Search

VISUALIZATION OF HISTORICAL MEMORY: THE IMAGE OF PETER I IN INTERNET MEMES // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 1 (39). P. 9-29

The article deals with the problems of historical memory visualization in Internet memes. In the digital age, the construction of historical memory is no longer a matter for professional historians and political actors only. Internet users actively create historical media content, interpret historical events, and make representations about the past. This practice destroys the line between historical knowledge and memory. Visualization has become a key form of representation of the past in the media environment. Digital technologies for creating visual images transform historical memory. Internet users perceive polysemantic images of the past on an emotional level. The main emotions are nostalgia for a bygone era and the desire to recreate historical reality. At the same time, visualization of the past strengthens the simulation of historical reality. For people, the authenticity of historical events ceases to be a value, since they have equated history and myth. In visual historical images, the masses do not resurrect the past, but create the present. This gives rise to fakes. The emergence of historical fakes is due to both the general concept of the post-truth, in which the authenticity of the fact ceases to matter, and the visualization of distributed polysemantic images, which leads to the simulation and semiotization of the media sphere. The Internet meme is characterized by its emotional impact, changeable structure and viral spreadability, so it introduces historical images into the mass consciousness with high efficiency. It is the perfect embodiment of a historical fake. Historical memes combine mythological representations of the past with current agendas, popular culture stereotypes, and modern media images. By compiling various elements, Internet memes distort historical reality and create new images of historical memory while visualizing them. Internet memes about Peter I illustrate these processes. The Russian Emperor is a highly mythological historical figure in Russia, with his reign, life, and actions being presented as a collection of myths in popular consciousness. These myths include an order to shave beards, the "opening of a window" to Europe, construction of a fleet, and establishment of a Northern capital on marshy lands. These stories are reflected in Internet memes, connecting with the visual characteristics of current events. The practice of combining ideas about the past and the realities of the present allows users to actualize the memory of Peter I in the mass consciousness and fit modernity into the historical context. The case “Peter I and Shrek” shows how the visual image of a historical person becomes a part of digital culture, and the image of mass media acquires the status of historical reality.

Keywords: media environment, images of past, memory studies, wistfulness, visual images, fake