writer as a Meme Machine, 2013.

Mat Gleason, Is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Art?, 2014.
Micheal Wesch, YouTube and You. Experiences of Self-Awareness in the Context Collapse of the Recording Webcam, 2009
Valentina Tanni, Bodies on the Screen. A Short Essay on Performative Memes, 2021

Watching:
TIKTOK Skateboard Dreams Vibe, video, 2020

 

Week 12. Memes and Politics

 

Reading:
Limor Shifman, May the Excessive Force Be With You: Memes as Political Participation, in Memes in Digital Culture, MIT Press, 2013
An Xiao Mina, Behold, The Llamas, in Memes to Movements: How the World's Most Viral Media is Changing Social Protest and Power, Beacon Press, 2019
Joshua Citarella, Politigram and the Post-Left, 2018-21, excerpt
Alexis E. Hunter, Tiera Tanksley, Memes as Cultural Remedy. A Critical Race Analysis of Black Memetic Resistance, in Chloë Arkenbout and İdil Galip (edited by), Critical Meme Reader III: Breaking the Meme, 2024

 

Week 13. Memes, Politics and Disinformation

Reading:
Andy King, Weapons of Mass Distraction: Far-Right Culture-Jamming Tactics in Memetic Warfare, in Critical Meme Reader: Global Mutations of the Viral Image, Institute of Network Cultures, 2021

Watching:

The Antisocial Network: Memes to Mayhem, Documentary, 2024


Week 14. Wrap up/final discussion

 

* The contents of this outline are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.