Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque (Moreno-Almeida 2024) - Weekend Book Review

Welcome to Revise and Resubmit! This is Weekend Book Review.What do memes, monsters, and digital horror have in common? More than you might think. The internet, once a place of cat videos and wholesome content, has grown into a strange, unsettling, and often grotesque landscape. And it’s this digital grotesque that Dr. Cristina Moreno-Almeida explores in her groundbreaking book, Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque.Dr. Moreno-Almeida is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Arabic Cultural Studies at Queen Mary University of London. Her research dives deep into the intersection of aesthetics, politics, and cultural production, spanning everything from rap music to far-right digital movements. She has studied how young people in North Africa use the internet for creativity, resistance, and sometimes, chaos. In this latest work, she turns her lens to the eerie, the absurd, and the politically charged nature of digital horror.Published by the British Academy, Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque takes us on a journey through internet culture in North Africa, particularly Morocco. Have you ever wondered why so many memes look deliberately ugly? Or why online horror seems to be evolving beyond just jump scares? This book dissects how digital spaces are breeding grounds for both creativity and disobedience—where monstrous aesthetics aren’t just for shock value, but tools for questioning power and identity. From the Arab Spring to folklore-inspired memes featuring jinns and ghouls, Dr. Moreno-Almeida uncovers how the grotesque is shaping online conversations and informal politics.But here’s the bigger question: What does it mean when the grotesque stops being just a joke and starts shaping how we see the world?A big thank you to Dr. Cristina Moreno-Almeida for this fascinating exploration into the eerie corners of digital culture and making the book open access. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, and Apple Podcasts. And don’t forget to check out Weekend Researcher on YouTube for more deep dives into research that reshapes how we see the world. See you next time!ReferenceMoreno-Almeida, Cristina, MEMES, MONSTERS, AND THE DIGITAL GROTESQUE (London, 2024; online edn, British Academy Scholarship Online, 19 Oct. 2024), https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197267714.001.0001Youtube channel link https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcherSupport us on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/weekendresearcher