“Filmmaker Memes” has 44K followers on Instagram. They suggest one good 'treatment' for filmmakers or otherwise daily struggles, which has always been laughter or not taking things too seriously, as per their motto: “Let’s laugh at how ridiculous our industry is.”
One would be wrong, however, to assume that everyone likes to see the illusion of a perfect film world existing somewhere out there to be broken in front of their very eyes. As many people did not enjoy one bit, when in Hanneke’s “Funny Games” a character named Paul starts talking to the camera as if addressing the viewer of a film and making him self-conscious rather than immersed into the reality of a film. This might, of course, be the choice of taste, as Paul possibly would not be a conversation partner of most people’s choice.
However, there are many examples from meta-films, which have characters that we are more willing to associate with and in such a way accept our human imperfections or flaws. The classic example and one of the pioneers of a meta-film is Federico Fellini’s “8 ½” capturing and at the same time exploring the creative process by following a film director’s character, who is struggling to come up with ideas for his next movie and showing challenges as well as rewards of working in a film industry and of artistic creation in general.
One of the more recent examples of a film going meta is Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, which shows a more vulnerable, but accordingly possibly more relatable portrait of an actor, rather than glamorous pictures of actors from the times of classic Hollywood. In "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", one of the ways such an effect is achieved is by using a repetitive motive, showing Rick Dalton’s character played by Leonardo DiCaprio breaking into tears, thinking his career peak as an actor has come to an end or for forgetting his line in front of the crew.
Such effect showing the flaws of an actor is strengthened by the contrast of Brad Pitt’s character, who plays Rick’s stuntman Cliff Booth, doing all the physically demanding tricks for him and actually being able to enjoy his life without worrying too much about how others perceive him.
Finally, the thread connecting meta-films and memes can be brought up by bringing up the elements of irony and self-awareness. These elements that are essential for memes are evident in David Lynch’s film “Mulholland Drive” showing the first part of the film turning out to be nothing but creation - a dream - of a girl’s conscience refusing to acknowledge the harsh reality she’s in and falling victim to the film industry. It depicts the character’s process of becoming self-aware and shows the irony of a dream’s power to be a double-sided sword that can and often is destructive, unless taken with a grain of salt or a good sense of humor.
