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Paper short abstract

This paper explores how Aesopic animal fables are reimagined in internet memes. It examines whether these multimodal narratives highlight nature as a source of wisdom for human life or reinforce an anthropocentric worldview of human dominance.

Paper long abstract

Animal fables, inseparably linked with Aesop in Greek tradition, have long functioned as tools of moral teaching, social critique, and artistic expression. As one of the most enduring forms of folk narrative, they attribute human traits to animals in order to communicate lessons of survival and ethical conduct. Over time, fables have continually adapted their form and function, responding to new cultural contexts.

In the contemporary digital world, this adaptability finds expression in internet memes, where images- often layered with humor, irony, or satire- reproduce and transform the didactic core of the fable. Much like the paroimiomythoi (proverbial fables) of old, such memes rely on shared cultural memory, assuming familiarity with earlier narratives while simultaneously reshaping them for new audiences.

This paper examines a corpus of memes that reference Aesop and animal fables, focusing on the way they represent the relationship between humans, animals, and nature. On one level, nature remains a wise teacher with relevant insights for human society. Yet, on another level, the presence of humans in these narratives often reframes the dynamic, underscoring an anthropocentric stance in which human beings claim authority over animals and the natural world.

Through this analysis, the paper asks whether animal fables in their digital, multimodal reincarnations continue to serve as exempla of ethical living inspired by nature, or whether they confirm and perpetuate a human-centered model of interpretation and control.