Extended Critical Analysis: Text
The article “Lying Flat: Profiling the Tangping Attitude” by Marine Brossard provides a thoroughly contextualised examination of the “tangping” (lying flat) phenomenon as a political and cultural act of nonviolent protest in modern-day China. The article’s main contention is that lying-flat is a significant reaction to the intensely competitive, high-pressure atmosphere that permeates much of urban Chinese society rather than just a passing fad or meme. By linking lying-flat to disenchantment with the Chinese Dream, dwindling social mobility, overwork (e.g., 996 culture), and changing generational values, Brossard places lying-flat in a larger socioeconomic framework. Her critical stance refutes simplistic narratives that write off lying-flat as nihilism or laziness.
This setting supports the growing recognition in the fields of communication and graphic design studies that vernacular cultural expressions, like slogans, memes, or aesthetic movements, are essential to the visual negotiation of identity and public discourse rather than being incidental. Brossard aligns with academics like Johanna Drucker, who advocate for the critical reading of all graphic forms as rhetorical and interpretive, by examining lying-flat through both linguistic and cultural lenses, thereby indirectly legitimizing the meme as a site of cultural meaning-making.
Brossard’s analysis offers crucial background for my project, which aims to create a set of memes that transition from the aesthetics of “Buddha-like” detachment to a “madness under calmness” emotional register. Lying-flat memes frequently use irony, comedy, and stark minimalism to cover up deeper emotional dissonance. For me to comprehend the visual language of these memes, Brossard’s cultural logic—that detachment is frequently a protective posture rather than apathy—is essential. Through her work, I am able to reframe meme-making as a legitimate and powerful form of visual communication and emotional processing, rather than as something trivial or escapist.
Additionally, Brossard’s paper encourages a fruitful analogy with Shukla’s investigation of memes as “outsourced emotions” in online environments. Brossard grounds them in political economy and collective disillusionment, while Shukla concentrates on the psychological affordances of meme culture. My project approaches Chinese meme culture as both socially expressive and personally cathartic by integrating both viewpoints. This text therefore bolsters my goal of showing how visually straightforward meme formats (such as the Evangelion title cards or capybara stills) can develop into emotionally nuanced communicative acts that disclose more than they initially seem.
Overall, by presenting lying-flat as a subdued yet radical aesthetic of refusal, Brossard’s text strengthens the theoretical underpinnings of my work. Her use of sociological observation and nuanced visual cues to unravel cultural affect motivates me to view my meme collection as a cultural archive: a collection of visual art that, via repetition and variation, encapsulates the emotional paradoxes of a generation torn between passivity and pressure, visibility, and silence.
Extended Critical Analysis: Project
The graphic design project “Final Thesis about ‘Internet Memes’” by Oleg Jeannequin on Behance examines and illustrates how internet memes have developed from subcultural phenomena to commonplace communication tools. The project lies at the nexus of digital media theory, semiotics, and visual culture. Jeannequin argues that memes are not only vehicles of humour or social commentary, but also typographic and structural systems of meaning—akin to contemporary hieroglyphs. He treats the meme not as an ephemeral joke, but as a cultural artefact worth archiving, interpreting, and designing.
The project’s physical realization is its most captivating feature. Using print layouts to imitate the structure and flow of internet meme formats, Jeannequin presents his analysis in a printed book instead of a digital format. The book mimics the disorganised, disjointed logic of meme scroll culture by utilizing bold typefaces, high contrast colour schemes, and cropped image macros. By doing this, he closes the apparent gap between serious design discourse and online ephemera. His approach to production turns fleeting digital jokes into enduring, analysed design objects.
From a graphic design perspective, Jeannequin’s project shows how compositional decisions, layout, and typographic rhythm serve as rhetorical devices. His claim that memes have a formal language as rich as traditional poster design or editorial graphics is supported by the images’ unpredictable pacing, the bold text-image juxtapositions, and the strategic use of white space. Johanna Drucker’s assertion that all graphic forms are interpretive rather than merely representational is thus echoed in his thesis. Drucker’s call to materialise digital knowledge in ways that show the scaffolding behind visual meaning-making is also in line with the book format.
My own beliefs regarding the permanence and gravity of meme culture are called into question by Jeannequin’s work. Before coming across this piece, I thought of memes as being essentially unstructured, transient, and immune to traditional design techniques. His argument makes me re-evaluate the ways in which format, scale, and materiality can be used to re-contextualize memes. It implies that moving a meme into a design object with different affordances—a book, a wall print, or an installation—does not lessen its affective intensity but rather changes it.
Jeannequin’s project is both an inspiration and a model for my own, which is a carefully chosen collection of memes that illustrate the path from Buddhist-like passivity to repressed madness. It inspires me to consider how to create a visual logic system that demonstrates emotional change in various meme kinds. For example, I might experiment with visual transitions, starting with symmetrical, subdued formats (like Buddha memes), and then progressively adding visual noise, layering, or confusion as the emotional tone rises.
Furthermore, Jeannequin’s thesis supports the notion that memes can and ought to be carefully archived. His deliberate curation, printing, and design of his analysis allow me to view meme-making as a valid form of graphic authorship rather than just visual play. This highlights the importance of my final collection as a design system and a cultural document and creates opportunities for its exhibition, not only online but also in print or installation.
In the end, Jeannequin’s project makes me more determined to approach my work critically and creatively: to view memes as graphic forms, emotionally coded systems, and affective interfaces that can express things that are frequently taboo in Chinese youth culture.
Bibliography
Aranda, J., Wood, B. K. and Vidokle, A. (2015) The Internet Does Not Exist, pp. 5–9.
By showing how platform architectures determine who can speak and who must keep quiet, this essay dispels the myth of an “invisible” neutral Internet. According to Aranda et al., corporate and technical protocols that allow some voices to remain hidden behind masks while others are exposed are the ones that create online anonymity. For Chinese youth adopting Buddha-like or Lying-flat postures, the Internet’s “nonexistence” becomes a shelter: memes function as both the mask and the megaphone. By foregrounding the Internet’s built-in power dynamics, this introduction provides a framework for understanding why young people feel compelled to leak their true emotions only through templated, anonymous image macros.
Brossard, M. (2023). Lying Flat: Profiling the Tangping Attitude. Made in China Journal. Available at: https://madeinchinajournal.com/2023/01/08/lying-flat-profiling-the-tangping-attitude/.
In his article, Brossard critically examines the “lying flat” movement among Chinese youth as a tactic of nonviolent protest. Instead of being seen as a sign of sloth or nihilism, tangping is understood as a deliberate retreat from the intensely competitive expectations of contemporary Chinese society, particularly the pressure to succeed in marriage, the workplace, and property ownership. The article highlights how young people express this disillusionment without directly challenging the government or society by using humour, irony, and visual culture. According to Brossard, tangping is both an aesthetic practice and a cultural attitude that is frequently carried out using standardised meme templates and online anonymity. This directly supports my project’s exploration of how young people use visual language to express what cannot be expressed verbally and conceal inner emotional distress behind serene or “Buddha-like” exteriors. The article offers both cultural context and theoretical grounding for the idea that emotionally charged memes are acts of silent defiance and collective therapy.
Dao Insights (2023). Lost for Words: Hey Tea Drops Crossover with “Speechless Buddha”. Available at: https://daoinsights.com/news/lost-for-words-hey-tea-drops-crossover-with-speechless-buddha/.
This article discusses the partnership between the Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum and the Chinese tea company Hey Tea, which includes the well-known “Speechless Buddha” meme. In addition to merchandise featuring ceramic sculptures of the Eighteen Arhats, especially the “Thinking Luohan,” which is known for its stoic expression and association with the term “speechless” in online culture, the campaign, which was launched on November 28, 2023, introduced a new tea latte called “Hey Buddha”. With more than 84 million views in a single day, the promotion shot to the top of Weibo’s Hot Search list. But after talking with regulatory bodies, the campaign was withdrawn after being criticised for possibly commercialising religious imagery. This instance serves as an example of the intricate relationship that exists between contemporary internet memes, traditional cultural symbols, and commercial branding. It draws attention to the difficulties brands encounter when attempting to engage younger audiences through meme culture while navigating cultural sensitivities. This incident serves as a relevant illustration of the conflicts between cultural appropriation, commercialisation, and digital expression for my research on how Chinese youth use memes to express their feelings and social pressures.
Fonts In Use. (2019) Graphic designer Peiran Tan plumbs the typographic psyche of the celebrated anime franchise. Available at: https://fontsinuse.com/uses/28760/neon-genesis-evangelion.
This article explores the unique typographic decisions made by the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. The series is well known for incorporating typography into narrative, employing strong, condensed typefaces to evoke strong feelings and a complex theme. The main typeface found is Matisse EB, a bold serif font that was mechanically compressed to match the distinctive visual compositions of the series and licensed by Fontworks. These typographic choices, which frequently emphasised dramatic moments in title cards and interstitial frames, were not only aesthetically pleasing but also contributed to the story. A sense of urgency and existential weight that became synonymous with the series’ identity was created by the combination of minimalist design and stark black-and-white text. This use of typography established a standard for incorporating graphic design components into animated narratives and impacted later anime productions. In the context of my research on internet meme culture, specifically in Chinese youth subcultures, this analysis sheds light on the ways in which typography can be used to elicit particular emotional reactions. This technique is reflected in the design of memes, which use comparable visual strategies to concisely express complex sentiments.
Greenfield, A. (2017) ‘Smartphone: The Networking of the Self’, Radical Technologies, pp. 9–30.
Greenfield explores smartphones as extensions of identity—devices that mediate self-presentation, sociality, and solitude. He shows how ubiquitous connectivity paradoxically enforces a “publicness” that drives users to find hidden corners for authentic expression. For Buddha-like or Lying-flat youth, memes serve as a “private” outlet in a world of constant scrutiny. Greenfield’s discussion of algorithmic surveillance and the panopticon-like nature of mobile networks provides critical grounding for a design project that seeks to expose the emotional labour behind anonymous online performances.
Jeannequin, O. (2023) Final thesis about “internet memes”. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/173976481/Final-thesis-about-internet-memes.
The Behance project “Final thesis about ‘internet memes’” by Oleg Jeannequin offers a historically informed examination of memes as changing modes of communication. It makes the case that, thanks to creative strategies that push humour to its limits, memes have evolved from specialised cultural markers to ubiquitous instruments in political discourse and advertising. The work takes the form of a printed mémoire, combining book‑design principles with rich visual examples to demonstrate how memes function rhetorically and visually. By situating memes within graphic design discourse, the thesis highlights the semiotic variables—colour, form, and stance—that shape memetic meaning. Jeannequin’s print‑based experiments further expose how low‑fidelity “poor image” aesthetics can subvert high‑production cultural narratives.
Koetse, M. (2022) Resisting the Rat Race. Goethe-Institut. Available at: https://www.goethe.de/prj/sti/en/lan/res.html.
The paper provides a thorough examination of the ways in which language influences both individual and societal identities. The platform explores the complex relationship between self-perception and linguistic expression through a carefully chosen collection of articles, interviews, and multimedia content. It explores issues like language preservation, multilingualism, and the sociopolitical effects of language use. This resource is especially pertinent to the work I’m doing on Chinese youth subcultures like “Buddha-like” and “lying flat,” where language, particularly slang and internet memes, is used to express resistance and create alternative identities. I can more effectively examine how Chinese youth’s digital language practices mirror more general themes of identity negotiation and cultural expression in the digital age if I have a better understanding of the dynamics described in the materials.
Nagle, A. (2017) ‘From Tumblr to the Campus Wars: Creating Scarcity in an Online Economy of Virtue’, Kill All Normies, pp. 68–85.
Nagle shows how meme cultures on sites like 4chan and Tumblr changed from being light-hearted remix communities to becoming heavily regulated “virtue-economies” where only specific voices are valued. This dynamic is similar to how Chinese youth use Buddha-like or Lying-flat memes to fill a void left by a lack of originality and instead adopt well-known templates. The reason why young people use collective meme tropes to express their inner dissatisfaction—while running the risk of further commodifying their dissent—is clarified by Nagle’s examination of how online publics reward conformity.
Shu, J. (2021). The Formation, Causes and Guiding Strategies of Buddha-like Subculture in Chinese Youth. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374413601_The_Formation_Causes_and_Guiding_Strategies_of_Buddha-like_Subculture_in_Chinese_Youth.
This study provides a foundational theoretical framework for understanding the rise of the “Buddha-like” subculture among Chinese youth. This mindset, according to the author, is a psychologically adaptive reaction to structural pressures like academic overload, career uncertainty, and emotional burnout rather than passive indifference. Young people who reject the prevailing “struggle-oriented” narrative adopt a low-desire, detached posture that functions as a soft resistance and coping strategy. Crucially, the study connects Buddha-like beliefs to rising mental health issues and social isolation in online environments where anonymous content and memes serve as emotional vents. This directly relates to my project, which examines how internet users, who may appear composed or cooperative, anonymously vent their annoyance through graphic memes, turning emotional suppression into visual commentary. The idea that “lying-flat” or “Buddha-like” memes are semiotic protest rather than escapism is given both cultural legitimacy and sociological insight by the article.
Shukla, A. (2025). Memes are advanced emotions and outsourced thought patterns + they protecc (the psychology of memes). Cognition Today. Available at: https://cognitiontoday.com/psychology-of-memes-advanced-emotions-outsourced-thoughts-mental-health/#google_vignette.
Shukla’s article explores the psychological roles of memes, suggesting that they are used to convey shared thought patterns and complicated emotions. According to Shukla, memes serve as “outsourced cognition,” enabling people to express thoughts and emotions that may be difficult to do so directly. By reducing stress and promoting a sense of community, this mechanism offers a kind of emotional catharsis and self-reflection that benefits mental health. The article highlights memes’ function in social bonding and emotional regulation, emphasising how using them can help people deal with stress and burnout. This viewpoint is consistent with my research, which examines how Chinese youth use memes to deal with social pressures like “lying flat” and “Buddha-like” beliefs. People can quietly defy social norms and find comfort in common experiences by using memes as a platform for anonymous emotional expression. Shukla’s observations provide a theoretical framework for comprehending memes’ therapeutic and communicative potential in today’s digital culture.
Steyerl, H. (2012) ‘In Defense of the Poor Image’, The Wretched of the Screen, pp. 31–45.
Steyerl studies the circulation of heavily compressed, low-resolution “poor images” outside of official art markets, resulting in alternative visual economies of dissent and subculture. This concept of “poor image” is embodied by memes, which are frequently ugly, pixelated, and heavily remixed. These deteriorated images serve as a kind of emotional shorthand for young people who feel constrained by social norms because their jagged edges reflect the fissures in a polished Buddha-like exterior. Steyerl’s idea contributes to the explanation of why anonymous meme-making, a purposeful aesthetic of rupture that speaks to unspoken frustration, feels both liberating and inauthentic.
Tabatabaei, S. (2023). The Role of Memes on Emotional Contagion. ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378964647_The_Role_of_Memes_on_Emotional_Contagion.
This study explores how internet memes function as catalysts for emotional contagion, facilitating the rapid spread of emotions such as fear, anger, and joy across digital platforms. According to Tabatabaei, memes enhance users’ emotional resonance by being repetitive and shareable, which causes synchronised emotional experiences in online communities. The study emphasises that memes’ virality depends as much on their capacity to evoke and transmit emotional states as it does on their relatability or humour. This is consistent with the focus of my project, which is on how Chinese youth use memes as an anonymous way to communicate underlying frustrations and dissatisfaction. Without using direct conflict, the emotional impact of memes can be used to subtly express dissent and shared sentiments. Tabatabaei’s findings provide a theoretical framework for understanding the psychological processes underlying meme-driven emotional expression, supporting the notion that memes serve as both individual coping mechanisms and group emotional outlets in the digital age.