🚨Emergency Meghan Markle Section🚨
Sunday’s interview had it all. We knew at least one meme was going to come from this interview. Since Oprah quit her show a meme has come from every Sunday night exclusive interview she had done.
It had everything we needed and everything we didn’t know we needed. Everyone had something to say. It reinvigorated the meme ecosystem in ways that usually the Golden globes, Super Bowl and high level Youtube beef might. This year they only remind us of what was. This special was a defibrillator for memes and internet discourse (But the fun kind). Not everything everyone said falls into the specific category of meme, but sometimes an event is memed from every angle and I simply must discuss it.
Twitter had several takes on Memeing the interview. Many people tweeted the same joke about the queen responding with a youtube video. I guess under the technical definition several people tweeting the same joke at the same time is a meme. It was fine, it was bound to happen, but I just think we can do better as far as jokes at the Royal Family’s expense.
People also jumped on two Oprah quotes. There was “What…. Who is having that conversation?” which i think will get a lot of traffic because people on Twitter love to say we’re not ready for a conversation. If they do that from now on, their mentions will be flooded with “Who is having that conversation?” The other Oprah quote is “Were you silent or silenced” I don’t know about the longevity of this one but it is fun to talk about how clever Oprah thought she was being. Both of these are faring well as reaction videos which have a long life on twitter but not much outside of twitter.
The next round of memes is Prince Harry talking to Oprah. Prince Harry is inherently a little goofy and even though the interview was far from light and airy, making Prince Harry the clown gives the whole thing a little levity. However making Meghan the butt of the joke or being a little too crass is where this is going and it feels callous. Just because we’re all talking about this and it’s in the zeitgeist doesn’t mean we can run it through the filters we always run things through. They’re not sacred but a little bit of sensitivity wouldn’t hurt. Instead of making a joke at Meghan’s expense or using her image to make a tasteless joke, like the British tabloids would do, we can continue to be careless, crass, and tasteless about other members of the royal family, as is the American way.
Tiktok’s take away was less dynamic. Tiktok loves a mystery that doesn’t need solving and are trying to figure out which Royal Family member was concerned about how dark Meghan’s child’s skin would be. It matters that someone said it but why are we concerned with protecting or vilifying one member over the others? Throw them all out, the whole collection’s rotten.
I suspect there might a bit more longevity on Tiktok as memes tend to live longer there because of the For You page. I’m excited to see what else they come up with. It might also just fall to the social justice side of Tiktok which is less inclined to joke around.
Now onto the Regular Memes of the week…
Twitter
Dream Blunt Rotation
We’re running out of ways to venerate the early 2000s girls. We can all love Lindsey Lohan, Mary Kate and Ashley, and Britney but we have to stop pretending that it makes us unique. Rarely do I see a meme like this where I have not seen the exact same people over and over again. Some people need to log off and go back to their email jobs instead of posting the same six images we all post all the time.
3 toppings on this hot dog
Give us the vaccine now. Go make and eat a hot dog. There’s no reason to fantasize or fight about this on twitter.
Adam Driver and Lady Gaga Snow Picture
Wow. A Late night addition to the newsletter. Obviously Lady Gaga in a silly costume makes people go crazy these days ever since we were denied whatever the full force of Chromatica would be. Adam Driver always elicits a reaction because people cannot grasp the concept of Ugly cute and everyone on either side of the Adam Driver debate is annoying. We’re all worked up after the Meghan Markle interview so everyone is chomping at the bit for more culture. This photo was a lit match dropped on a hot internet. Any other day this would have been a fun afternoon, but we’re starving and I predict a couple more days of this.
Tiktok
This week has been mostly about discourse and while I could talk about cults, Marsha P Johnson, and queer aesthetics all day long, none of those things are memes. So I will not be talking about it here!
Is it Bussin Janelle?
The lesson I think we should take from this is that making fun of someone is an effective tool for getting them to realize what they are doing is silly. Janelle will not respond to long explanations of why the keto diet is bad but if we all stitch her videos and ask if her meal of bell peppers, cream cheese, and everything bagel seasoning is bussing, She might stop. Bullying works.
This is another meme that has a sub genre of involving parents. Tiktok teens want to embarrass their parents on camera but they also want to bridge the generation gap. When the parents play along it’s really fun! Also nothing embarrasses middle aged white women like other middle aged white women.
Do not ask me where this meme came from. I don’t know. If you Venmo me $5 I will try to figure it out for one hour.
People Listen to this Music Willingly
It’s good to admit your musical guilty pleasures. We shouldn’t be able to loudly say we love Bhad Bhaby but we should be able to admit we know all the words to Gucci Flip Flops every once in a while. However, I am so over people talking about Country music this way. You are not special for thinking Dolly Parton, The Chicks, or Kacey Musgraves are “Good Country”. If you are not a little bit educated on the origins of country music and it’s progressive past, you are either a child or a person who shouldn’t be talking about Country music. Some Country music is bad both musically and morally but some Country Music isn’t. It’s not 2004 anymore, you need to understand nuance if you are talking about whole music genres.
I’m Passing the Phone to…
Too long!! We don’t know your friends! The backlash has started and people are asking why people are being so mean to their friends. The problem is not that they’re too mean but that we don’t know these people. It feels very mean to see them say these things. It’s not what it is, it’s what it looks like.
You Look Like a Sprinkles Guy
So far I have seen a lot of nerdy white girls ask what “you look like someone who watched pbs kids means” come on babe. You know. We’re not supposed to infer what your childhood was like from your New Yorker tote and clear rimmed glasses?
Boy am I Stressed out
Some of the images you guys post are the reason you’re stressed out. Stop thinking about fish with human teeth and start thinking about truly anything else. Your brain will thank you. It is at the heart of it good advice. Just think about something else! Like the iconic episode of Hannah Montana that taught me how to lucid dream, “if you don’t like the dream, change it”
I Do Not Have an Original Personality
Get one bitch! Become Interesting!
Mask Off
It’s HAPPENING! Since the pandemic began people were saying that when this is over we will be posting Mask Off by Future in some context and now it is happening in reference to real situations instead of hypothetical ones. It’s bad that we’re doing it now! We should not be in Mask Off memes yet but just because it’s bad doesn’t mean its not happening.
Last 10 photos in your camera roll
So funny when it’s just random stuff. I want to see everyone’s health insurance card. That’s like half my camera roll
Imagine if Your Kins Fought
KINS????? KINS???? The worst part about this is that I just learned that this is not the original definition of kin and it just means a character you relate to. I feel old and also insane because the original definition of kin and kin tumblr feels impossible to explain. I will not be explaining it. Please google it.
Now look at this
A greatest hits of internet oddities. Nice to see some old favorites every once in a while.
I haaaaaate the Harry/Meghan/Oprah one where Harry or Meghan say some inane/niche reference to the poster’s favorite show or something (so many drag race permutations I’ve seen). Was expecting a bit more condemnation about that format. Nonetheless—terrific work as usual. These just keep getting richer and richer.