Sustainable Meme Project with 'The Note Passer'
HELPSY's approach to ethical fashion has always been that funny is more effective than serious and preachy. Our Instagram account is littered with memes about sustainability and ethical fashion, along with funny pop culture galore. We are anti-boring and anti holier than thou, to the core. Who wants to be yelled at? So when we spoke to Elizabeth Stilwell about her new Sustainable Meme project, duh, we wanted to support it completely.
By: Elizabeth Stilwell from The Note Passer
HUMOR ME WITH SUSTAINABLE MEMES ?✊???
Humor can motivate us to discuss uncomfortable topics. I've been thinking about the series of events that led us to the unavoidable truth about Bill Cosby. A few years ago, Hannibal Buress (already a successful comedian) let loose in a Philadelphia comedy club: “Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the ‘80s,” Buress mocked, “Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby. So turn the crazy down a couple notches.” Someone snagged a video and it when viral, leading to inquisitions into Cosby's predatory behavior. Sad as it may be, the accusations had been made before (by the actual victims), but this time we listened. Was it the humor that broke down the Huxtable facade? The particular way Buress took Cosby's moral outrage to task?
The Humor Research Lab's Benign Violation Theory suggests that anything that is threatening to one’s worldview will be humorous, as long as the situation also seems benign. For example, a debate about the unrealistic standards of beauty can feel heated or threatening; but a comedy sketch on the same topic may be threatening, but as a passive viewer, it is also perceived as benign and thus, humorous. Comics like Amy Schumer accomplish this masterfully
Using the example of Buress, comedy can be an effective vehicle for takedown, an effort I often find myself a part of in the sustainability movement (DuPont anyone?). That's not to say we should be mounting more personal attacks (Cosby being the exception rather than the rule).
Psychiatric nurse and comic, Rob Gee, uses humor to skillfully broach issues around another challenging topic: mental illness. The Guardian quotes Gee as saying, "Every joke has a target and therefore every joke has the potential to be cruel or hurtful. It also has the opposite." Returning to Benign Violation Theory, rather than mounting personal attacks on individuals, we can poke fun at an entrenched idea or social construct. This is often the case in sustainability where we are challenging norms like eating meat, buying new, or using traditional fem-products.
We should also celebrate our community's own unique and weird qualities. InDarling Magazine, Sara Scott Pape wrote, "We have been conditioned to laugh not with, but at others." She encourages us to invite "others to laugh deeply about situations and circumstances, and things that are silly, witty, adorable and clever." Easy humor is often base and mean, so I want to challenge us all to get comically creative. Memes are a superb vehicle for creativity, so I'm inviting you to help me bring more humor to the world of sustainability. With good reason—climate change, worker exploitation, animal
Using the example of Buress, comedy can be an effective vehicle for takedown, an effort I often find myself a part of in the sustainability movement (DuPont anyone?). That's not to say we should be mounting more personal attacks (Cosby being the exception rather than the rule).
Psychiatric nurse and comic, Rob Gee, uses humor to skillfully broach issues around another challenging topic: mental illness. The Guardian quotes Gee as saying, "Every joke has a target and therefore every joke has the potential to be cruel or hurtful. It also has the opposite." Returning to Benign Violation Theory, rather than mounting personal attacks on individuals, we can poke fun at an entrenched idea or social construct. This is often the case in sustainability where we are challenging norms like eating meat, buying new, or using traditional fem-products.
We should also celebrate our community's own unique and weird qualities. InDarling Magazine, Sara Scott Pape wrote, "We have been conditioned to laugh not with, but at others." She encourages us to invite "others to laugh deeply about situations and circumstances, and things that are silly, witty, adorable and clever." Easy humor is often base and mean, so I want to challenge us all to get comically creative. Memes are a superb vehicle for creativity, so I'm inviting you to help me bring more humor to the world of sustainability. With good reason—climate change, worker exploitation, animal rights—we are a mostly humorless group (sorry!). However, just as many of us use good design to appeal to wider audiences, we can use humor to speak to the masses and spread our message. I want you to help me populate Tumblr with memes about sustainability.
HOW TO MAKE A SUSTAINABLE MEME ✊
- Go to Giphy. (You don't have to make an account to create, but you won't be able to change or delete it later if you don't.)
- The easiest way is to SEARCH for an existing gif. Search for a character, emotion, phrase, etc you want to use with your meme. (More advanced users can upload or create their own gifs.)
- Copy the url of your chosen gif from your browser search bar.
- Click on the dark purple CREATE button at the top of the Giphy site.
- Click either the GIF EDITOR or GIF CAPTION tab and paste your copied url in the white bar.
- Add hilarious captions, effects, stickers, animations, etc.
- At the bottom, add tags like sustainable, vegan, fashion, etc according to your topic. (This will also help populate Giphy with sustainable memes.)
- Keep the default setting of PUBLIC so you can share it.
- Click CREATE GIF.
CAPTION THESE! CLICK THROUGH TO GIPHY.
I've created a Tumblr called Sustainable Memes (Thanks to Rachel of Helpsy for the name and Magdalena of Selva Beat for the encouragement!).
NOW SUBMIT YOUR SUSTAINABLE MEME ?
- Go to the SUBMIT page of Sustainable Memes.
- Either submit a downloaded version (from the ADVANCED tab under your created gif back on Giphy) as a photo or just submit the link to your creation already on Giphy for me to then share to Tumblr. (Make your choice from the dropdown menu.) Add any captions or credit you want included. I suggest the link option because then it will be connected to your own Giphy account if you create one.
I hope I've made the steps clear enough. I know this kind of thing is ripe for confusion, so let me know in the comments if you have questions.
If you are ready to laugh and make sustainability a little more fun and approachable for everyone, please submit your memes. I can't wait to see what you create!
? FIND SUSTAINABLE MEMES ?
My Giphy profile ?
Sustainable Memes Tumblr ?
Helpsy's Instagram account ?
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