As anyone who's ever engaged me in a conversation about TV shows before can tell you, HBO's Game of Thrones is my favorite show of all time. Though I'm far from the only one that watches it, something that's less common is peoples' knowledge of the source material, the book series A Song of Ice and Fire. In my case, I've engaged with both, and I'm slightly more partial to the books given my love of reading. However, realizing that blogging about a popular book series would require more than just rhetorical analysis, I thought about doing a psychoanalysis of certain characters and tying it back to how we function psychologically in the real world. A fictional world full of intrigue, assassination, and twisted family dynamics is ripe to be picked apart, providing plenty of fascinating content that is also relevant to the world we inhabit today. PTSD? Got it. Extreme narcissism? Yep. Incest...gross, but there's psychology behind that one too, believe it or not.
Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
Memeology
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a meme is defined as: "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." Several major universities both in the U.S. and globally even offer courses on memeology, the study of memes, as an analysis of cultural and social phenomena. (Penn State, unfortunately, isn't one of them.) As anyone who knows me can also tell you, I love memes, possibly to a slightly excessive degree. But beyond their basic comedic value, memes and their perceived humor are actually due to a complex social and psychological reaction in the human brain, something that I find truly fascinating. (Not to mention, it gives me an excuse to trawl the Internet for memes rather than do homework.) Each week, I'll take a different meme and explain its deep psychological meaning, as well as its social impact on how we perceive humor in an Internet and social media-based world.
Thoughts, comments, questions? Let me know.
I think both ideas would be really fascinating! Even though I am a Game of Thrones fan myself, I think that more people would be able to connect better with the meme idea, maybe expanding your audience base.
ReplyDeleteI thought both of your ideas seemed interesting and both topics had enough depth to be blog-worthy. The one I preferred was "Memeology" because I think that it would reach a larger audience. Although "A Blog of Ice and Fire" would be very informative, the topic seems less universal because not everyone is familiar with the show. However, whether on purpose or accidentally, most of us have seen at least one meme, and from your description, I found myself wanting to know more about the actual psychological context into which they fall and the influence they actually have in our daily life.
ReplyDeleteHey Ian! I think both ideas are witty and amusing! I have never read or watched Game of Thrones, but I have heard absolutely great things about it! I believe you may connect more effectively with your targeted audience (us) if you do the meme topic. This topic has the potential to be so funny and I know you will have a good amount of leeway to have fun with the readers! Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteBoth of your ideas would be really interesting to read, but I think your meme-blog idea is my favorite. Anyone can relate to the meme you present on your blog, but not everyone will relate to the book series and the references to it. You could reach a larger audience with your 2nd idea, but you couldn't go wrong either way!
ReplyDelete