You are my theme for a meme

For what might be an unprecedented couple of days the Internetrsquos kittens were replaced by Bernie Sandersrsquo mittensThe memes pranced puckishly across all timelines At first they photoshopped Bernie into iconic art popular culture images from Hum Saath Saath Hain to Britney Spears tomdashmy favouritemdashsitting in between Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Noor Jehan all three united in BoreMatKarYaar body language In an example of intertextuality max a visual loopdeloop Bernie Sanders sat beside Forest Gump original history photobomber Soon Sanders was not just in the image but became the imagemdashmorphed on Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct the entire chorus in a music videoIt may seem ironic that Bernie Sanders of all people became a meme Who could be further from the wisecracking timepass shapeshifting world of memes than his unchanging earnestness It was painful to watch Seth Meyers struggle to raise a clever comeback from Sanders about the memes Sanders merely laughed a goodnatured polite laugh as if he was just waiting to get to the real stuff Eventually Myers subsided haplessly and Sanders held forth in a serious but decidedly nonentertaining wayIn his practical windcheater and oversized mittens arms crossed Sanders illustrated refusenik in a sea of crafted imagemaking Quite like the woman who gifted him the mittens which she made with repurposed sweaters and recycled plastic She had 6000 orders after the inauguration She responded saying she was too busy teaching and being a mom could they try Etsy An unusual position in a world where ldquofollow your passionrdquo basically means turn your pleasures into profitable business your enjoyments into work not a passionate engagement with an idea or belief that propels youldquoFor one night we put our cynicism aside and celebratedrdquo my friend texted the night of the US presidential inauguration But in politics and romance we are more commonly advised to put idealism aside be practical and choose the lesser evil the more stable passion In a talk the radio presenter and theatre director Jurgen Kuttner said about why our stories today are so much more about dystopias than utopias ldquoWe can imagine the end of the worldrdquo he said ldquobut we canrsquot imagine the end of capitalismrdquoHow else to manage these contradictionsmdashif not with memes Memes like the film song are about multiplicity They make room for every idea identity and fuse multiple aesthetics each freighted with their own histories and economies They defy the sobrieties of authorship and the reproductive logic of capitalism Memes are digital bahurupiyas merrily queering all narratives speaking jokes to powerThe Internet is supposedly ruled by brandlike influencers adept at staying on a single story These class monitors are undermined by the unruly unclassifiable class of memesIf Sanders became a theme for a meme does that mean he is the theme of our political dreams The memes may represent affectionate embrace for the liberating image of defying the norms represented by PR perfect facadesmdashan earnest straight talking counter to Trumprsquos straight trashtalking Or be effusive goodbyes like saying ldquoIrsquoll always love yourdquo to lovers we didnrsquot choose But perhaps itrsquos also a dream for some memes in the Bernies because head and heart idealism and pragmatism joke and earnestness must join in a pleasurable politics to birth new imaginations for the futureParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycom