THE CHANGING STAGE OF (DIGITAL) SELF-PRESENTATION: INTERNET MEMES AND THE BARBENHEIMER

The expanding influence of the internet and social media networks increasingly digitizes individual representations. This new structure, where the boundaries between the virtual and non-virtual (real) worlds blur, also eliminates the distinction between producer and consumer in the context of content creation. This digital universe, characterized by the features of a productive network, fosters creativity while enabling a digitized communication environment through accessible, fluid, easily transferable, and adaptable content as a system. One of the most significant elements of this digitalized shared space is internet memes, which generally consist of a combination of textual and visual elements and function through repetition and adaptation. Memes, which are studied within the framework of political-social movements or advertising and marketing in the relevant academic literature, have not been sufficiently addressed in terms of (digital) self-presentation, including users’ cultural preferences, desires, and expectations. Instead, the focus has largely been limited to studies on selfies and representations of the body. The simultaneous release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer on July 21, 2023, not only broke box office records but also sparked numerous debates, giving rise to a new concept that originated among cinema audiences and gradually influenced broader audiences. The term Barbenheimer, created by combining the names of these two films, became a medium for digital self-presentation, particularly on social media platforms such as Twitter (now X). This new concept and framework, which has persisted since July 2023, constitutes the focus of our study, specifically in the context of the use of internet memes. Our research focuses on the fluid and evolving nature of the relationship between internet memes, visual communication, and digital self-presentation, based on a content analysis of 250 tweets containing the keyword Barbenheimer and drawing on the emerging literature.