Meme Report 10/20
While You Were Sitting Around, Waiting, Doing NISH, I Was Out Writing This Newsletter.
THIS IS THE LAST WEEK TO FILL OUT THE SURVEY. PLEASE FILL IT OUT.
~Instagram~
He’s Heading For The Jukebox Stop Him
There is nothing like making fun of fans of a certain band. Nothing so damning as accusing someone of liking bad music and therefore being a part of a bad subculture. Every so often we have to remind people that they are annoying and that aligning themselves with any musician is a bad look because musicians are annoying. I love memes like this because they remind us that no one is safe. You can make fun of literally any kind of fan of any music. That’s why the only people I respect are hardcore fans because their music is utterly unlistenable unless you only listen to hardcore. Every other music can be accused of being corny and what they would play in a car commercial, which is what my uncle used to say about all the music I liked.
I also love the New Yorker cartoon aspect. New Yorker cartoons have so much meme potential but are never used because they’re so snooty and usually only elicit a light chuckle. For New Yorker cartoon enthusiasts, like myself, this meme was more symbolically important than actually important. One New Yorker cartoon meme could mean several more down the line and I could have several sensible chuckles a day, which is all I really want.
Evil [x] Be Like
Ok originally, I was not a fan. We've done this meme before and it was mostly limited to the calmer side of the Pitchfork 7.7s, and those people are annoying and tend to make annoying memes. However this meme really took off and enveloped all aspects of life. It’s funnier when it’s about Reba and not Phoebe bridgers, which is a universal rule we should keep in mind in the future. The thing about a meme like this is that it has such broad appeal and that broad appeal gives us a richer landscape of the meme. What does everyone besides the Muna set have to contribute?
On, another note, it is not productive or interesting or cool to hate every low effort meme that comes along simply because it is popular. Every single meme in recent memory has gotten a tweet from a semi popular high on their horse Twitter user who says that this one is “the worst in a while”. this is a fine opinion to have and I’m not going to stop anyone from saying it but this is not a fresh hot take. I want people to reason their point. Why do you hate this meme? Give me an argument. Something beyond the fact that its popular. It’s not the 90s anymore, we need to say why we hate something. Making fun of something with biting cynicism contributes so much more than “i hate this and it’s stupid.
Red Flags
I hate this and it’s stupid. Someone said that there’s a difference between a red flag and someone not sharing the same opinions on media as you. While we all know that anyone who says “Skyler White is a bitch” is probably an idiot who hates women, we can’t do that for everything. Using media as a purity test for potential partners is a bad idea. Unless of course they don’t like the Peacock original AP Bio starring Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt. Beyond that I hate this meme because it had such a thin premise. Just a statement and a bunch of flag emojis. It feels like something that was meant for brands to copy. It’s so easy to understand and it takes no skill at all. A lowest common denominator meme if i've ever seen one.
Check Your Kids Candy
A classic take on the urban legend that people put razor blades in candy (they don’t and never have). Check your kids candy it could have Kyle Richards stealing Kim Richards’ house in it. Equally as impossible as razor blades being in the candy. This one has yet to take off and because quite literally anything can be in the candy, I don’t know that it will. It seems like a meme that people won’t get because the boundaries aren’t clear. Can it be anything? Yes, it can just be anything. Tap into your absurdist tendencies. Let your imagination run wild.
The Trolley Song
Every so often something gets lodged in the little gay brains of stan Twitter and cannot be unstuck. Try as they might they cannot get away from it. Every word out of their mouth is just repetition of the same phrase over and over again. This week we saw what I consider to be the best they’ve ever done. It was self aware without being too self aware. It was semi ironic without being overkill. It was sincere the only way stan Twitter knows how. It paid homage to the original gay icon, the woman who paved the way for all who followed behind her. You may have asked yourself, why is this happening, and while I looked into it, I came away with the conclusion that it doesn’t matter. The thing that sparked this could not have explained why it hit. The only factor you need to understand is the enduring star power of Judy Garland. I have never felt as much conviction as I do right now when I say: Your fave could never! Say what you will about old hollywood and the studio system but those women were stars and while I love Lady Gaga, I don’t see her getting the same treatment from teens and maladapted twenty somethings in 80 years.
TikTok
I know everyone is dying to know my thoughts on the No Bones Pug but because he is more of a viral sensation than a meme, and I have a lot to say, No Bones is the first Memeforum Special Edition ~Behind the Paywall~. The Special edition comes out at noon today so there’s still time to subscribe before it comes out! A preview will be going out to all readers but you have to subscribe to read the whole thing!
I hate this trend so much. I know we’re not supposed to say stuff like this feels Republican but it does. It’s not just the country music, it’s uninspired and all of the people participating seem to be blonde white women. None of the videos follow a good format. It’s just two pictures and the song is too long. I know it’s supposed to make the creators parents cry but then why do I have to see it. I don’t care that you used to be a child and grew up. We all did.
This is another wow the passage of time is crazy trend. We do glow up trends a lot and we must ask ourselves the question: Is it a glow up or were you just twelve. This one is not even a visually interesting one because it starts with old video and then switches to new pictures, when it should be the other way around. To me, that means you used to be a funny free spirit who had fun videos of yourself and now you’re too insecure and can only take pictures because you’re afraid of being seen as anything other than hot. But maybe that’s just me.
Trauma Dump sound with a no understanding of how heavy the topic should be. Have you heard a more whiny phrase than “what about me?”. You sound absolutely ridiculous asking that question and if you have the brain power to form those words and feel sorry for yourself, you have the brain power to understand and address your own needs without making it another person's problem. Advocate for yourself. I may be being too hard on these people but this is not a healthy outlet for whatever they’ve been through. There’s not a therapist in the world who advocate asking for sympathy from strangers on TikTok by exploiting your trauma.
Now is the time where I pretend to applaud you all for your creativity. It’s great that you all have a basic sense of story and video editing but I went to film school and this shit does not impress me anymore. Good for everyone for finding a creative outlet I guess but I would love something a little more advanced. Something beyond Horror which seems to be everyone’s first choice in the look how creative I am genre. At least one of you should go for Noir, or Thriller, or god forbid, Adult Drama.
There is little original content bringing me joy on TikTok these days but I can always count on this sound for a good laugh. Nish kills me every time. The editing, the movement, the accent, it all adds for simple fleeting joy. It does not have to be complicated. Just perfectly executed. That’s the difference between this sound and others. Every part of it is good.
We need to talk about mash ups. What’s funny about this sound is the timing. If you fuck with the timing it’s not funny. It went from people trying to prove this sound isn’t funny to actual forced laughter. A mash up of a sound on it’s own is not funny. Smack My Ass Like A Drum was funny. Berries and Cream became played out and not funny. Oh No, Our Table is my breaking point. I do not find any of these mashups funny and I need you all to let it go. I absolutely need everyone to find a new joke and not run the next one into the ground with mashups. The mashups have to actually be funny. You can’t just edit the sound with a classic rock song and expect me to laugh.