인터넷 밈의 버내큘러 디자인적 특징 -개구리 페페 사례를 중심으로- = Vernacular Design Characteristics of Internet Memes -focusing on the case of Pepe the Frog-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Internet memes are becoming an important visual culture due to the development of the online environment. However, most of the studies are used without distinguishing between Internet memes and memes, instead they are focused on application and effect of Internet memes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the vernacular design characteristics of Internet memes and to examine the meaning of them, based on the concept of Internet memes. For this purpose, this study classified the concepts of Internet memes and memes through research of literature. Based on previous studies, the vernacular design was divided into three aspects in this study: ‘form’, ‘place’, and ‘user’. ‘Pepe the Frog’, one of the most widely used Internet memes online, was selected as a research case. The results of the analysis are as follows. 1) Internet memes are created in numerous variations and expressed in multimodality. The makers of Internet memes produce and spread them to express their opinions and to be selected by other users without being limited by their style or media. In this process, the Internet meme develops into a non-contextual design, with the expression of vernacular design elements such as anonymity, diversity, and popularity. 2) Online communities unintentionally produce subclassifications of Internet memes. This gives Internet memes locality to each community which is one form of their vernacular design. The community members can distinguish between makers of the Internet memes by understanding the context of the Internet meme which further delivers the ideology of the community. 3) Internet memes are made by amateurs and can be intentionally transformed by producers by expressing vernacular creativity. These vernacular features are expressed throughout the entire process from the generation to diffusion of Internet memes and are also associated with the quality of Internet memes. This study is meaningful in that it confirmed the characteristics of vernacular design in online visual materials by analyzing Internet memes in the design area based on the Pepe the Frog case.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

인터넷 밈은 온라인 환경의 발전으로 인해 중요한 시각 문화로 자리잡고 있다. 하지만 대부분의 연구는 인터넷 밈과 밈을 구분하지 않고 사용되고 있으며 인터넷 밈의 응용과 효과에 집중되어 있다. 본연구의 목적은 인터넷 밈의 개념 고찰을 기반으로 인터넷 밈에 나타나는 버내큘러 디자인적 특징을분석하고 그 의미를 알아보는 데에 있다. 이를 위해 본 고는 문헌 연구를 통해 인터넷 밈과 밈의 개념을 정리하여 구분하였고, 선행연구를 바탕으로 버내큘러 디자인을 ‘형식’, ‘장소’, ‘사용자’ 측면으로 나누어 사례분석을 위한 세 가지 기준을 제시하였다. 사례로는 온라인상 가장 널리 쓰이는 인터넷 밈 중하나인 ‘개구리 페페(Pepe the Frog)’를 선정하였다. 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 1) 인터넷 밈은 수없이 많은 변형이 생성되어 다양식으로 표현되고, 인터넷 밈 제작자는 의견 표출과 다른 사용자의 선택을 받기 위해 스타일이나 매체에 제한을 두지 않고 인터넷 밈을 생산하고 확산한다. 이 과정에서 인터넷 밈은 익명성, 다양성, 대중성 등의 버내큘러 디자인적 요소가 발현되며 나아가 비맥락적인 디자인으로 발전한다. 2) 온라인 공동체는 의도치 않게 하위분류 인터넷 밈을 생산한다. 이러한 특징은 사이버 네트워크상 각각 공동체에 버내큘러 디자인적 장소성을 부여하고, 공동체는 하위분류로 생산된 인터넷 밈에 대한 맥락 이해 여부로 구성원으로서의 판별, 더 나아가 공동체가 가지고 있는 이데올로기를 전달한다. 3) 인터넷 밈은 비전문가에 의해 만들어지며 버내큘러 창의성의 발현으로 제작자에 의해 의도적으로 변형된다. 이러한 버내큘러적 특징은 인터넷 밈의 생성부터 확산까지 전 과정에서 걸쳐발현되고 인터넷 밈의 퀄리티와도 연관된다. 본 논문은 페페 사례를 기반으로 인터넷 밈을 디자인 영역에서 분석해봄으로써 온라인 시각물에서 버내큘러 디자인의 특징을 확인했다는 데에 의의가 있다.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 김수철, "케이팝에서의 트랜스미디어 전략에 대한 고찰: '강남스타일' 사례를 중심으로" 언론정보연구소 50 (50): 84-120, 2013

2 Lee, J. H., "인터넷과 사이버사회" Communication Books 2000

3 최순욱, "유튜브에서의 뮤직비디오 팬덤 분석 BTS M/V의 시청, 댓글 상호작용, 밈 영상 제작" 한국언론학회 64 (64): 7-45, 2020

4 박장순, "신(新)한류시대의 메인스트림 K-pop의 확산에 관한 연구 - K-pop의 밈이론적 해석과 한류사 시대구분을 중심으로" 통번역연구소 16 (16): 1-24, 2012

5 Shim, H. R., "사이버스페이스 시대의 미학" Sallimbooks 2006

6 정보라, "뮤직비디오 패러디 제작 및 공유에 대한 유튜브 이용자들의 지속적인 행동의도와 그 영향요인" 사이버커뮤니케이션학회 30 (30): 131-167, 2013

7 Yi, W. J., "디자이너(Designer), 언디자이너(Undesigner)에 관한 연구 - 미국 그래픽디자이너 티보 칼맨(Tibor Kalman)을 중심으로" 14 : 1-13, 2004

8 채혜진, "근대화 과정에 나타난 버내큘러적 사물들의 욕망" 한국디자인학회 22 (22): 53-66, 2009

9 Brodie, R., "Virus of the mind" Next Wave Publishing 2010

10 Burgess, J., "Vernacular Creativity and New Media" Queensland University of Technology 2007

11 Hathaway, J., "Tumblr’s biggest meme of 2015 was Pepe the Frog"

12 Dawkins, C., "The selfish gene" Eulyoo Publishing 2018

13 You, H. Y., "The possibility which in various it takes out from concept of Vernacular Design" 10 (10): 77-84, 2007

14 Blackmore, S., "The meme machine" Badabooks Publishing 2010

15 Rabinowitz, A., "The meme as meme"

16 Kim, N. R., "The fruits of abundance: The theories behind the creation of Jjalbang’ and graphic design that takes into account its characteristics" University of Seoul 2015

17 Collins, S. T., "The creator of Pepe the Frog talks about making comics in the post-meme world"

18 Miller, R. M., "The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media" The MIT Press 2016

19 Kang, H. J., "The Vernacular Mirror: Twentieth-Century Design. 212" 23-25, 2001

20 Glitsos, L., "The Pepe the Frog meme : An examination of social, political, and cultural implications through the tradition of the Darwinian Absurd" 23 (23): 381-395, 2019

21 Peck, A., "The Memetic Vernacular: Everyday Argument in the Digital age" The University of Wisconsin 2017

22 Ambrose, G., "The Fundamentals of Graphic Design" AVA Publishing 2009

23 D'addario, D., "The 10 most influential fictional characters of 2016"

24 Jae Shin Kang, "Semiotic Approach for a Communication Analysis of Meme Content - Through Greimas' Semantic Generation Structure" The Korean Society of Media and Arts 18 (18): 23-39, 2020

25 Naver, "Search word trend. UpToDate"

26 Solon, O., "Richard Dawkins on the Internet's hijacking of the word ‘meme’"

27 Aqerite, "Rare Pepe evolution. [Online forum post]"

28 Know Your Meme, "Rare Pepe"

29 Weissman, J., "Pepe the Frog: A Study of Meaning in the Context of the 2016 U.S. Election" California State University 2019

30 Pettis, B., "Pepe the Frog: A Case Study of the Internet Meme and its Potential Subversive Power to Challenge Cultural Hegemonies" University of Oregon 2018

31 Ellis, E. G., "Pepe the Frog means something different in Hong Kong—right?"

32 Grinberg, E., "Pepe the Frog designated a hate symbol by ADL"

33 Know Your Meme, "Pepe the Frog"

34 Ngai, S., "Our Aesthetic Categories : Zany, Cute, Interesting" Harvard University Press 2012

35 Knobel, M., "Online Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production, a New Literacies Sampler" Peter Lang 2007

36 Tumblr, "Most Reblogged Memes"

37 Gordon, M., "Meme, Counter-meme"

38 Shifman, L., "Meme in Digital Culture" The MIT Press 2014

39 Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators Showcase, "Just for Hits - Richard Dawkins [video]"

40 Zanette, M. C., "Intertextual virality and vernacular repertoires : Internet memes as objects connecting different online worlds" 59 (59): 157-169, 2019

41 Nissenbaum, A., "Internet memes as contested cultural capital : The case of 4chan’s/b/board" 19 (19): 483-501, 2017

42 Roy, J., "How ‘Pepe the Frog’ went from harmless to hate symbol"

43 Bourke, I., "Hong Kong protesters transform alt-right Pepe the Frog into pro-democracy symbol" Hong Kong Free Press 2019

44 Know Your Meme, "Feels good man"

45 Jones, A., "Feels Good Man [Motion Picture]"

46 Murray, S., "Digital images, photo-sharing, and our shifting notions of everyday aesthetics" 7 (7): 147-163, 2008

47 Lee, J. K., "Design Aesthetics" Cheongju University Press 2001

48 Ahn, Y. J., "Critical discourse and political possibilities on vernacular design" Hongik University 2015

49 Pelletier-Gagnon, J., "Colonizing Pepe : Internet memes as cyberplaces" 24 (24): 4-18, 2021

50 Literat, I., "Buy memes low, sell memes high: Vernacular criticism and collective negotiations of value on Reddit’s MemeEconomy" 22 (22): 232-249, 2019

51 Rudofsky, B., "Architecture Without Architects"

52 Gürsimsek, Ö. A., "Animated GIFs as vernacular graphic design : producing Tumblr blogs" 15 (15): 329-349, 2016

53 Hyunseok Lee, "Analysis of the 'Gangnam style' Music Video through the Concepts of Kitsch and Meme" The Korea Contents Association 13 (13): 148-158, 2013

54 Hwang, S. B., "A study on vernacular design which is based on peculiarity of culture" 19 : 185-200, 2006

55 Dean, D., "A slipware dish by Samuel Malkin : An analysis of vernacular design" 7 (7): 153-167, 1994

56 Juna Kim, "A Study on Participatory Culture of Korean Webtoon Focused on User-Generated Images -" Korean Society of Cartoon Animation Studies 44 : 307-331, 2016

57 Kiberd, R., "4chan's frog meme went mainstream, so they tried to kill it"