Ungodliness or dissidence? A critical (re)valuation of religious internet memes

Abstract

Religious subjects are rarely taken head on in artistic or public discourses. For instance, seldom are holy scriptures or teachings openly questioned given the hallowed nature of religious matters. This, however, does not imply that religious institutions are devoid of ugly underbellies. As such, literary texts have always exposed religious hypocrisies, earmarked by norms that deviate from religious teachings, albeit with hushed undertones. Technological waves have resulted into expanded surfaces through which artistic oeuvres are mediated. This paper assesses modern artists’ appropriation of social media spaces that are birthed by technological advancements in handling this sensitive matter. As such, the study adopts a qualitative research design in analysing religion-faceted jocular popular art forms namely internet memes to determine whether they embody ungodliness, religious dissent or otherwise. Relief, Superiority and Incongruity Humour theories as well as Cultural Criticism couch the discussions. The study concludes that despite the outer veneer that paints religious jocular discourses as ungodly and a form of dissent, they are ideologically loaded and point at crucial power relation dynamics in religious institutions. This indicates that such discourses afford the general populace opportunity to engage the normatively controlled religious metanarratives freely.