COLE STRYKER

“Do you think that this point she knows that every little thing she does will be a .GIF, and so she just embraces that whenever she’s on camera?”

~The ever-observant Matthew Perpetua, on a clip of Beyonce performing at Fallon

This is fascinating, and I don’t think this impulse, which I’m going to call the Kraeyshawn Principle, is limited to show biz. Just last night I was talking about the GOP debates with some friends and I remarked that isn’t it weird how the left is finally vocally embracing socialism and the right is now calling for the abolition of the Department of Education. They’re practically trolling, presenting a hyper-exaggerated version of the self that’s easy to crystallize in something like a GIF or an SNL impression or a YouTube supercut. Something that makes an audience say, “Oh that’s so Ke$ha,” when really, it’s not.

We have created a media infrastructure that rewards outrageous behavior. And that behavior requires a constant self-awareness. These reality TV people know exactly what they’re doing. Ad agencies, artists and politicians too are all trying to develop memetic brands. The Drudges, HuffPos and Gawkers of the web are happy to perpetuate the survival of the weirdest, the most GIFable.