The demotivational poster meme came before the advice animals meme.
And there was a whole kerfuffle about the advice dog/animal format not being a meme, but an image macro!
All image macros are memes but not all memes are image macros.
That means you are old to other old people
I remember the blogs that’s icanhascheeseburger ran that had feeds with posts of various meme formats. Demotivational was my favorite style
Shoulda been Abe’s head in the middle. Go the extra 15 miles!
Ooga chukka ooga chukka
Ally McBeal
Single female lawyer
Working for her client
Wearing sexy miniskirts
And being self-reliant
This is the true beginning.
This was a “viral video”, but was it a “meme”?
A “viral video” is practically the definition of a meme.
According to which definition?
A meme (/miːm/ ⓘ; MEEM)[1][2][3] is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5]
That’s the Dawkins version of a meme, not an Internet meme. An internet meme is typically defined differently:
By some definitions some viral videos would count, if they’re viral because they’re funny. By those definitions, if they’re viral because they’re critical news like the George Floyd murder, they’re not memes because they’re not humorous.
Personally, I don’t think it’s an internet meme unless:
- It’s intended to be funny or at least wryly amusing. So, serious news items or shocking things don’t count.
- It is remixed. A funny viral video isn’t a meme until people start remixing it.
What made image macros into internet memes was people taking the same macro and using different text. Otherwise it’s just a viral item of internet context.
My definition is not necessarily “right”, but I like it.
All three definitions you provided are well within Dawkins’ definition.
By some definitions some viral videos would count, if they’re viral because they’re funny. By those definitions, if they’re viral because they’re critical news like the George Floyd murder, they’re not memes because they’re not humorous.
The reason for their spread is irrelevant. The fact that it’s “a piece of culture that is spreading” is what makes it a meme.
What made image macros into internet memes was people taking the same macro and using different text
Again, this is well within the definition of “meme”.
My definition is not necessarily “right”, but I like it.
You’re arguing that “Internet meme” should be it’s own thing, when it fits perfectly well within the overarching definition of “meme”.
You’re arguing that “Internet meme” should be it’s own thing, when it fits perfectly well within the overarching definition of “meme”.
Yes, just like “motorcycle” fits perfectly well within the overarching definition of “vehicle” but it’s still useful to have a more specific term.
I miss Demotivators. Especially the RPG Demotivators from RPG.Net
It’s strange how no matter when someone was born, the best period in world history is the one when they happened to be kids.
Call me a boomer but I feel kids growing up now are missing something that those of us who grew up before TikTok had.
They’re missing a lot of things, especially including having a childhood where your mistakes weren’t forever preserved online.
My place of work in the early '90s used to have those original motivational posters all over the place, so I hung some of this original demotivational series in my cubicle. I believe they are the ones that started it all, and I still personally think they are the best.
I remember these were called Demotivational Posters before they were called memes.
Yeah I remember folks used to actually print and hang these.
YES! My graphic design class in highschool printed out a bunch of em for the art show.
Akhchually, they were called “memes” since 1976. It’s just that the word didn’t get popular with them damn kids.
W E L C O M E T O T H E N E X T L E V E LIs this a Chris Nolan reference? 🤯
The movie name is a reference to the Sator square, yes 🤘
I don’t think Christopher Nolan was around when this was made
Duhhhhh, he went back in time, just like in Christopher Nolan’s hit film Tenet.
So I badgerbadgerbadgerbadger which was the mushroom mushroom at the time.
snaaake!
Nobody:
OP formatting his meme:
Meme format has progressed so much
/s
Dude, I shit brix
You can’t just tickle my nostalgia organ like that.
Pepperidge Farms remembers?
This is more-or-less the format used for the motivational posters that were popular in offices in the 90s or so. People made fun of those with demotivational posters. But, those weren’t really “memes”, IMO.
But, the earliest thing that I think deserve the name “memes” (normally called Image Macros) were on the Something Awful forums (and soon after that on 4chan). In the early days they were mostly animal based: “lolcat”, “doge”, the “O RLY?” owl, etc.
Can someone point to “memes” that had the text underneath the picture, rather than using the impact font and written directly on top of the picture?
Question: Isn’t what you describe in the first paragraph the very definition of a meme?
What is the definition of a meme?
Devoting oneself to one’s art, impoverishing oneself in the pursuit of Truth, or welcoming martyrdom for one’s cause do not, it seems, represent behaviours which are obviously beneficial to the individual of for the spread of that individual’s genes. So, given that this kind of behaviour clearly exists, and is widespread, what is reaping the benefit? Dawkins’ somewhat surprising answer was the ideas themselves. Ideas are clearly in competition with each other so perhaps there’s a selection process going on, analogous to natural selection, through which some ideas prove successful and spread whilst others die out. He concluded that there was such a selection process and, to emphasise the parallel to natural selection, he coined the term “meme” which come from an ancient Greek root, “mimeme”, meaning imitated thing.
That was the original use, but what is it in the modern Internet context?
meme noun [C] (ON INTERNET)
an idea, joke, image, video, etc. that is spread very quickly on the internet
- Take a look at the top ten internet memes for this past year.
So, would you agree that viral videos are memes? I wouldn’t.
Yes, it’s literally in the definition. Even ideas are memes.
A meme is to culture what a gene is to biology.
I wouldn’t say that viral videos are memes, they are viral videos. But their content can become a meme, which could be a quote from it or some kind of content shown in a different context.
E.g. the Area51 Naruto runner is a meme, but the report where he appears is not.
We used to be a proper fucking society, with class!
Needs more belt onions.
That’s not a meme. It’s a macro.
Kids these days i swear
