One Does Not Simply Walk Away From the Past. The Van Der Memes and the Dynamics of Memory and Spreadability

This paper discusses the case of the Van Der Memes, internet memes based on close-ups of actor James Van Der Beek (hereafter, JVDB) emoting feelings which, born as user-generated content, end up working as marketing tools for a rebranding campaign of the actor. The case study is used as a prism for understanding the dynamics of transformation of media objects in contemporary media culture, where an idea can evolve and take different forms according to technological, cultural, institutional and economic contingencies, ultimately blurring the boundaries between binaries like past and present, ephemerality and permanence, replication and creation of meaning, bottom/up practices and top/down strategies. What I therefore propose here is an examination that, in trying to untangle a wave of heterogenous cross-platforms and cross-spaces practices, ultimately accounts for the transformations of meaning and values, across time and contexts, of the media objects, texts and presonalities involved. Finally, I will argue that, given certain conditions, a past cultural phenomenon could turn into a contingent memory of itself, shaped by and retrofitted to a new cultural context in order to make it valuable and (hopefully) profitable again.