Sofia Blandon

Professor McIntosh

Writing for the Humanities-D

10 March 2020

Abstract: This visual essay was the second paper we were tasked with writing for this class. The purpose of this essay was to create some sort of visual that would get our main point across to the readers, in this case the main point being the importance of climate change. The main objective in creating the meme was to show that Republicans do not believe climate change is real, meanwhile Australia had just gone through a series of wildfires due to the rapidly increasing temperatures. These ideas are then expressed in the audience strategy, where there is further explanation on how republicans feel about this issue, and what the point of them seeing this meme was, essentially to show them how silly they sound. It is important to note that this meme only highlighted one result of climate change, and there are many more that are continuing to devastate the earth as a whole.

Audience Strategy

The intended audience that I created this meme for were people who do not believe in Climate Change, specifically republicans. Republicans are usually people who are more on the conservative side, and do not agree with the liberal democratic views on pressing issues in society, like Climate Change. Republicans tend to follow the mindset of President Donald Trump in believing that Climate Change is not real, and that there is no reason to be freaking out over looking for alternatives for energy and cutting down on rapid greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans are also the ones who are continuing to fund the corporations that contribute immensely to the production of these greenhouse gases, and are not enforcing a decrease on those emissions. In creating this image, I first thought of wanting it to be something that could be easily accessed on social media. Social media platforms have become a big part of people’s lives, as it is a good way to communicate and spread information, so this picture could be shared and seen by many people which would allow for more awareness on this issue. The second thing I thought about when creating this picture was what I wanted my audience to get from seeing this, and what action I wanted them to take. Of course, if a democratic liberal saw this they would laugh and share it with their friends. Teenagers would also find it funny, as the mocking lettering connects to a SpongeBob meme from 2017 that blew up all over social media. However, if a republican saw this, my intended audience, I would want them to understand the bigger picture of this image and not see it as so much of an insult but more of an eye opener. These people are choosing to not believe that there is a problem, meanwhile in many areas like Australia there are devastating issues occurring because of the extreme warm weather and increased dryness. If you were to look on a more local scale, it is only March and there have been 60 to 70 degree weather days, which is not normal temperatures for this time of year. This meme only highlights one of the devastating problems, but there are many more, like the melting of the ice caps, that we can all help to deter from happening if we worked together and looked toward a solution. I think if I had created a political cartoon and published it in The Washington Post, that would have been another genre that would appeal to my intended audience, as that publication is run by a more conservative mainstream. However, in creating the meme I wanted it to be seen not only by the republicans but also to everyone else who could continue to share it and spread the word.

   Reflection

The genre of this image is a meme. I decided to use this genre so that it would be appealing to every kind of audience and be easily accessible on smartphones and social media, both of which many people are using every day. There are many republicans and conservatives who use social media as well, and will eventually come across this meme. By using their specific party name I hoped to catch their attention, which would then cause them to read the entire picture. As mentioned before, I did not want to necessarily insult them, but rather I hoped to evoke a sense of enlightenment and help them understand that they look foolish for not believing in one of the most important issues in today’s society. For this image I used mostly logos, because I wanted there to be a concrete reason and example as to how and why climate change is in fact real. I chose to use an overall picture of Australia on fire because I wanted to show that it is not only affecting one specific area, it decimated the entire country, and hopefully someone looking at the picture could understand that this is quite devastating. By using the picture that showed all the different parts in Australia that were on fire, it hits anyone seeing this meme and it shows that people are not making things up, there are real problems that are happening everyday due to global warming and the overall change in climate. The picture of Australia on fire could also be interpreted as a form of pathos, as the image can create sad emotions when you think about all the people, wildlife, and plant life that have been destroyed in the country as a result of the wildfires. I also chose to use the picture of Trump speaking out to people in a conference, because I wanted to connect to the fact that he has spoken out about this issue to a large group of people, which then contributes to the high numbers of skeptics and non-believers. I did not use ethos because I knew that the image would not be based on my own ethics or credibility, I wanted it to be clear cut and demonstrate an actual effect of climate change so that whoever was reading the meme could laugh but also understand that this situation is real. Composing a visual essay was definitely a lot more fun than any other essay I have written in the past. I enjoyed being able to get creative and really think about what I wanted my image to say. Of course, a meme is very simple and more modern, as memes have become quite popular in recent years by the younger generations. However, coming up with what the meme would say and how to actually construct it took some time. I am not necessarily a funny person, so at first I was a little nervous about creating a meme because I did not know if it would be funny. However, after talking with my friends and my mom about a few ideas I had, they helped me fine tweak exactly what the meme should say and I was able to find the wording for it. In the actual construction of a meme, I had to look up how to do it because I had never done so before. There is a meme generator online and there are tutorials on how to do it step by step, so that made it easier for me and I had fun placing in the pictures and the words. I think writing a traditional essay is one way to get your message across to people, but seeing as in this day and age more people opt to scrolling through apps on their phones a simple picture, like a meme, could get your message across a lot faster. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and it is true, sometimes being able to visually see something for yourself, rather than reading a very long article or essay could be more effective. Overall, I had fun with this piece and this is the first time I was told I would be able to make a meme as an assignment, so I thought that was pretty cool and different from what I was used to.