Meme Justification

In order to understand the reasoning behind my meme, I think it’s important to understand what a meme is in the first-place. Memes can be anything. They can be a phrase, an image or an image macro, a video, even a physical body gesture — but these things aren’t actually the memes. They’re the packages that  meme comes in. A meme, at its most basic form, is an idea. And not just an idea, but an idea that is easily identifiable, more or less regardless of region or culture.Take a meme like “Socially Awkward Penguin”. At face value, it’s a picture of a penguin captioned by a line of clever self-depreciating humor. On its own, the image would be meaningless. It’s just a picture of a penguin. The meme “idea” comes in the with the text — because it’s not just any random line of  text. It’s a concept. It’s not just a penguin— it’s a socially awkward penguin. It’s an instantly recognizable idea. Whether or not the viewer can relate to the line of text doesn’t matter so much as the fact that he can recognize it and see the idea in his surroundings or in his own life. With that said, effective memes are usually the ones that are the most relatable to the viewer.

My meme is called “Overbearing Big Daddy”. It’s based off of (what I hoped was…) an easily identifiable trope — the Big Daddy acts as an overprotective father, sizing up and intimidating his daughter’s date. I wanted it to be recognizable to the viewer regardless of whether or not he or she has ever played the games or even recognized the Big Daddy. However, I think the fact that it is a Big Daddy makes the meme that much more effective. In the games, the Big Daddies are already very similar to the overprotective father figure that the meme is based off of. Their role in the games is to act as guardians of the Little Sister characters, and the two have a relationship that is parallel to the protective bond between a parent and a child. In the games, Big Daddies will adopt a guarded stance and sometimes push the player away if the player gets too close to a Little Sister. If the player decides to harm or kill a Little Sister, the Big Daddy will viciously attack him. Big Daddies are very powerful and can be hard to kill, so players generally try to avoid confrontation with the characters if they don’t have to— so if the concept of not wanting to displease the overbearing father figure wasn’t obvious before, to fans of the series, it would be. However, the idea that the meme should be accessible to those both in and out of the fanbase is key. So even if viewers don’t understand the Bioshock reference, they  will still see a very intimidating, paternal looking figure with his hand sheltering a young girl — it still frames the ‘overbearing father’ theme.

I used several different forms of social media to try to help spread the meme. I posted the first set of image macros to Tumblr on April 15th, just hoping to get a couple of reblogs and likes so as to get the ball rolling— but nothing happened, so I waited another day or two before uploading the macros to a different site: 4chan.org. I tried uploading to the video-game board first, /v/, but the thread that I was posting in got deleted within 30 seconds after I posted the first macro and the template. I thought that I might have better luck on the notorious “random” board, /b/, but my thread got “404’d” again just minutes after I posted. I used one more site to try to spread the meme, 9gag.com, but I was really reluctant to use it because I feel like it spreads the ‘wrong’ kind of humor (as if /b/ doesn’t… I dunno. I feel 4chan is sort of like this raunchy, occasionally hilarious underground nightclub that nobody talks about,while 9Gag is the local middle-school.). It got a grand total of 1 “like” on 9gag. I decided to stop posting the meme after that. The internet had spoken. “Overbearing Big Daddy“‘s message just wasn’t influential enough. Maybe I’ll try again another time with a different set of images…

Fan Art #2 Justification

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For my second fan art I decided to do another Bioshock fan fiction. Writing the ‘craak’ reflection was so much fun I thought it would be cool to give it another go with a more serious tone. While in the original fan-fiction I wrote, the story focused on the protagonist of the game: Jack. And while it was fun to use him to poke fun at some of the more ridiculous aspects of the games, I felt that Jack, as a character, had very little to offer. I mean, throughout the first game, the guy is about as emotional as a slab of rock… but that’s what got me thinking about the character I wanted to use for this fan fiction. At the beginning of the first game, the first set-piece that the player comes across is this huuuuuggeee monolithic lighthouse, and if you look closely enough, at the very top of the tower there’s this sculpture of a winged figure holding a beacon of light. The player later learns that lighthouse turns out to be the only entrance to and exit from the city of Rapture… and I thought that concept in itself was pretty interesting. It didn’t really occur to me what exactly to do with it until I saw this while stumbling around online:
Then it just kind of hit me. I wanted to write a story around a set piece that Bioshock fans might instantly recognize, but in a context they may never have considered before. Also, it dawned on me that throughout the course of the game, the player learns a lot about what’s been happening to Rapture since it was built, but relatively little about the construction of the city itself or its “opening day”, so to speak, in 1951. I assumed that the lighthouse would have likely been the last piece of architecture to be built before the opening of the city to the city to the public, and that the figure on the top of the tower might have been just the icing on the cake. In my story, I wanted the reader to learn about the state of Rapture from a piece of Rapture itself, something that had been there since it had been opened. Something supposed to be completely unconscious, but turns out to be quite obviously conscious.
The men surrounding the statue throughout the story were supposed to be the original architects and builders of the city itself, including Andrew Ryan and the “Father” figure, Anton, who was supposed to be a sculptor commissioned by Andrew Ryan to build the figure at the top of the tower, as a sort of functional symbol of what Rapture was supposed to represent. In retrospect, these ideas didn’t really come through as much as I had hoped when I wrote the story, but I  initially thought that Ryan’s maiden speech of sorts would help clear that up.

Although the “guardian” sculpture, Ambriel/Charon, is unable to really see the downfall of Rapture, I wanted it to come across as though he still had an understanding that Rapture was based on ‘feeling’ alone. He is part of the city — physically part of the city — and because of that, he could ‘feel’ what was going on in other parts of the city.

All in all, it was a really fun piece to work on, and I know that even though it was really short, I hope that it was able to draw in readers anyway.

Guardian

My father named me Ambriel, but now I feel Charon might have been a better choice. Long ago, I felt suited for my birth name. I was a guardian, a protector of a vast city of light and knowledge hidden in plain sight— symbol of man’s constant march of progress. I welcomed the brightest and most creative of minds into my dominion. But now… now, I am Charon. Deliverer of lost souls to the gates of Hell.

nine years ago, I was birthed from a block of cold, wet marble and greeted into the world by the smell of salt air and the sight of my father and nine others. Their faces glowed with the sheen of prideful sweat and reverent tears, and they stood at my feet, applauding my entrance into the world. How I remember all of this after all these years remains a mystery, but I suppose at this point, it doesn’t really matter.

Of the ten men present to witness my birth, there was one in particular that caught my attention. He was rather short in stature but grand in voice and presence, and as the applause died down, he shook Father’s hand vigorously.

“He’s glorious…”

Even when he was speaking softly, his voice carried with the presence of authority.

“ He captures everything Rapture is meant to be… Anton, you have truly outdone yourself.”

With those simple words of praise, his gaze shifted towards the rest of the surrounding men, and his voice rose.

“Look at him carefully, gentlemen. In front of you stands the guardian angel of Rapture. Between his wings, the beacon of man’s progress shines bright. Bright enough to be captured and reflected by men and women who, like yourselves, have decided once and for all that they shall be burdened no more by the restrictive binds of archaic rules and ethics.”

His voice booming now, he raised both hands, mimicking my own upturned wings.

“Beneath our feet stands the greatest testament of human triumph in the history of the world. Above us stands the guide that will allow others to bear witness to— no — become one WITH this triumph. HE, AND HE ALONE,  WILL PROVIDE THEM SAFE PASSAGE INTO OUR CITY.”

“HE WILL GUIDE THEM TO RAPTURE.”

As Father and eight other men burst into another round of uproarious applause, the man known as Andrew Ryan stepped down from between my feet and smiled broadly.

Had they only known what they were applauding.

Had they known that now, in just a decade, their ‘testament of human triumph’ would be in near ruin.

As the years passed, I could feel the quiet rumble of insanity and pain grow stronger beneath me. It ebbs and flows like the waves that crash against my tower.

I do not think I can stand this burden any longer.
My greatest wish is for one more soul to be guided by my beacon.
Let them be guided to this city.

Let them destroy it.

That awkward feel when you create a new meme thread on /v/ and it 404’s in less than 30 seconds…