The Just Kidding Jouissance of Dark Brandon

The head of Joseph Biden appears before the seal of the president of the United States of America (fig. 1). The resulting aureole is set off from a black background with a layer of eerie purple haze and further illuminated by brilliant light emanating from the eye sockets of the 46th commander in ch...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRepresentations (Berkeley, Calif.) Vol. 168; no. 1; pp. 170 - 179
Main Author LaRiviere, Jason
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berkeley University of California Press Books Division 01.11.2024
Subjects
Internet
Presidents
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Summary:The head of Joseph Biden appears before the seal of the president of the United States of America (fig. 1). The resulting aureole is set off from a black background with a layer of eerie purple haze and further illuminated by brilliant light emanating from the eye sockets of the 46th commander in chief. The visual texture of the image bears all of the hallmarks of contemporary memes: it is decidedly low-res, lossily compressed, and—in online parlance—“deep fried.” It is supposed to look like shit.1 What is one to make of this image when it is encountered in its native habitat, almost certainly a social networking platform on the world wide web? What do memes mean?
ISSN:0734-6018
1533-855X
DOI:10.1525/rep.2024.168.11.170