24 Oct Binders of Women

As far as I could tell, it took the Internet about a minute and a half to explode over Romney’s now infamous comment about binders and women.

“We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”

And thus a meme was born.

The history of its evolution has been charted on the site Know Your Meme. Before the debate had ended, a Twitter account, Romney’s Binder, was created (inaugural tweet: “Boy, I’m full of women!”)….A Tumblr blog, BindersFullof Women, soon followed, with mixing pop culture references, images and parodic versions of the quote, such as this one from Dirty Dancing:

The Facebook page, Binders Full of Women, has, as of now, nearly 352,000 likes.

The meme also penetrated Amazon, as people began leaving “reviews” of binders that referenced Romney’s statement. A review of the Avery Durable View Binder with 2 Inch E-Z Turn Ring, contains the following warning:

For any of you who might be considering, like me, purchasing this binder based on the reviews, let me just point out one glaring omission: While this is a lovely, multi-purpose binder, IT DOES NOT COME WITH WOMEN.

Setting politics aside, why did people respond to this?

The fact is that the Romney campaign couldn’t come up with a statement better suited for an Internet meme if they tried. It’s pithy, easy to remember, easy to illustrate, and above all, easy to parody. Not long after it began conquering the Internet, it started being cited and discussed in the mainstream media, in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time, and the Atlantic, among others.

It’s a perfect illustration of the interplay between “real” life and virtual life, how something as playful as an Internet meme can reshape perceptions and redirect conversations. Someone fooling around online at work, taking a few minutes to post an iconic film image with a sarcastic binder reference, is in fact making a real contribution to the discourse surrounding the debate. Thus we have the very serious issue of the presidential race set against lighthearted references to actor Ryan Gosling and the film Austin Powers. We even see the reference moving from jaunty meme-dom to the real world of work, as in this post on the Tumblr blog, of a sign outside of a tapas restaurant:

Mitt Romney’s binders began in a presidential debate and ended up being used to highlight tapas specials. From serious to playfully delicious in the space of a few days. Not bad. Or in the words of another meme:

Emily Seftel received her BA in English from Arizona State University and her MA in French Cultural Studies from Columbia University. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, and a former Features reporter for the Arizona Republic, she first realized there was a wider world when she went to France with her high-school French class and discovered Nutella. Happily succumbing to the travel bug, she spent a year living in Tokyo, and currently lives in Paris with her husband, where she works to pay the bills, and writes in her spare time. She is currently working on a book about immigrating to France.

Emily Seftel Copyright(c) 2012 All Rights Reserved