Changing Animal Myths

Blog Three: Changing Animal Myths

Storme Black

Image 1: Friends daughter is sick: their cat is providing some comfort. Retrieved from http://i.imgur.com/oCq02kP.jpg

As I am perusing Reddit, it is obvious that those who contribute to this network are what would be considered ‘real’, even through the 'myths' they tell. Animals are one way in particular that this online group participates in echoing real concepts; a person posts about her friends sick daughter, and the comfort the house cat provides (Image 1), which is this bloggers authentic experience. Another post is of a photo of their pet as both a puppy and now as an adult (Image 2), seen to have kept his/her sleeping position, representing his/her real experience of comfort. 

Image 2: 4 months and now 4 years still sleeps the same. Retrieved from http://i.imgur.com /wz8sGLs.jpg 

However, there is a link that shows up often that separates the author but still has messages about incidents that happen to be true. The author is separated and distanced from the photo by pictures of animals who are ‘saying’ the words. This falls under the title of adviceanimals which upon first glance, it would appear that it is a joke, however, after reading a few you come to see it is not (Image 3). As you will notice, by using this method users are able to be both more honest and brutal through this form of separation; as Dr Ariella Van Luyn (2013) was saying during the week five lecture that ‘myths become a way of making sense of the world’. 

These people have taken a true aspect and through the use of art have made it into a message that equally impacts persons within the everyday world, in many ways, making sense and changing an experience. People come to Reddit using ‘digital tools [that] are changing the way that [they are] telling stories of place’ (Ariella, 2013) and of their experiences. Thinking of adviceanimals as a place we can incorporate Tuan’s (1991, p.685) view that ‘[s]peach is a component of the total force that transforms nature into human place; users of this subReddit are changing their experience of place by identifying with what they truly wish to express, but also by keeping their identity and personal feelings separate. 

 Image 3: Revenge bear. Retrieved from http://i.imgur.com/7SiJU6q.jpg

References

brianRGB. (2013). looks like i have to drop THAT class now. Retrieved from http://imgur.com/Msz9pG3 

Reddit: the front page of the internet. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.reddit.com/ 

Reddit: subreddit. AdviceAnimals. Retrieved 4 September, 2013 from http://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/

Reddit: subreddit. Pics.  Retrieved 4 September, 2013 from http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. In Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696.

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002:Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 5: Stories and Places. [Podcast]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au 

Images

Image 1: DreamsAndSchemes. (2013). Friends daughter is sick: their cat is providing some comfort.    Retrieved from http://i.imgur.com/oCq02kP.jpg

Image 2: redditfinder. (2013). 4 months and now 4 years still sleeps the same. Retrieved from http://i.imgur.com /wz8sGLs.jpg 

Image 3: notaniceman. (2013). Revenge bear. Retrieved from http://i.imgur.com/7SiJU6q.jpg