emperor-lemon

WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back everyone! So glad to see that you either survived the
Halloween season or are now a skeleton and are reading this while
waiting to be drafted into the Skeleton War. We‘ve got some ghastly
articles in store, however none of them are quite as frightening as the
fact that the holiday season is soon upon us. Read up on the meme
trends now, invest wisely, and you‘ll be able to afford those great black
friday deals that you literally fought for the right to buy. As always. thank
you for being such devoted fans and please do enjoy this issue

-Meme Insider Team

LuckyCosmos | co-owner WickedAssassin | lead dev
Noerdy | co-owner Emrickgj | dev
Cartoonwarp | co-owner Kumarhx | dev
RedRiderX | dev
Maybealexandra | lead designer Garnt | dev
Benwubbleyou | design
GallLeonard | design Manndude1 | advisor
Gurbism | design Desman.Metzger | advisor
Digitalorange | founder
Words_of_a_mortal | writer
Toastmeme69 | writer I
MajorMushroom | writer
Deros94 | writer
LyircBalloon | writer

Thanks again,
The Meme Insider Team

Inside the PAGE 4 PAGE 7
Issue PAGE 10
PAGE 20 PAGE 13
Double the Characters
PAGE 13
Double the memes PAGE 23
PAGE 4

Surreal Memes

The strange key to diversifying your meme
portfolio?
PAGE 7

EmpLemon Interview

something
PAGE 10

Building Structural
Frameworks to
Contextually Examine
Postmodernist Meme
Culture

A Memetonormative Analysis Pt. 2
PAGE 13

WebComic Memes

subtitle
PAGE 20

Memes and Election Years

When is a good time to invest?
PAGE 23

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL

DOUBLE THE CHARACTERS,
DOUBLE THE MEMES

TWITTER’S EXPERIMENT WITH A 280-CHARACTER LIMIT

@JStemp. October 2017.

Since the dawn of Twitter, users have been limit- of users experiment with different formats of
ed to the arbitrary 140-character limit. This has memes and generally produce original content.
limited some in terms of memes; meme makers Other uses tend to be longer dialogue driven
may find themselves deleting or abbreviating memes—me: posts—and copypasta. Ironically,
words just to fit their genius in. But on Septem- many who went the copypasta route used quotes
ber 26th, 2017 Twitter announced on their blog that were longer than 280-characters—showing
they had plans to experiment with a 280-char- 280-characters can be just as limiting as 140.
acter limit—but only with a small select group of
users chosen at random. An example of a copypasta used is the
Before when a meme maker would go famous Rick and Morty meme:
about getting around the 140-character limit,
one would simply just rearrange their memes “To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ
and post the screenshot. In a way, the 140-char- to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is
acter limit birthed the Twitter meme market— extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of
the Twitter format has spiked in popularity in theoretical physics most of the jokes will go
the past few years. But with the possibility of a over a typical viewer’s head. There’s also Rick’s
280-character limit, memes could become lon- nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into hi”
ger and even fit into Twitter itself instead of just
being screenshots. As you can see, the copy cuts off mid
sentence. However, using copy longer than
This expands the many memes we al- 280-characters has been short lived and died
ready see on Twitter (and the various places down soon after the first randomly selected
those tweets are then posted). One of the first users tweeted their first 280-character tweet.
uses of the 280-character limit I saw was an But the possibility of copypasta being born from
ASCII rendition of the famous Twitter meme You twitter still remains; the increase in characters
know I had to do it to em. would allow more longer forms of memes to be
The increase in characters would benefit the posted.
many “areas” of Twitter like Black people Twitter These longer memes would most definite-
or Weird Twitter whose loosely connected group ly lead to an increase in production on

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL

Figure 1: An exampe of a deep fried meme. >https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/product/2017/Giving-
you-more-characters-to-express-yourself.html
Twitter due to more room for experimentation >https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/technology/twitter-280-
with format. Twitter’s format of memes have on characters.html?_r=0
Twitter due to more room for experimentation >http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-know-i-had-to-do-it-to-em
with format. Twitter’s format of memes have >http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/to-be-fair-you-have-to-have-a-
become increasingly popular in the economy and very-high-iq-to-understand-rick-and-morty
has been slowly climbing to the top of mass meme
producing websites.
This shift in the mass production of memes
has been apparent in recent years; 4chan used to
reign supreme by popularizing memes like Pepe
the frog and Doge, but in recent years Twitter
has been slowly taking the mantle of meme mass
producer. The increase to 280-characters might be
enough to push Twitter to the very top of the food
chain.
In any case, 280-characters would force
a new model of innovation, a new paradigm for
meme producers to follow. Many new memes may
appear in the wake of the possible change and
those who make memes will reap the benefits.

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“What the hell am I looking at?”
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uh uh Surreal memes are not everyone’s cup of tea, but in the meme economy,
uh uh they are an important diversifying force. When traditional meme formats
wheee decline in dankness (and they will, just as they will inevitably grow in
once I made poems out of sneezes dankness once more as the economy ebbs and flows) surreal memes can
uh uh uh help keep an investor’s portfolio vibrant and viable.
they were famous
in drizzly Hannover So, instead of saying
uh huh “What the hell am I
home of symphonic sniffles looking at?”, I hope the
uh reader of this article,
sneezes of when confronted with an
whee opportunity to invest in
Wagnerian proportions surreal memes, will be
uh uh uh able to say, confident in
in London too his or her informed and
uh uh well-reasoned opinion,
they understood “That is pretty dank.”
uh my artistry
uh huh uh
now here I am uh
in the land of lakes and hills
uh uh
in water colourists' heaven



THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL 10

INTERVIEW WITH
EMPEROR LEMON

SITTING DOWN WITH THE POOPER BEHIND THE UNCREDIBLES AND OTHER CLASSICS.

Spooktober 2017.

You might know EmpLemon as the man behind and new poopers. I never really tried to craft
such classic YouTube Poops such as The Uncred- a distinct style, rather I incorporated elements
ibles or Frying Dory. Or maybe you know him from some of my favorite poopers over the years:
from videos such as “Enough is Enough! How AbsoluteBillion, Imaperson, chemistryguy, Bar-
Behind the Meme is ruining the Memescape as neyIsPerverted, LinkOnDrugs, Awful Fawful,
We Know It”, or “The Downward Spiral”. These MoBrosStudios and cartoonlover98 to name a
are surely two very different types of content, few. Most of these guys are retired now, but you
but to the staff at Meme Insider, we consider can still find their stuff somewhere on YouTube.
them both to be of equal quality and impor-
tance. As longtime fans of EmpLemon, it was MI: Watching your Youtube Has been on a Down-
out pleasure to sit down with him to pick his ward Spiral, you demonstrated that you have a
brain. passion about youtube. It had a punk flair, was
well written, and you ended it well too. However,
MI: What/Who is your main inspirations be- do you think youtube culture can change from
hind your Youtube Poop series? the ground up given the overarching corporate
influence that creators have no control over?
EL: Initially, my biggest inspiration was a poop-
er by the name of SantaWithTeeth (a.k.a kor- EL: I am actually somewhat optimistic for the
tez). He has been retired for years now, but his future of YouTube despite much of what I said
Spongebob YTPs from 2009-2010 have stood in that video. While the top ranks of YouTube
the test of time. They are some of the funniest are saturated with God-awful content, many of
poops you will see, yet the editing is relatively the newer emerging channels are actually quite
simple. I had seen YTPs before but SWT’s were good. Channels rising to popularity today must
something else. He was the first pooper I saw produce high quality content in order to compete
use the technique of sentence mixing. I was in with the big-name guys. The system is somewhat
elementary school at the time and witnessing self-correcting in this fashion. I think 5-10 years
Spongebob cursing with his own voice complete- from now, the top channels on this site will be-
ly blew my mind. I just had to try it myself. So in come much more diverse, and good content will
2010, I opened my YouTube channel and started be much more accessible.
editing cartoons and commercials in my free With that being said, the biggest problem You-
time. Tubers face today is financial instability. The
Over time I started exploring new techniques ad-pocalypse reminds me a lot of the widespread

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL 11

lawsuit). Both situations are similar, with You- EL: I really liked watching them, and they
Tube reacting to pressure from big corporations seemed pretty easy to make. I just followed a few
at the expense of creators. YouTubers adapted YouTube tutorials and I was on my way. Later I
back then, and they will adapt now. The para- would learn that while it’s easy to make a YTP,
digm of success on YouTube is always changing; it’s surprisingly difficult to make a good one. 7
that’s part of the game, and we all have to accept years later I’m still trying to improve.
it. However, despite recent setbacks, YouTube is
undoubtedly the entertainment platform of the MI: In your opinion, do meme sources ever lose
future. The generation of kids growing up today their dankness? Toy Story and CDI Zelda memes
are watching YouTube, not television. I don’t see seem to be dormant now- but are they still fun-
this trend changing anytime soon. They will ny? Is that “in the eye of the beholder”?
come, and so will the cash, eventually.
EL: As memes age, we start to perceive them
MI: As a follow up, do you think the current differently. Fresh memes have a high level of
audience can fix the culture once they become dank because you see/hear them for the first
participants instead of purely consumers? time. They have an element of surprise and nov-
elty. The more you see it, the more stale it be-
EL: That’s tough to say. The kids watching You- comes. At this point, the meme could meet one
Tube today are unlike any other gen-
eration in history. We give them of several fates.
a lot of flak, but at the same time Some memes just fade away and
it’s important to understand where retain some level of dankness.
they’re coming from. 12-year-olds Some memes become inter-
this year were born in 2005. They twined with the culture of a
are the first generation of heavy certain website or community
internet users over the majority of (i.e. Pepe on 4chan and Kappa
their childhoods. It’s easy to rid- on Twitch).
icule them for enjoying stuff like Some memes spread to the
the Paul Brothers, Ricegum, and mainstream, and they get com-
other obnoxious YouTubers, but pletely run into the ground by
we have to understand that they’re kids. They’re normies. When you start to see
impressionable, and they’re still developing their
tastes. I certainly watched my fair share of poor the meme covered on online articles (The In-
content at that age (RayWilliamJohnson, An- ternet is Crazy about this New Meme!) then you
noying Orange). I turned it around, and I have can pretty much put it in a coffin. Once it’s been
faith that the next generation can too. Either tainted with corporate marketing, it has gone
that, or we have inadvertently created a genera- irredeemably normie and will never be dank
tion of tasteless zombies. again; unless you repackage it with some ironic
filters.
MI: What initially got you making YTPs? The way I see it, a meme is more dank the more
it distances itself from becoming a brand. Super
Mario Bros is a brand. There’s nothing funny

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL 12

about it. It’s a product that people purchase and EL: I made a big gamble, for sure. After five
consume. Hotel Mario, on the other hand, is a years of making only YTP-related videos, I was
failed brand - and it makes a great meme. No- fed up. So starting in 2016, I began experiment-
body sees Hotel Mario as a product. Big YouTu- ing with new video formats. I tried my hand in
bers don’t do let’s-plays of Hotel Mario. There meme videos with my ASCENDED series, since
isn’t a cancerous Hotel Mario fandom. Hotel dank memes were booming at the time. I also
Mario is just a thing that exists as an element started doing commentary videos with YTP-
of internet culture, which makes it pretty dang style editing. Naturally, a lot of old fans were
dank. turned off by the change. You can’t drastically al-
ter a five-year-old formula without getting some
MI: The Uncredibles is your most popular backlash. I had a period of about nine months
upload- where do you see the Incredibles as a when I would lose subscribers with each upload.
meme source? Is it an untapped goldmine or has It was demoralizing, but I didn’t let it deter me. I
it already lived out its short spotlight? kept trying and eventually it paid off. In about a
year, I gained more subscribers than I had in all
EL: I see major meme potential here. We have of my first five years combined.
already seen prolific meme production from Due to my more controversial videos, I have
other Pixar films like Toy Story, Monsters Inc, developed somewhat of a cult following. While
and Cars. I don’t see why The Incredibles can’t I appreciate whatever support I can get, I have
join them. Everybody already knows the Incred- made it perfectly clear that I am loyal to no one.
ibles, and there are simply too many memorable I will make what I make; and whether or not you
scenes and characters for it to remain dormant like it is your problem. I’ve lost fans before, and
for much longer. it hasn’t made one bit of difference. It only takes
one click to unsubscribe.
MI: On a scale of 1-10 how dank is Harry Con-
nick Jr? MI: Recently you made a popular video address-
ing Behind the Meme. If you knew that Behind
MI: What was it like to switch your style of con- the Meme was reading this interview- what
tent so dramatically? What was the fan reaction would you say to him?
then, and what is it now that the dust has set-
tled? EL: Don’t hate the player - hate the game.

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL 13

MI: Do you have any ideas do you have laying ner-spaghetti poops of 2008, which is when they
around that you just don’t have time to get to? stopped watching. However, those that stuck
around witnessed an incredible evolution. More
EL: Tons. I have a Google doc with literally genres, more effects, more memes; poopers
dozens of topics for future commentaries. Time constantly trying to outdo each other with more
has always been an issue for me. I could never and more grandiose projects. Editing techniques
be one of those YouTubers who uploads every have become much more advanced. Back in the
day. I only like to upload videos I’m personally 2000s most poopers used Windows Movie Mak-
satisfied with, and that takes a while. It doesn’t er. Now it’s not uncommon to see After Effects
help that I’m a full time college student either. and 3D modelling software just for a dumb little
Or that I’m a procrastinator. Fortunately for me, joke. It amazes me how much effort some people
my audience is used to infrequent uploads since put into these nonsensical videos.
I have never had a regular schedule. If I could mention a single big change, it
In the words of Mr. Incredible, We’ll get there would be the overall style of humor. Poops back
when we get there! in the day relied on remixing a single source.
The humor came from the editing itself, along
MI: Who is your favorite Youtuber? with the disruption of the original source’s
quality. Nowadays, YTP humor has transitioned
EL: Michael from Vsauce. In an age of clickbait, to a much more referential style. It’s common
drama, pandering, and rampant douchebaggery for poops today to pull clips from dozens of
among the top YouTubers, it’s good to see that sources, concocting a mad symphony of obscure
there’s at least one channel that remains tried- references and connections. I find a lot of humor
and-true to the method of simply making engag- in modern YTP from the pure absurdity of the
ing, quality content. composition (the why does this exist? feeling).
Dunkey is a close second. The rise in popularity of internet meme culture
has certainly contributed to this transition.
MI: What is your dream collab on Youtube? Dank memes and YTP have converged to an ex-
tent in recent times. As time goes on, it becomes
EL: If I ever get the chance, I would like to work more and more difficult to differentiate between
with the Melon Lord himself, Anthony Fantano. YTPs and meme remixes.
I know he’s a fan of memes and remix culture,
and at the very least we could have a few inter- Patreon: Have you considered transitioning
esting conversations. away from YouTube poops to a more contempo-
rary form of memes?
MI: Finally, what is the biggest change you have
witnessed in the style of YouTube Poops? EL: I have toyed with this idea through my
ASCENDED series (along with other shitposts),
EL: Since I first started, poops have become however I don’t think I’ll ever truly stop making
bigger, longer and more complex. Most inter- YTPs. Memes come and go, but YTPs have a cer-
net users only remember the simplistic din- tain charm that make them sort of timeless. If I

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL 14

do much more meme stuff in the future, it will EL: I don’t hate normies per se; I just hate the
probably be more analytical and research-based. mentality associated with their behavior. This is
So stay tuned for more MEME THEORY !!! a complicated issue that requires more than an
interview response to truly explore, but I will try
P: What are you studying? to summarize my thoughts here.
Let me first say that I define a normie as some-
EL: I was originally trying to become an engi- body who follows trends simply because they’re
neer, but I found it boring as all heck, so I trans- popular. If you look at pop music today, you will
ferred to video production. Might as well play notice that almost all of it is dull, repetitive and
to my strengths, right? Maybe when I graduate, formulaic. This has nothing to do with my spe-
I can start making documentary films about cial snowflake elitist hipster tastes. Most pop
memes. music today is objectively stale and simplistic;
this has been demonstrated through compre-
P: When are you going to make frying Dory? hensive mathematical research. Most songs that
top the charts are just not good, yet they are
EL: All you ever do is complain. the most popular. How can this be? It’s because
normies lack individual ambition, and they will
P: Do you think YouTube poops are dying? unquestionably consume anything as long as it’s
within the status quo. They judge things based
EL: Quite the contrary, actually. YouTube Poops on how much other people like it, rather than by
are better today than ever before. If you don’t truth or merit. I’m not against people enjoying
believe me, go check out guys like Jimmy Davis, popular things. The Bohemian Rhapsody is one
Schaffrillas Productions, and Pie Pivotmon- of the most overplayed songs of all time, and it’s
tier-O. All of these guys are new poopers with one of my favorites. Don’t Stop Believing is in a
unique styles, and they do great work. similarly overplayed, and I can’t stand it. It’s a
The misconception that YouTube Poops are dead subjective decision, sure, but it’s one that I made
comes from the malaise of former fans whose on my own.
favorite poopers have long since retired. YTP is Sadly, the majority of people succumb to
an adaptive medium; and if you wish to become this fate. They sacrifice their individuality, cre-
a disciple of it, you must be willing to adapt ativity and imagination just to gain the approval
your own tastes. Poopers come and poopers go. of others. They are so terrified of being labeled
No pooper sticks around forever, and it’s up to “weird”, that they just fade into the mob.
the viewers to find new ones. A simple YouTube Neil Armstrong walked on the fucking
search will likely reveal some new contenders moon. That’s pretty weird, yet it makes him one
you have probably never seen before. YouTube of the the greatest men who ever lived. Weird-
Poops may be ridiculous videos, but it’s even ness is good, and we should embrace it whenever
more ridiculous to declare an artform DEAD we can (That’s part of the reason I like YouTube
just because it no longer adheres to your fickle Poop so much). Normies fear being weird, when
preferences. they should fear being ordinary.

P: Why do you hate normies so much?

Meme Insider.
It’s Pretty Good.

Building Structural Frameworks
to Contextually Examine
Postmodernist Meme Culture

A Memetonormative Analysis Pt. 2

/u/MajorMushroom42

Bilateral Analysis structure as factors that are The zone beneath the axis in
present in almost all memes, in the memeticist segment of the
Naturally content can be seen varying relative proportion, is curve has been marked the
in the vast majority of memes key to full appreciation of the “meme zone.” This is simply a
- new content is viewed as factors that make successful representation of the general
fundamental to meme creation, memes successful and a reason why memeticist memes
and content that is seen to comprehensive relative analysis have been so successful,
have become stale or overused of meme communities and and continue to enjoy not
becomes unpopular in favour periods. Consider Fig. 9. only strong popularity but
of new content, a primary substantial meme creation
factor and driving force in On this spectrum has been within memeticist communities
the continuous, spontaneous graphed a memetonormative (factors which can be seen
development of memes. Even structural-substantive relativity to feed each other in the
memes with no links to existing curve, representing what I maintenance of a strong
structures or formats can believe is the approximate audience and an evolving
still be successful, provided relative frequency, in the dynamic); the general
they contain humourous general case, that structural memeticist meme has an
content (as appropriate for elements appear in memetic excellent balance between
the memeto-temporal sphere images, versus substantive content and structure, with
they inhabit). Additionally, elements. Many of these factors enough content for the meme
content can allow memes to have already been considered, itself to be unique and amusing
engage with contemporary and so the logic behind this even to viewers who have seen
socially relevant issues, making decision is surely clear, but a similar memes and enough
contextually relevant content few facts remain to be noted. structure that the meme is not
a key factor in many memes. just an amusing image but also
The ability to see content and has enough scope to allow both
change and interrelation with
other memes. Contrastingly,
as seen, both pre and
postmemeticist memes have a
substantially greater relative
structuralist focus - the former
because of its primitive nature,
and the latter because of its
derivation of humour from
the systematic disruption of
content in more traditional
memes. This crucial realisation
leads us to our last important
spectrum diagram, depicted in
Fig. 10.

Fig. 9(top left) - A fully marked meme
spectrum, showing the structural-
substantive relativity curve.

Fig. 10(top left) - By wrapping the spectrum This cylindrical traditional objective notions of
around a cylinder we can see the relationship mapping of the morality, ethics and religion. In
between pre- and postmemeticism. his 1917 book “The Postmodern
curve makes Condition: A Report on
clear the key Knowledge,” the Postmodern
similarity of of thinker Jean-François Lyotard
prememeticist argues that Postmodernism
and is typified by “an incredulity
postmemeticist toward metanarratives;” that is
memes; a heavy to say, the cultural values and
reliance on mores which were built upon
structure. With culturally relevant narratives
the place of (such as the broad scope of the
postmemeticism Western canon). Postmodernist
in the memetic philosophers saw these
spectrum, and metanarratives to embody an
the reasons for oppressive totalization through
that placement, their reliance on what Lyotard
having been referred to as some kind of
deobfuscated, a “transcendent and universal
rigorous treatment truth.” Following on from
of postmodernist Modernist philosophies in
themes in late- the late 19th and early 20th
stage memetic centuries, which were overtly
content can now critical of societal change which
begin. was highly relevant in that
social context, Postmodernism
Postmodernism is has a more laissez-faire moral
a 20th century cultural attitude, and more greatly
movement which is typically acknowledges the sovereignty
associated with distrust of of the self.
traditional ideas such as
Memetic growth as shown on
“Postmodernism has a the meme spectrum above
more laissez-faire moral can be seen to have a similar
attitude, and more greatly teleological metanarrative
acknowledges the to that of Western culture,
in a broad sense; the growth
sovereignty of a dense creative canon
in the Western world was
naturally followed by cultural
movements seeking to question
the value and usefulness
of such constructs, and
offering new perspectives.
Postmodernist texts question
traditionally held views of the
manner in which a text should
be structured, deliberately
rejecting conventions such as

objectivity of narration and Fig. 11 - A surrealist
linear construction. They are meme. The character of
often deeply fragmented and “meme man” is clearly
may be self-referential. New visible in the last frame.
art forms such as performance
art were introduced in the 20th
century with the breakdown in
the boundaries between high
and low culture postmodernism
introduced, and as such
postmemetic content may be
viewed not only as an evolution
from earlier, more objective
meme formats but also as a
form of postmodernist artwork.
Postmodernism has, to some
degree, removed pretensions
about artistic merit, placing
the tools to create meaningful
artwork into the hands of the
masses, by legitimising memes
as a form of art.

Memes as an Art- is blurred. Post-ironic ideas and adapting them, often in
can be seen in surreal memes, surprising and unexpected
An important concept to which continually redefine ways. The status quo is
consider which is deeply themselves and their nature, redefined constantly, and the
meaningful for analysis of subverting easy identification few common factors which can
progressive memetic culture is and deciphering. On the one be identified between memes
that of “post-irony.” The twin hand, surrealist memes are (factors which are constantly
concepts of postmodernist absurd in nature. The memes being repressed by surreal
irony, in which content is have no clear meaning, and meme communities such that
portrayed under the viewer’s range from ridiculous scenarios they do not override surrealist
assumption that it is to be to memes which are themselves content, merely supplement it)
considered a farce, and the indecipherable enigmas. are incredibly generic, simply
reactionary movement of However, these memes clearly warped representations of
New Sincerity, in which incorporate elements of emotions or concepts used
excessive irony and hollow modern society, repurposing in these memes to replace
self-reflection are countered images and ideas which are their real-world counterparts
with genuinity, are fused; most definitely real (hence the (for instance “meme man” (a
the result is post-irony, a use of the term surrealism) poorly rendered 3D model
state in which the boundary
between irony and sincerity

of a disembodied human Fig. 12 - A short greentext story. and its diaspora (e.g. 8chan -
head - (see Fig. 11)) is used to a host of similar imageboard
represent a generic character parody - their post-ironic type sites exist). Here, the
and a wanderer through time tendencies make it impossible fact that users can remain
and space, whose nature to tell where parody ends and anonymous at will, and in
changes to fit any scene and ideas begin. Surreal memes fact (without posting personal
plot which may be called for). are a reflection of a reflection, details) will have no way to
To those accustomed to memes losing what made memetic verify their identity, means
which make clear statements content meaningful in the that all content is viewed
(return to Fig. 3) these memes first place - while they seek to through a post-ironic frame of
may be uncomfortable; abstract themselves to a distant reference; it is often unclear
the surrealist nature of the point of reference, in order as to whether given stories are
memes make it difficult to tell to look down and comment true or false, and absurdity is a
where legitimate suggestions upon culture as a whole, as common feature of “greentext”
begin and concepts twisted opposed to specific issues, stories commonly posted on
to remove all prior meaning they have removed themselves the forum. The profligate
end. Ultimately, nothing so far from the very culture content, often describing sex
approaching certitude can be they seek to critique that their and masturbation scenes (often
gathered from these memes; commentary is farcical and any homosexual and/or scenes of
as shown on the cylindrical meaning they may once have sexual discovery) and scenes of
meme spectrum they are had is lost. violence, are often outlandish
more similar to prememeticist and may be clearly untrue, and
memes, in that what meaning While discussing post-irony the boundaries between reality
they do provide they provide it is worth referring, however and absurdity are blurred.
not through directly discussive tangentially, to the flourishing
statements but through blurred online communities of 4chan
ideas, which are strong in
terms of their impact in that
particular area (for instance a
surreal meme which discusses
love, which would probably use
highly stereotypical love related
imagery to emphasize that) but
which cannot move beyond
that, restricted by the strong
surrealist structure upon which
all surreal memes are based.
This memetic imprisonment
can be compared directly
to primitive, unevolved
prememeticist memes, unable
to make social critique beyond
broad statements. Surreal
memes are a failed attempt
to analyse culture - while
they seek to engage in satire
and irony with the intent of
highlighting core failures of
modern culture, they descend
too deep into self-referential

Artistic Expression

In Fig. 13 a “nuked meme” the meme is that the humour characteristics - it is often the
is shown, another facet of derived from them is not case, as here, that the artist
postmemeticism, in which derived from the observance himself will provide further
bright, strong colours and of a single, illogical image but commentary to enlighten
simple motifs lifted from other through the viewing of the observers as to their creative
meme content are placed whole body of work as a single goal. Nuked memes could
together with no sense of unified object working towards be attempting to do either of
relative meaning (a further presenting a single idea. This the above; either crystallising
distortion of the genre of deep can be compared to minimalist disconnected memetic
fried memes - this meme might art, such as Kazimir Malevich’s concepts into a sort of collage
be better considered as a more “Black Square” (Fig. 14). The or criticising the absurdity of
extreme deep fried meme) - artist considered the work as common memetic structures
the letter emoji symbols fail “pure feeling” - a consideration (such as the ubiquitous B
to make meaningful words of what the essence of art was emoji). Given the group
and the words that are present - although another minimalist mentality and the distributed
lack any context. The meme artist, Alexander Rodchenko, creation process common to
is a pastiche of aspects of considered his minimalist all memes, the latter is more
memeticist culture (visible works to be a disassembly likely.
through the emoji usage) and of the principles of prior art.
prememeticist culture (the In the same way, these two
salient point of the minion as divergent but grand creative
subject). This meme can be visions are expressed through
seen to reflect the ultimate a body of different pieces
triumph of structure over which speak as a unified
content - it is only necessary whole through their shared
to view a single nuked meme
to understand the concept Fig. 13(top) - This is a nuked meme, an extreme in
which they are trying to suggest the transformation of traditional meme culture.
(degeneration of meme images Courtesy of /u/ArmenianPepsi
into near-illegible collages
of found parts), although Fig. 14(bottom right) - “Black Square” - Kazimir
nuked memes possess the Malevich, oil on canvas. Here structure
self-referentiality, in this predominates, and what speaks is not the content
regard, that is common to but the conspicuous lack thereof.
postmodernist works - without
the existence of a body of
work of nuked meme content,
a framework within which to
understand the memes, the
humour would not be possible.
While this nuked meme (and
others) can be examined to
understand the nature of nuked
memes, the true nature of

“freed from to as “wholesome” have existed perceived anti-social nature),
the chains of since the prememeticist Advice perhaps wholesome memes
excessive ironic Animal format “Actual Advice go further in subverting not
& self reflective Mallard,” the new wave of only the new generation of
wholesome meme content absurdist ironic memes but
content” started as recently as late the backbone of memetic
2015 (Fig. 15). It is analogous culture, following what radio
Just as in art, where each to the reactive movement of host Jesse Thorn described as
progressive artistic movement New Sincerity, responding the maxim of New Sincerity
is not only spurred by the to the excessively ironic and - “Be More Awesome,” and
perceived mistakes of the self-reflective content created what he described as a lifestyle
previous generation but by postmodernist thinkers by of “Maximum Fun.” While
inspires the next generation creating legitimate content the critical might consider
through its own perceived which is freed from the wholesome memes to be a
mistakes, it is only natural that chains of excessive irony and naïve memetic construct,
memes that seek to react to cynicism and can be taken at viewing traditional meme
this sort of memetic content face value - as put by author content as more applicable to
will be created, a trend which and social critic David Foster the real world (arguably the
can be seen in wholesome Wallace in his 1993 essay “E reason memes were created in
memes, another offshoot Pluribus Unam - Television the first place - as a reaction to,
from memeticist tradition but and U.S. Fiction” “the next and a content type appropriate
surely spurred to action by real literary ‘rebels’ in this in the age of, the creation of
the creation of postmodernist country might well emerge the Internet), there can be no
meme content (while individual as some weird bunch of anti- surprise that meme content
memes which could be referred rebels, born oglers who dare as radical as that visible in
somehow to back away from postmemeticism would attract
Fig. 15(above) - A typical wholesome meme. ironic watching, who have the a vigorous countermovement.
It is based off and subverts more traditional childish gall actually to endorse
memes by editing the Pepe head. and instantiate single-entendre
principles… real rebels, as far
Fig. 16(top right) - Although New Sincerity as I can see, risk disapproval.”
eschews irony, it is still able to engage in Given the strong tradition
sophisticated social commentary, as shown in memetic culture, from
in the inimitable Infinite Jest by David prememeticism to the present
Foster Wallace. day, of memes which view the
meme-maker as an emotionally
flawed and damaged object,
incapable of being repaired
(consider the community of
r/me_irl, where memeticist
categories such as text message
edit memes and stock photo
edit memes strongly represent
a disconnect between the
unnamed meme-maker and
the rest of society due to their

Conclusion “The memeown analysis of contemporary

It is only appropriate to refer meme culture through the
once again to the title of this posit of a counter-critique.
work, and the fact that it claims A single further fact remains spectrum, while a
to be a “memetonormative
analysis;” it is my belief to be considered. Is an essay
that it is impossible for
any work analysing the primitive tool, stillwhose primary subject matter
cultural phenomenon that is is memes also, by definition, a
memeticism to go beyond this
remit in its critique, and that serves to effectivelymeme? Is it possible to write
any work claiming to do so is about memes in a purely
either examining individual serious sense? If memeticist elucidate some
pieces so closely that no broad
statements about meme culture content is ironic, is this essay, of the complex
can be made, or attempting as an examination of memes,
to examine so many pieces of
culture that the focus becomes postmemetic, & therefore relationships
the listing of individual memes postironic? If so, is it possible
and not the establishment of
their common themes and to distinguish legitimate between the
structural similarities. Any intellectual criticism from a
discussion of meme categories
or movements must be seen sophisticated, intellectually
to be considering the general
case, as has been done here. multitudinousadvanced postmodernist meme
The meme spectrum, while structure, to tell where one
a primitive tool, still serves
to effectively elucidate some meme categoriesends & the other begins? Such
of the complex relationships consideration shall be left as an
between the multitudinous
meme categories by by categorisingexercise for the reader
categorising them, and thus
allows for an escalation in the them”
sophistication of analysis that
can be carried out. I would Bibliography
invite others, mindful of these
principles, to attempt their Felluga, Dino. “General Introduction to Postmodernism.”
Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. <http://www.purdue.
edu/guidetotheory/postmodernism/modules/introduction.
html>

Sim, Stuart. “The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism.”

Thorn, Jesse. “A Manifesto For the New Sincerity.” <http://
www.maximumfun.org/blog/2006/02/manifesto-for-new-
sincerity.html>

Foster Wallace, David. “E Pluribus Unam - Television and U.S.
Fiction.” <http://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf>

Wolf, Justin. “Minimalism - Overview and Analysis” <http://
www.theartstory.org/movement-minimalism.htm>

Ng, Tracee. “Supremacism - Overview and Analysis” <http://
www.theartstory.org/movement-suprematism.htm>

KnowYourMeme. “Anti-Memes,” “Surreal Memes,”
“Wholesome Memes,” “Advice Animals” <www.
knowyourmeme.com>

Multireddit of Discussed Subreddits - <http://tinyurl.com/
y874nor2>

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL

GRABBING A WEBCOMIC TO
MAKE IT A MEME NEEDS A
KEEN EYE

WHILE WEBCOMICS HAVE HAD SUCCESS IN THE MARKET,
IT IS A BAD IDEA TO HEAVILY INVEST BLINDLY

@Deros94. October 2017.

The meme economy often churns out able to be modif ied for edg y, deepfried,
formats with little payoff because of how and even surrealist memes. This spiked
fast memes fail to become viral. However before meme trading became renowned
there is an easy format that can co-opt but it laid the groundwork for new web-
another t y pe of v iral popularit y. These comics to come.
are the webcomic memes. These partic- It is so common to see popular webcom-
ular webcomics refer to those that have ics appear in the meme economy because
little recurring characters just simple of an earlier successful meme comic. The
designs the creator repurposes. These most famous example comes from ‘The
daily webcomics are a favorite of many Perry Bible Fellowship’ (TPBF) created
people for their easy to digest humor, by Nicholas Gurewitch; the comic ‘Quiz
relatabilit y, and occasional use of absurd Kid’ shows one student asking a nerd for
humor. This should not sound surprising an answer to a test question. It was so
to meme traders as it’s similar to why versatile it was seen on me_irl, dankme-
individuals like memes and thus the au- mes, and even a small sighting on whole-
dience tends to overlap with webcomics. somememes. This was the golden goose of
Yet, it is a bad idea to force ever y popular webcomics that had viral memetry baked
webcomic on /r/comics into memes even into it’s art. Thus it is why new investors,
if there have been previous examples that k now ing the success of ‘Quiz K id’, look to
suggest it would be easy. turn hot new comics into popular memes.
There was a prototype for this viral To turn a prof it on a webcomic
content which focuses on the modifica- meme it’s important to identif y which
tion of a short comic into a meme vehicle. comics have potential to go memetically
This was the comic titled ‘Oh Bother’ in viral. Using the examples of ‘Oh Bother’
the webtoon ‘Safely Endangered’ created and ‘Quiz Kid’ the key features of a viral
by Chris McCoy. This comic’s strength lie comic are: simple yet identifiable art,
in that the comic had potential for every easily modifiable setup and punchline,
type of meme. It was so versatile it was and strong versatilit y. The list is or-

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL

Figure 1: Web Comic. and so then it is important to look at the
joke that will be replaced itself. In both
dered by such that meme traders can move examples the setup and punchline can be
through it consecutively to evaluate the replaced without a need to modify the feel-
memetic potential of a webcomic ing of the comic. In ‘Oh Bother’ Pooh will
Simple yet identifiable art is key for grab- always react with the thousand yard stare
bing the eyes of the internet. Individuals to Tigger’s set-up and the student will
must be able to quickly grasp what the always react angrily to the note passed by
image is before clicking onto it. In the sea the nerd. The punch-line bit that is re-
of memes and information individuals will placed by the meme must be able to fulfill
pass it on their feeds unless they can get the feeling leftover from the webcomic.
a solid grasp of the meme at a glance. Oh Otherwise the new punchline inserted by
Bother accomplishes this through nos- the meme will not hit as hard and the val-
talgia Pooh and Tigger are recognizable ue ultimately goes down.
characters from many people’s childhoods. The last part is the final piece of that lu-
Meanwhile ‘Quiz Kid’ utilizes TPBF’s sim- crative meme pie if the meme is versatile
plistic style so that the nerd and student enough it will garner a huge payoff. Since
creates an immediate understanding of memes can take many forms and most
their relationship. Overly complicated art investors look to diversify across markets
or confusing thumbnails will prevent peo- a webcomic should be able to exist in mul-
ple from buying into the comic as a meme. tiple markets. ‘Oh Bother’ showed that
If the art is good and eye catching the next good meme comics are versatile and can
thing to evaluate is the ability for modifi- exist in many markets at once. Additional-
cation. Before the comic itself is examined ly ‘Quiz Kid’ had enough relatability that
the order of readability must be tight to it was constantly reappearing in me_irl
ensure the meme is not lost in the comic’s and dankmemes toting both simple an-
f low. Both examples have easy readability gry reactions and edgy memes alike. If all
three conditions exist in a comic investors
should swing at the chance to grab a home
run comic.

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL

MEMES &
ELECTION YEARS

WHEN IS A GOOD TIME TO INVEST?

/u/papasoflobradberry. September 2017.

T he “Dancing Baby,” a f lash anima- mes continued to climb throughout the
tion that went viral on the early coming years.
Internet in 1996 through chain emails,
is what many would consider to be one Interestingly, however, the graph
of the first “proto-memes.” This meme, that measures how many new meme
along with The Hampster Dance, would formats were created in recent histo-
reign as some of the most popular and r y (of notable popularit y) did not see a
discussed proto-memes during the meme stable incline in production number. To
economy of the Clinton Administration. be clear, the number of memes through-
Although the amount of memes during out the years has been increasing with
this era in time was sparse, the stream the popularization of the Internet, and
of proto-memes, particularly in the form rapidly-- however, the meme economy
of chain emails, like “Dancing Baby,” was (speaking purely in the measure of rela-
relatively steady until a small peak in tive quantit y rather than dankness) has
2000 w ith the creation of “A ll your base seen dips and valleys just as frequently
are belong to us,” “ROFLCOPTER,” and as economies across the world.
the popularization of the ever-relevant
“derp.” Predictably, the quantit y of me- After collecting all the memes I
could possibly find (through copi-
ous research on numerous sites, a thor-

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL

ough search through my email’s gar- later blow up even more in 2006). A
bage folder with such enticing titles as stronger peak is seen in 2007, when
“F W D:F W D:F W D:SNEEZING PA NDA,” “Chocolate Rain,” “Rickrolling,” “Key-
and a visit to the ancient forums of yore board Cat,” “Dramatic Chipmunk,”
where young memes were born), I began “Sneezing Baby Panda,” and “Don’t Tase
to look for trends in the amounts of viral Me, Bro” were created. This massive
memes to see if there was any indicator boom in meme formats was an anomaly
of a type of “meme movement” in the in the election-year theor y, as it was cre-
general economy. ated two years after the 2004 reelection
of Bush, and one with an explanation:
The journey was very much a peril- Youtube, the medium through which all
ous one. The sheer volume of Inter- these memes were pushed, was creat-
net memes was at first overwhelming, but ed in 2005, and only saw its popularity
I slowly began to categorize and date my really begin to rise in 2007, according
excess of content. to Google Analytics. The next election
year, 2008, saw a huge birth in memes,
What I found can be seen below: particularly in those that would remain
pragmatic in the economy up until even
last year: the “Fred” channel was offi-
Figure 1: A grid showing an approximation of Meme cially created on Youtube, “Gar f ield w ith-
Diversity over time out Garfield” began to gain traction, and,
most notably, Pepe the Frog picked up
The trend I found most fascinating was and went viral.
the drastic peaks of viral memes created
dur ing (and six months pr ior to) election In the two most recent election
years. years especially, however, the me-
mes, particularly those with lasting pow-
There was an already-discussed er, have exploded. In 2012 we saw Sweet
meme-peak after the 2000 Elec- Brow n’s “A in’t nobody got time for that”
tion, but after Bush came into office, video take off, and were also given the
memes saw a brief decline before rising gifts I know we all think on so fondly of
again in 2005, when we saw such clas- “Gangam St yle,” “Y U NO,” “Cereal Guy,”
sics as the Chuck Norris meme, “Lazy “Grumpy Cat,” “OMG Rage face,” “Unim-
Sunday,” and early Lolcats (which would pressed McKayla,” and “Kony 2012,” for
starters. And though many consider 2016
to be a crash in the dankness market,
the production of new meme topics/for-
mats themselves was at the highest it had
ever been, w ith “Dat Boi,” “Harambe,”

THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL ternet users. In the past decade, memes
have become a standard in all fanbas-
“Caveman Spongebob,” “A r thur’s Fist,” es and interest groups-- with a simple
search, fishing memes, Catholic memes,
Figure 2: Seemingly Unrelated Memes May Be Indirectly marching band memes, and tennis me-
Bolstered by Election Seasons. mes can be found in the thousands, just
as an example. One thing that holds a
“Ev il Kermit,” “If Dogs Wore Pants,” “Pen widespread public interest, however, is
Pineapple Apple Pen,” and “Confused Mr. politics, and thus meme production is
Krabbs” dominating every corner of the increased during years of spiked politi-
Internet, ironically or otherwise. cal interest not only due to the specific

There are plenty of potential theo- Figure 3: A standard 2016 era Election Meme
ries on why it would be that more
memes would be created during elec- political memes being created but also
tion-- through much discussion with my because of a general increased Internet
peers (consisting of memers on the dank- use. As a long-time meme investor told
er side of the spectrum along with more me, “It’s… just because it’s a popular
casual memers, edgy memers, and whole- topic that everyone knows about. It’s like
some memers alike) I’ve come up w ith a how there’s going to be an, albeit small-
few theories. er, spike when Eurovision or Halloween
happens. More people are online, so more
The first, and simplest, of the pos- content is produced, simple as that.”
sible explanations for these spikes
is the fact that the Internet is more in When speaking with other fellow
use during election years because of the memers on this issue, however, I
public’s quadrennially renewed inter- found that some believe there are other
est in politics. This interest has grown reasons for these spikes. One self-ap-
w ith the Internet (and, arguably, Donald pointed “edgelord” told me that he be-
Trump has strategically capitalized off of lieved that all memes are derived from
it), but despite the ever-increasing nature controversy, just as all humor is derived
of Internet usage and, with it, number of from miser y. He went on to clarif y that
memes, the steepest inclines seem to oc- memes thrive in a black-and-white en-
cur during election years. As the “Inter-
net generation” emerges as a strong force
in political decisions, so too do memes
begin to become more important to In-

vironment, particularly when it has THE NATION’S LEADING INTERNET TRENDS JOURNAL
reached the extremes that the current po-
litical spectrum has reached (and tends to “Yeah, I mean, I’d have to look at it
do with every presidential election season). because I don’t really consider stuff like
“There’s a concerted and document- ‘David After Dentist’ to be memes, just
ed movement in the alt-right to popularize viral videos,” he said, “but, if I were to
their candidates through the use of me- guess, I would say that the reason why
mes,” he told me. “Left-wing candidates memes are more numerous some years is
tend to generate their own memes, like just coincidence. People upload videos and
Sanders and Corbyn. Memes help people new meme formats all the time, and it’s a
normalize their position in a social media bit random what sticks. It just depends on
e nv i r on me nt .” how many things there are to make fun of
But with the rise of ironic memes in that year, and I honestly don’t think there
recent years, we’ve also seen a crossover in are any fewer memes this year than there
the young left, making memes supporting were last year [during the presidential
exaggeratedly immoral beliefs (edgy me- e l e c t i o n] .”
mes). This, I concede, is a valid point;
“But that’s just the same as some- because the year is not yet over, I didn’t
thing like Colbert,” said the source. “Mak- include the data from 2017 in my findings
ing fun of something by straw-manning it and thus cannot speak as to whether there
to a point of hilarity.” are indeed more new meme formats this
This explains the rise in political year than last-- it should also be noted
memes during these years, but what about, that all this comes from my own collected
I asked him, nonpolitical memes that rose data, and may not include all memes in
during these years? that year because I just happened to acci-
“Like I said,” he explained, “it’s the dentally pass them by. But from the data I
controversy. At a time of such high stakes have collected, this trend does seem fair-
people need relief. Whether that comes in ly consistent throughout the past twenty
the form of ‘that feeling when you…’ or ‘tr- years-- the modern era may change this as
ololo,’ memes are always going to be more the Internet becomes more of a staple in
popular in years of controversy when peo- life, but as for predictions go, meme in-
ple need something either to relate to or to vestments will likely reap a large reward
take their mind off all the bulls**t.” during or directly preceding presidential
There were yet other theories as to election years. My findings, it should be
why memes would become popular during noted, are not a measure of dankness in
these times. When speaking with an old any way, and in that respect, investors
friend of mine who considered himself a should look to other studies for indicators
“casual memer,” (in his words) one who of meme shelf-life. However, election years
“finds and appreciates memes, like on are an excellent time to diversify portfoli-
Facebook and all, but doesn’t actively seek os, because they are most likely to have the
them out” on the issue, he seemed uncon- largest amount of new formats from which
vinced with both my data and theories. buyers can benefit.





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