Post 3: Identity

     Kirsten Jacobson 
    Kirsten.jacobson123@gmail.com

     Throughout the memes I have researched so far, meditation and prayer are images that are highlighted as key markers of the Buddhist religious group This speaks to a major belief by practicing Buddhists because it highlights the importance of finding inner peace to obtain nirvana, blocking out the outside world to be with God. These memes idealize Buddah as someone to follow in both worship and wardrobe and depict an insider view that the religion is peaceful and personal rather than group minded. The repetition of the depiction of men in orange robes sitting and praying engrains in the audiences view the prominence of peaceful and solo praying  to those in the Buddhist community.  Lastly, the memes I have been looking at use well known topics to appeal to both outside and insiders.
            I think the observations made on these memes relates very well to the topics discussed in class, specifically that of identity being fractured. From these memes there is an understanding that each individual persons journey in life through the Buddhist faith is personal and at their own pace, implying that how devoted they are to finding nirvana and being part of the outside world are individual choices to be made that help form a persons identity while practicing the Buddhist faith.

            Overall the messages being highlighted in these memes are rather positive and simple. They use humor to talk about how one must pray even if it seems boring and you could fall asleep but you must try even if you won’t ever be as “cool” as Buddha like the one meme shows. Each meme including the ones from previous posts and this post itself highlight the importance of prayer to someone who claims membership to the Buddhist faith, it is shown over and over again becoming a central part of most of the memes viewed because it is a central part of the religion. 

                                                                         Links to memes



Comments

  1. Soup Twin-1October 24, 2017 at 8:26 AM

    It will be important to contextualize your claim with other scholarly work about Buddhist ideas of prayer and how Buddhism has been presented in popular media before. Consider sources such as Why are buddhists so nice? media representations of buddhism and islam in the united states since 1945 by TA Tweed in Material Religion.

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