Homework 2

I believe GIFs are fairly universal in its use and popularity, but I also believe that comes from millennial’s unique uses for it that GIFs have become what they are today. This generation is the generation that created their own type of Internet communication, not only to use with each other, but as a way to convey emotions and experiences as well. I think one of the things that have made GIFs so popular and successful is its accessibility and its ability to convey a vast amount of information in a small confined space (and on the Internet no less). In this age of downloading anything you want from the Internet: from music to movies and videos, GIFs would inevitably fall under just another item for the public to pick up from the Internet market. I think the appeal GIFs have to some people is its ability to capture a moment and let it repeat forever. This type of media that takes the recorded movement of a video and yet still retains the memory of a photograph and creates this type of space that occupies a small frame of time. This is especially true of cinemagraphs in creating a moment in time out of a still photograph. We know the whole world is moving around in real time, but there’s something about picking a single movement or gesture that allows the viewer to focus on a moment over and over again the way a simple photograph or video couldn’t really let you do. If we’re talking about GIFs on a much broader scale, I can definitely agree that Tumblr has a lot to do with the resurgence in GIF popularity. I have a Tumblr account myself and witness a countless amount of GIFs a day just through scrolling. Everything from film, TV, and animation are translated into GIF form by Tumblr user and are reblogged by thousands of people a minute every day. There is an endless amount of high quality GIFs of television episodes a mere MINUTES after it airs on TV. How do people do it? I honestly have no idea. The point is it happens--all the time. Tumblr has already become a platform for artists to share their art on the Internet, and GIFs have ultimately become of that artist community. People have even started to incorporate GIF to their digital illustrations and comics on Tumblr as well.

With its level of availability and potential to be redone by at least a hundred of other people, the idea of a single GIF being sold for $16,000 sounds kind of ridiculous. Obviously if someone is willing to pay for it then by all means, the seller should feel somewhat accomplish to say the least. It just seems strange looking at how GIFs, even GIFs made by professional artists, are circulated through the Internet and through popular culture itself. It's not the same as a drawing or print someone created in real time and is sent through the Internet to be seen. GIFs are somewhat severed from its credit source, even if it contains original material. You can recognize the GIF, even remember the artist’s name, but having that file frolic through the Internet without any restriction removes it from any sort of physical form of reality. The other problem with GIFs being considering ‘sellable’ art is how the Internet has enabled the public to make their own GIFs. Not to say the Internet has given everyone the immediate ability to make a unique and original GIF, but the Internet does enable everyone to make a GIF of Jennifer Lawrence repeatedly tripping at the Oscars...if they really desired to do so. The thing is that the GIF itself will usually present itself in two different forms: a form of Internet that reflects popular culture and turns them into extremely popular memes; or a form of new contemporary art that is showcased in museums and galleries all over the world. Some people regard either form a form of art, some don’t. Regardless, both have origins on the Internet and have the potential to be seen all over the world. However, whether or not GIF art can be sold at the same rate as other, physical art is really up to the public to decide and agree on.

That being said, there’s a lot to things to consider when seeing GIF art as being driven by the everyday person. It's true there have been a lot of commodities invented that allow people to make their own GIFs, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's easier for people to make art. GIFs have simply become another method in making art. Every person has access to a pen and paper, but that doesn’t grant that person the immediate ability to draw. However, with the resurgence of the GIF have allowed artist to work and play with this new medium on the most prominent media-sharing space in the world: the Internet. It's just become another form of expression that everyone can use and relate to. I believe the reason people find the use of GIFs so relatable is what it’s able to convey. Putting any real artistic aesthetics aside, GIFs circulated throughout the internet are usually just a reflection of popular culture--an embarrassing moment that was caught on camera, a scene from a TV show that everyone finds ‘relatable’, or even just a dog running around. These days, GIFs are prime meme material, according to the Internet

(Cue every ‘surprise bitch’ gif made in 2014: http://www.vulture.com/2013/12/american-horror-story-coven-surprise-bitch-gif.html ).

I think the reason people like using GIFs so much are their ability to grasp a ‘moment in time’. The moment doesn’t necessarily have to be an artistic one, or even a personal one at that. The thing that really draws people in is the event, the moment, that they’re allowed to witness over and over again and is also easily sharable. The reason the effect of a GIF is different than a video is that it is immediate. There's no ‘open link in new Tab”, loading or buffering, it’s just there and it keeps going on and on and on. Since GIFs are used with TV or movies most of the time, it’s easy to say people are drawn to gifs because they can watch their favorite scenes over and over again, or a line their favorite character says that they can ‘relate’ or react with. It’s a form of internet culture almost everyone has adopted, so much so it’s even embedded in the way we think and how we think other people should understand us and how we feel.