Internet Memes and Climate Discourse

Using frame theory as a lens through which to assess climate rhetoric in the digital age, Andrew Ross and Damian Rivers argue that Internet memes serve as active sites for climate change discourse. In doing so, they essentially demonstrate a pivotal shift in where and how political discourse is conducted.

They preface their article by defining frame theory -- drawing from notable scholars in the field including noted frame theorist, Robert Entman, who summated, “the presence or absence of certain keywords, stock phrases, stereotyped images, sources of information and sentences that provide thematically reinforcing clusters of facts or judgments.” In other words, frames are necessarily deliberative; they hinge upon the repetition of visual or linguistic patterns to contextualize, and potentially even sway an audience’s thinking about a given topic. 

Proceeding, they then outline the two most widely recognized frame categories across the larger theoretical scope: media frames and audience frames. The former generally concentrates on the methods by which an author couches the content of their work, whereas the latter concerns itself with how those topics are perceived by its audience. However, they posit that internet memes ultimately fall between both categories, as the relationship between producer and consumer within the social scope of meme-making essentially merges, forming what they refer to as the “user-generated” frame.

With this in mind, they thus dissect climate-specific meme frames. Broadly, they categorize climate memes within two generalized frames: memes that perpate climate-skepticism, and those which emphasize convinced climate logic. Among these two attitudinal frames, they then designate such memes within what they consider to be the 5 thematically reinforced frames:

Frame 1: the risk is present

Frame 2: the scientific risk of the claim is true

Frame 3: the risk is caused by human activities

Frame 4: potential consequences of the risk

Frame 5: how to handle the risk (action to be taken)

For instance, the above figures found in the article demonstrate examples of both convinced and skeptical memes that fall further into the “potential consequences of the risk” frame, respectively. Both employ the so-called “Matrix Morpheus” meme format  -- one which satirically propagates the supposed obviousness of climate risks or lack thereof. 

Ultimately, while Ross and Rivers successfully underscore the shifting landscape of climate discourse, they merely allude to potential swaying power memes hold, writing, “It is argued that with their viral potential and simply expressed message or comment, Internet memes possess an ability to impact upon the opinion or position of consumers within the broader participatory digital culture in which they appear and are shared.” In essence, they appear to conflate virality with ideological influence -- another factor entirely. Indeed, given the aforementioned bridge between audience and producer within meme-generated climate discourse, the question remains whether memes have genuine rhetorical swaying power. In other words, can memes genuinely influence an individual’s thinking on climate change, or do they merely reaffirm already-held biases? This question ultimately remains unanswered, however, the sociological impact of memes is perhaps the content for another article.