Meme Report 11/27 + 12/04
Thanksgiving Double Issue
Twitter
Wiz O Mania
Well, as predicted Wicked has taken the world by storm. Musical theater nerds love it. Regular people love it. The only ones holding out on us are cinephiles. They're right in every point they make but here's the thing. We don't care. It's not about being good. It's about being Wicked. It gets you right where it hurts. There are a million reasons to hate the movie but none of them matter in the face of the spectacle. It could always be better and more complex but the fact of the matter is the version they did make with all its flaws, still has What is this feeling?, Popular, and Defying Gravity. The lesson everyone should have learned by now is that that's all it takes. It helps that the women at the film's center are equally compelling in real life, not in the good way but certainly the fun way.
Holding Space For Defying Gravity
I'm glad I waited to write this to let this meme breathe. Last Wednesday we had only just begun to understand Holding Space for Defying Gravity, now we are being driven mad by it. It has taken on a life of its own and everyone involved pretending to be in on the joke. This meme is the result of about 20 years of culture building up and exploding into this one cultural moment. It starts with Wicked and picks up steam around 2015 when we all start talking like Queer Theory Grad students. Concurrently we have a rapidly developing meme culture which more and more people are learning to participate in, and comes to a peak along the seemingly endless Wicked Movie Press tour. All of these things are in our wheelhouse. The territory is so familiar it feels too perfect. All of the jokes we made were seeds planted in slow succession, leading to a beautiful harvest. Add in the week of Thanksgiving when the terminally online are looking at their phones more than ever and we have a perfect storm. It's not that the meme was particularly funny, it's more that we had to make sense of what was happening in that room. Every meme is a new analysis, a new way to understand.
I’m a Professional Color Grader
Ok, the cinephiles are right about one thing. It looks like shit. The green is washed out and every scene is too bright. Aspiring film professionals are also annoying and not as good as they think they are.
Baby Nessa
Diva Alert! the little girl who plays baby Nessa in Wicked gives the line reading of the century about 5 minutes in. She also STUNS on the red carpet giving a peace sign to the camera. She stole our hearts and minds and we’ve only had about 5 seconds of interaction with her. The other girls wish!
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Unhooking Your Bra
I would compare this meme to certain kinds of homework over Thanksgiving break. It's not that it needs to get done or that it's leading to anything. But it’s good to do something so our brains don't get stale. It's a warm-up. something to be done at a leisurely pace for the sake of doing it. It’s not groundbreaking or difficult. It’s all review to make sure were doing something.
Wifejak
The Wifejak is an attempt to be normal from the latest iteration of the Trump Bro. It still reveals more about their ideology than I’m sure they realize. She seems to say I hate women except for this one. She may not be the beautiful but stupid blonde trad or the goth girl who you can never admit to being attracted to. She is the nondescript redhead with long beautiful hair and an ugly sweatshirt. The perfect combination of Madonna and the whore. At once rare but entirely achievable.
Chill Guy
I never saw this meme organically which means nobody cool was participating. It failed to break through with any of the key demographics I monitor so either I'm out of touch or this meme is inconsequential. I think we can all agree I'm not out of touch.
TikTok
~Wicked On TikTok~
Listen Nessa
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This is your classic musical theater meme. This would have gone viral in 2012. It’s the kind of runoff that means a movie is a success. If the musical theater nerds get their little jokes in. The same kind of jokes they (we) would tell backstage to each other. Good clean fun!
Me and Boq
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This is the meme for those new to the scene. To the untrained ear, me and Boq is a unique sonic experience. To those of us who have been fans since the beginning, me and Boq is as normal as the sound of your own name. I see what they’re getting at but Me and Boq doesn’t even register on my repeating things from the WIcked soundtrack list. I’m glad the newbies are having fun.
Glinda Listening to Dorothy
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In this meme, we’re returning to the source. Now that we have Wicked as a possible backstory, we go back to the original text that most Americans are familiar with. This also happens when something is incredibly popular. People seek it out any way they can get it and these fresh eyes produce sub-memes. The ‘memba them of memes.
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#WomeninMaleDominated fields vs #womeninmalefeilds
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There’s a schism happening between #womeninmaledominatedfields (astute cultural critics and satirists) and #womeninmalefields (morons). The first one is a fun jab at girl boss feminism and situationship culture. They encouraged us to play with the big boys and become #womeninstem. It's about playing with a concept. #womeninmalefields shows me you don't get the full extent of the joke. You need the word "dominated" to show that while men have excelled in this field historically, there is nothing stopping women from participating in these fields except societal expectations. Women in male fields is letting the boys win. You've given up before you've even played the game. As for the variations, this is the worst possible trend to get the "everyone can play" treatment. I'm not interested and I don't care.
Last November
Happy for everyone involved. Or sorry that happened.
We Listen and We Don’t Judge
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Everyone is afraid of judgment and arguing. Babe that’s all we do. Make a little judgment. Have a little argument. It won’t kill you.