Essay On Image: Internet Meme Pikachu Kitten (Know Your Meme)

In modern times we are bombarded with so many images in our everyday existence it can often be difficult to distinguish what is “true” and what is a falsity. In the days of CGI filming and overly airbrushed photos, it seems that people are more willing to except photographic trickery than they are to accept photography as a documentation of truth. Photography was originally thought of as the ultimate truth, documenting people and events in real time, however this is often no longer the reality. By looking at images in our everyday life with an analytical eye we can better distinguish photographic truths or better appreciate them for their artistic merit How many times have we watched one of those viral videos on the internet and wondered if was really? Is there really such a thing as a Pikachu Kitten? Probably not, but images are constantly pushing the boundaries of what we understand to be true by playing on our emotions and deceiving us by using small grains of truth to raise doubt in our minds about the falsities we are seeing. When analyzing something visual we must break down our visual culture and establishes a set of rules to better understand media globalization such as television and the internet. The author emphasizes that one has to consider how these images travel globally and in distinct cultures; how they are an integral and important aspect of our lives. The images are analyzed in relation to a range of cultural and representational issues and methodologies. Just because an image might not be truthful doesn’t always mean that it can’t be good art. People appreciate fakes nearly as much as truth. Internet memes such as “Pikachu Kitten” are clearly fake, yet we still rave about them and enjoy viewing them.