Blog Post #3 - Keelin Levasseur

For the third and final blog post I’ll be discussing how the third articulation is manifested in the following examples of media texts “going viral,” notably the spread of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses during the Protestant Reformation throughout the 16th century and the “Woman Yelling at Cat” meme. 

To begin, it is important that we understand that the third articulation is how different forms of media, such as artifacts and messages, are circulated through means of culture, community, or society. These forms of media are displayed through spatio-temporal relationships of relations of creativity and production, relations of distribution and circulations, and relations of consumption and reception.

Looking at the first example of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, we can see that the third articulation is manifested through the distribution, consumption, and reception of Luther’s message is what made it “go viral” or become popular. Furthermore, production by the printing press also takes part in the reach of Luther’s message with the creation of books and pamphlets. Martin Luther’s message promoted the condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church’s practices in regards to the sale of indulgences. The 95 Theses reached a very large number of individuals and its virality was all thanks to the production, spread, consumption, and reception by means of new media.

As for the “Woman Yelling at Cat” meme, we can definitely see similarities between it and Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, in how the third articulation is manifested, despite the length of time that has passed between the two. Being in the 21st century, this meme had access to social media and the internet in order to reach a large audience. Social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr are responsible for the distribution, consumption, and reception of this message (Philipp, 2019). As well, we can give credit to social media users for the production of this meme as well, using digital media to create new messages for consumption (Philipp, 2019). Over all, similar to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, the reason this meme went “viral” was due to the production, distribution, consumption, and reception of the message through new media.


Thanks for reading,

Keelin Levasseur


References

Mohn, T. (2016). Long before Twitter, Martin Luther was a media pioneer. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/arts/design/long-before-twitter-martin-luther-was-a-media-pioneer.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=wide-thumb&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0 

Philipp. (2019). Woman yelling at a cat. Know Your Meme. Retrieved from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/woman-yelling-at-a-cat

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