Dynamic Metaphors in Object-Labeled Memes: An Assessment of Direction and Category

This article proposes that interpreting object-labeled memes requires a preliminary step of problem-solving step for full comprehension. This makes an object-labeled meme more than a multimodal metaphor despite its metaphorical element. In a metaphor, “X is Y,” the tenor is X, i.e., its logical subject. This metaphor, which equates two distinct entities, X and Y, transfers Y’s (the vehicle’s) relevant properties to X (the tenor). This transfer is essential to an object-labeled meme, which consists of an image macro and a text macro. However, it necessitates two additional problem-solving skills: (a) grouping the macros, and (b) identifying them as the tenor and vehicle. Since these two skills are intersubjective, they can be considered a cognitive endowment of some kind. By analyzing object-labeled memes, including a few cases of literature domain-specific cases, this article will demonstrate the steps involved in interpreting of such memes. It will also show how these set of interpretative skills are shared among users to understand memes.