CPP1 Assignment - Blood Orange Meme

#assignments #CPP1 #bloodorange #DANKmemes

Here we have a meme found off Tumblr. It features Christopher Palu, a contestant from Project Runway. For anyone who doesn't understand, it references a scene from season 10 episode 14 where Palu condemns another contestant for calling a piece of fabric "blood orange" instead of red. I decided to choose this meme because I thought it was fucking hilarious and because it had a very clear example of needing multiple literacies in order to understand it.

Some of the literacies that are required are knowing who this person is, having seen the episode that references this joke, having the ability to understand meme formats, and being able to read the label on the bottle. Many of these are largely visual literacies, although if someone were to explain the meme out loud or through text it could be enjoyed by people who can't view it.

There are sociocultural layers to this as well, as the groups of people who enjoy reality television or are able to get a television are more likely to understand this. Younger people, artistic people, people with a sense of humor, people with access to dank memes, and catty wine moms are all more likely to be included in the Venn Diagram of people who would laugh at this meme, as opposed to, perhaps, older stinky men who wouldn't watch this show because it's too gay or people who are too pretentious for reality television. It would also be closed off to people who may have seen the episode but don't remember the joke or can't comprehend how the joke is set up because meme formats are a mystery to them or they can't connect the bottle to the person.

There are also extended version of this meme where anywhere that a common color such as "green" is described as "mint green," a person will add Christopher Palu's face. This extends the joke past its original parameters of "blood orange" and requires an extra step in understanding it.