Conclusion

This study analyzed the rhetorical methods used in 50 popular memes about immigration in the hope that doing so would provide insight into how memes are used to contribute to and impact to the American national discourse surrounding immigration.

A visual rhetorical analysis was used because the method allowed both textual and visual elements to be considered as a single message. This study found that memes often reflected the national discourse through the use of politically commonplace messages, references to prominent political actors and pop culture references. It also found that memes commonly opt to attack a person or group’s intelligence and call them a hypocrite. Using a visual rhetoric method  was helpful in this study because it allowed for the exploration of the complex backgrounds required to understand memes.

This study only looked at the topic of immigration. An analysis of memes in other issues, such as abortion, transgender rights, or climate change might yield different results. Furthermore, this study only measured 50 memes. Measuring a wider sample might yield different results.

Memes are important. As partisan groups “prepare for war” with memes, it becomes clear that they will likely play a role in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. Understanding them and their rhetorical power will be critical to describing the outcome of the 2020 election and understanding the future of American political discourse.