“Meme” is one of those words I’ve long viewed skeptically. It sounds egg-heady and vaguely French. And I always have a nagging sense I’m pronouncing it wrong (it rhymes with ‘dream’). Still, like Web 2.0, once I actually learned what it meant, it wasn’t particularly intimidating. There’s a lot of egg-heady, vaguely Greek background information, but a meme basically amounts to to a self-replicating idea; think of it as copy-catting gone viral. Or think of it as a very high percentage of what you like on YouTube.
Play Them Off, Keyboard Cat
Actually, don’t think about it too much; just enjoy this recent one; the play them off keyboard cat. This is not a topic solely of interest to cat people. Hardly. This kimono-sporting feline does nothing more than move his paws over a synthesizer keyboard in an entirely unconvincing manner to a simple, ear-catching tune. This is clearly not about the production value, which–aside from the well-tailored silk garb–is non-existent. It’s about the idea; whenever someone or something produces a video FAIL (yet another meme), some amateur video editor takes that footage and intercuts this increasingly degrading clip into the situation at the end–literally playing him off ala Doc Severinsen on the old Tonight Show or Paul Shaffer on Letterman. These video clips often takes on meta status as they add this keyboard cat meme onto already popular video clips like this, this, and my far and away favorite–this.
When everyone can participate in the media, when technology makes it easy to make simple edits on a laptop, and when any video that captures the public attention can be forwarded with a few keystrokes, memes like the play-them-off-keyboard-cat will continually pop up like so many smile-inducing mayflies. Perhaps dancing babies and grape stomp lady and where the hell is Matt? don’t add to the intellectual advancement of the culture, but they add undeniable fun to a Friday morning.
Collective Thinking 