Meme as environment, movement as climate: the Trump indictment events in the political anthropocene
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: If memes are a type of communication produced by the environment—a composition of human and non-human elements, that environment influences and is influenced by climate or atmosphere that facilitates the body politic's in/action. This article, thus, explores the symbolic interactions within and surrounding political memes, focusing on intertextualities and paratexts in the visual (re)presentation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2023 indictments. The critique suggests that memeification of politics presents possibilities for community, but may also pollute the media environment with distorted rhetorical patterns. It recognizes similarities between movements and memetics, both of which are part of a media ecological system and share characteristics of imitation and identity formation.
Source: Frontiers in Communication
Author: Christina M. Knopf
Institution: SUNY Cortland
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,418
OpenAlex ID: W7225399734