Week 6: Meme Project Proposal

For my project, I am proposing a meme study focusing on the recent media event of Brett Kavanaugh’s allegations, trial, and election to the Supreme Court. In recent weeks, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford came forward with sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, who was up for election to the Supreme Court. The trial was emotionally charged, receiving national news coverage and sparking discussions on gender and sexual assault in society. Following the trial, Kavanaugh was elected to the Supreme Court, creating further dialogue around this topic. The allegations, trial, and election are all important to examine because they each play an important role in this media event.

The theme of this study will be gender, specifically gender roles in society. This event explicitly illustrates society’s struggles with gender equality and, as a result, its inadequate response to sexual assault. The memes being created in response to this event communicate these messages and therefore will be a relevant theme to study. 

1) Women's Reaction

This meme shows that the women in the court room at Kavanaugh's trial are disgusted, disapproving, and in disbelief. The image of Kavanaugh exemplifies his frustration during the trial, which was highly publicized and criticized. This meme is an example of gender roles present in this event as it shows the difference in disposition between the two genders, except the typical societal roles are reversed with the man being dramatic while the women are calm. The text on this meme also communicates the idea that these women represent the many women in society who felt similarly during the trial. 

2) Christine Blasey Ford

In this meme, a little girl with a conniving smile on her face is supposed to represent Dr. Ford, while the burning house in the background represents Kavanaugh's life after her accusations. The tone of this meme communicates a message that she is happy that Kavanaugh's life is being destroyed since she stepped forward. I think this meme is important because it represents that society sees women as vengeful and seeking retaliation on someone who wronged them, and minimizes her assault accusations. People are choosing to focus on her revenge instead of addressing the larger issue of sexual assault allegations and inequality between men and women.