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Nuclear Gandhi

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About

Nuclear Gandhi (also referred to as Sid Meier’s Civilization Gandhi) refers to Gandhi in the Civilization game series. The game version of Gandhi became famous due to his striking dissimilarity to his peacefully real world counterpart, being the heaviest user of nuclear weapons.

Origin

The source of Gandhi’s heavy nuclear weapon usage was due to a bug in Civilization II. Each of the leaders available in the game were given a set aggression level, with Gandhi’s being the lowest. As the player reaches the Modern Era, the aggression level of all world leaders would lower. However, in Gandhi’s case this would make the aggression reach a negative value in the game’s coding, which made his aggression value underflow into the highest setting. This caused Gandhi to become extremely aggressive just as strategic weaponry came into play, effectively making Gandhi an extremely heavy user of nukes. As overlowing the setting wasn’t possible, it then became impossible for the player to reset the aggression value of Gandhi. Due to the popularity of the bug, it was later intentionally put into later iterations of the game as an Ascended Glitch[2] where Gandhi would intentionally be given the highest level as a producer and user of nukes.



Spread

On September 2010, the Online comic Critical Miss published a comic comparing the real life Gandhi to the version within the Civilization games. On October 23rd, 2014 a copy of this comic was uploaded to Reddit. On the same day, Redditor Kserge commented on a picture on Reddit[1] explaining that Gandhi’s use of nuke and warmongering was initially due to a glitch. This comment was later used as a basis for articles from Kotaku[3] and Geek.com.[4]



Various Examples



Search Interest


External References


Besiege

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[work in progress]


About

Besiege is a 2015 physics-based building game developed and published by Spiderling Studios, and distributed by the Valve-owned Steam platform. The sandbox nature of the game has led to many players’ creations becoming viral online.

History

[WIP]

Gameplay

[WIP]

Reception

[WIP]

Notable Examples




Search Interest


External References

Furry Scale

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About

Furry Scale (also referred to as antro scale) refers to charts and discussions about where one draws the line between furries and humans.

Origin

The oldest known online use of the concept of the furry scale is from 1998, from The Code of the Furries [1]. In the Document, it has rating system of “where you fall on the human-to-animal scale”

1 : Basically human, with minor furry features (perhaps eyes, nose, ears, claws, some fur, etc)
2 : Humanoid, with significant furry features (muzzle, tail, etc); this includes centaurs and mer-people
3 : Anthropomorphic animal (or taur)
4 : Equally comfortable on two or four legs (or, if you’re a taur, on four or six)
5 : Animal shape, with some unusual features (perhaps hands, speech, etc); this includes most dragons, gryphons, etc
6 : Normal animal shape

Spread

One of the most frequently used images of furry scale originates from Hentai artist known as Po-ju, showing 5 different levels of furry, ranging from fully human to fully cat. The most frequently circulated English captioned image shortens it to 4 images. Various parodies of this translated version circulate on the web, including those that only use the English captions, and do not use Po-Ju’s art.


On June 16th 2010, pixiv user かb uploaded a chart which transitions from a girl to a fox up a set of stairs[2] The most popular translated version of this captions the last image with the phrase Oh shit nigger what are you doing. This image also inspired an infrequently used tag on Pixiv[3] of similar images.


Various Examples


External References

Paras Chiyo

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About

Paras Chiyo referrers to a specific crossover between the Pokemon Paras and Chiyo Sakura from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun due to the visual similarities between the two.

Origin

On August 17th, 2014, Twitter user @oshirukouji uploaded an image with both Paras and Chiyo Sakura. The acoompany text roughly translates to “I cannot forgive otaku who calls Sakura Chiyo-chan a paras”




Spread

On September 8th 2014 Pixiv user 車 uploaded an image with Chiyo Sakura’s disembodied head, with her ribbons replaced with mushrooms like that of a Paras[2]. Her hair was drawn in a way to form the legs of a Paras, in a similar way Megurine Luka’s hair was drawn to,look like tentacles with Tako Luka. was drawn with this image marks the oldest example of the meme on Pixiv.



Beginning on August 23rd 2014, the tag ちよパラ (translated as “Paras Chiyo”) began to be used on images referring to this specific crossover[3]. In addition, the tag パラス (the Japanese name for Paras) began to be used for some examples of fanart with Chiyo Sakura even on works that did not have an obvious connection to paras within the work itself.




| Examples of works tagged as パラス (Paras) on Pixiv that do not actually contain Paras.

On August 20th, 2014 the site Seventh Style published an article stating “Otaku have discovered… Sakura Chiyo from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, holds many resemblances to the Pokemon known as Paras.” [4]

Various Examples



External References

Berserk

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WORK IN PROGRESS
WARNING: This entry includes spoilers from the story and graphic content


About

Berserk is a manga and anime series created by Kentaro Miura, and published in Young Animal. The story is set on a medieval fantasy world, and follows the adventures of Guts, a swordman in seek of vengeance.

History

The first version of the manga was a one shot called Berserk: The Prototype, premiered on 1988, while Kentaro Miura was a university student. Although it has some minor differences as the serialized version (Guts’ backstory or brand’s design), it’s pretty similar to the final version. On November 26, 1990, the first volume was released by the company Hakusensha, and 2 years later, after the publication of three more volumes it began the serialization on the seinen manga magazine Young Animal.[2]

On 1997, the manga was adapted into a 25 episodes anime by the studios OML Inc.[3], starting on October 7, 1997 and finishing on March 31, 1998. On 2012, Studio 4ºC start releasing a series of movies to adapt the Golden Age Saga, being the last one released on February 1, 2013.

Plot

Berserk follows the life of Guts, a mercenary who hunts Apostles, a group of humans that got demonic powers through the use of an artifact called Behelit and by offering as a sacrifice the most important thing to them. The real objective of Guts is Griffith, the leader of the mercenary unit “Band of the Hawk”, where Guts was the Raid Leader. After some events, Guts leaves the Band and Griffith is imprisoned and tortured, Griffith uses a crimson Behelit and offers the Band of the Hawk as a sacrifice. He becomes a member of the God Hand, a group of archdemons that were chosen by the “Idea of Evil”. Only Guts and Casca, a member of the Hawk and Guts’ lover, survive. After defeating some Apostles, Guts meets with Casca again, who lost her memories and was almost burned as a witch. Guts continues to travel in search for griffith and gains several companions and friends through his journey.

Online Relevance

During the years, Berserk has garned an international following for its themes, the heavy violence and the detailed art style, often being praised as one of the best works on the manga history. It has some pressence on English-speaking communities like Tumblr,[6] Reddit,[9] 4chan’s /a/ Anime and Manga board,[10] DeviantART[7] and My Anime List.[5] In addition, there are some referential hubsites about the series, such as a wiki of the series.[8]

Sub-memes

Miura’s Breaks

Berserk is specially known for it’s autor breaks. As from 2000, the publishing schedule has been pretty irregular, being 67 weeks the longest wait time between two chapters (334-335)[1]. This has started the rumours that say Miura spends his time playing videogames (specifically The idolmaster), and has become an in-joke.

The Boat

To arrive to their next objective, Guts and his party ship with Roderick, a noble. The boat was first introduced on the chapter 286 of the manga, released on July 23, 2007. Because of the breaks and the developement of Griffith’s story, the main characters have been on the boat 8 years. For that reason, the boat became one of the main jokes of the breaks.

That Thing Was Too Big to Be Called a Sword / Dragonslayer

That Thing Was Too Big to Be Called a Sword is a catchphrase used on the series refering to Guts’ oversized sword, the Dragonslayer. The catchphrase is often used as a snowclone.

Also, the sword has become one of the most notable references to Berserk, being featured on crossover fan arts.

Bagserk

Bagserk is a series of manga edits that change the dialogues featuring bags jokes. This edits feature the bags as something extremelly valuable, and make fun of Guts wearing a purse, claiming it’s a “manly bag”.[11]

Griffith Did Nothing Wrong

Griffith Did Nothing Worng is a catchphrase refered to the Griffith fans, who claim he isn’t evil because of the events of the Eclipse.

Rape Horse

Rape Horse is the fan given name to a demon-possesed horse who tries to have intercourse with Farnese de Vandimion.

Search Interest

External Links

[1]SkullKnight – Time between chapter releases

[2]Young Animal – Berserk

[3]ONLEnglish Index

[4]Studio 4ºC – Index

[5]MyAnimeList – Berserk

[6]Tumblr – Search for berserk

[7]DeviantArt – Search for berserk

[8]Berserk Wiki – Main page

[9]Reddit – Berserk

[10]Archive.moe – Search for Berserk

[11]Fanservice FTWThe bag

Get A Load Of This Guy

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About

“Get A Load of This Guy” are a series of reaction images most often aimed at another person, usually used to make fun of the person or quality of his/her recent posts.

Origin

Probably of most widely used example of the image originated from a scene in the 1992 American comedy film Wayne’s World[4], where the titular character Wayne looks directly at the camera and the subtitles “Get-A-Load of this Guy Cam” pop up.


Spread

The screencap of the scene (pictured below) has been used as a reaction image on various image boards. The archives show that it had already been in use on 4chan as of August 17th, 2010[1].



In time, similar derivatives were created including an image macro of Patrick Bateman (more widely known as the Dubs Guy) from the film American Psycho(pictued below, left). Earliest archived examples date back to January 12th, 2011[2]. Another popular derivative image macro contains the character Ross Geller from a TV show Friends(pictured below, right). Earliest archived post of it had been from March 31th, 2011[3].


Various Examples


Search Interest

External References

[1]archive.moe – Oldest Examples

[2]archive.moe – Get-A-Load Dubs Guy

[3]archive.moe – Get-A-Load Ross

[4]IMDBWayne’s World

Clock Tower

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(This entry is under W.I.P. Please be patient, unless you wish to help.)

About

Clock Tower is a classic point-and-click psychological survival horror video game series by creator Hifumi Kouno of Human Entertainment, continued by Sunsoft, and then Capcom. Gamers that are fans of survival horror games usually review Clock Tower and do a commentary about the series in their list.

History

The first Clock Tower game was made in Japan for the SNES in 1995 and later a enhanced port for the PlayStation as Clock Tower: The First Fear. Similar to the 1985 Italian horror film Phenomena (Creepers in the US version). Because it was psychological scary, Clock Tower: The First Fear was never released outside Japan.

Search Interest

External References

[1]Wikipedia – Clock Tower

[2]Wikipedia – Scissorman

[3]IGNNightCry, the Spiritual Successor to Clock Tower, Gets a Live Action Teaser

[4]Wikia – Clock Tower Wiki

[5]NightCry – Official NightCry Website

[6]Twitter – Project Scissors

[7]Facebook – Project Scissors: NightCry

Closing the Curtains

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About

Closing the Curtains is a multi-panel exploitable comic series featuring an overweight man who closes his curtains to prevent being distracted from his computer. The character is often depicted as an anti-social example of the neckbeard stereotype.

Origin

On November 27th, 2005, Something Awful user CrumFUNist submitted a thread titled “Lego_Robot sucks ass,”[9] which criticized forum user Lego_Robot (webcomic artist Bob Averill) for creating poor MSPaint comics and trolling the forums. Over the next two years, the thread gained over 1,500 responses. In May 2007, Averill posted a comic titled “This one’s not funny” on the website Lego Robot Comics (now named PlasticBrickAutomaton),[1] which depicts an overweight Something Awful user mocking Lego_Robot in a discussion thread before closing his window when distracted by two women playing volleyball outside (shown below).[11]



Spread

In September 2007, Averill was banned from the Something Awful Forums.[8] On November 15th, a cropped version of the original comic featuring the final three panels was uploaded to the “kuvia” folder on the domain MBnet[3] (shown below, left). On December 31st, 2010, Redditor byxekaka submitted a post titled “This is how I will celebrate New Years” featuring an edited version of the comic with fireworks exploding outside of the window (shown below, right). Prior to being archived, the post garnered upwards of 2,100 votes (91% upvoted) and 480 comments on the /r/pics[12] subreddit.



In May, Redditor notthatjesus submitted a photoshopped comic titled “I was three hours into surfing Reddit and I noticed there was a solar eclipse going on” to /r/funny,[13] receiving more than 1,400 votes (91% upvoted) before it was archived (shown below, left). On December 19th, 2012, Redditor FazeKross posted a comic with a mushroom cloud exploding outside of the window titled “What I’ll be doing December 21st,” in reference to a Mayan calendar doomsday prediction (shown below, right). Prior to being archived, the post gained upwards of 2,700 votes (94% upvoted) and 200 comments on /r/funny.[15] In December 2014, Redditor TwistedFisters reposted the fireworks comic with the title “How I imagine most of Reddit will celebrate new year’s eve” to /r/funny,[14] where it garnered over 3,900 votes (89% upvoted) and 560 comments in two months.



Various Examples



External References


Gorillaz

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[work in progress]

About

Gorillaz is an animated band created by Blur frontman Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The band is well known for their animated, multi-media music videos, the animated characters and its genre-crossing music style, with influences from hip-hop, reggae, dub, rock, alternative and indie music among other genres as well as their collaborations with various artists.

History

Formation

Gorillaz was created by Albarn and Hewlett after watching MTV in their flat, stating that “If you watch MTV for too long, it’s a bit like hell – there’s nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that.”[1]. From there on, they first identified the band as “Gorilla” and recorded a single track under the name titled “Ghost Train”[2]. From there on, the group collaborated with Deltron 3030 to produce their first album, Gorillaz.

The fictional band members are:

  • Stuart “2D” Pot
  • Murdoc Niccals
  • Noodle
  • Russell Hobbs

Discography

Gorillaz has gone through several phases, with each phase bringing a new style of music and art style.

Phase One: Celebrity Takedown

The first phase of Gorillaz, the phase lasted from 1999 to 2003. With the phase came the release of their self-titled album along side 4 singles, Tomorrow Comes Today, Clint Eastwood, 19-2000 and Rock the House. The album had sold 6 million copies worldwide and had earned the group the Guiness World Record of “Most Successful Virtual Band”[3].

Phase Two: Slowboat to Hades

The second phase of Gorillaz, lasting from 2004 to 2007. The phase lead to the release of their most successful album to date, known as Demon Days, with 5 singles being released during the phase, including Rock It, Feel Good Inc., El Mañana, Dirty Harry, and DARE. Since the release of Demon Days, the album has gone 5 times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the USA and has sold over 6 million copies[4].

Phase Three: Escape to Plastic Beach

The latest phase in Gorillaz’ history, this phase lasted from 2008 to 2012. This phase lead to the release of Plastic Beach and The Fall, alongside the release of 5 singles, Stylo, Superfast Jellyfish, On Melancholy Hill, Rhinestone Eyes and Doncamatic[5].

Online Presence

Gorillaz has a large online following due to their interactive website Gorillaz.com[6], a website showcasing the fictional band members biographies and their current home in the animated universe. There was also an unofficial fan-created Gorillaz website (known as Gorillaz Unofficial[17]) that had posted announcements and news that the official website hadn’t posted, but it has been down since April 2014. Gorillaz has also had Twitter accounts made for each of the animated characters[7][8][9][10].
As of February 2015, the Gorillaz Facebook page has over 9 million likes[11] and the main Twitter account has 300 000 followers[12].

Fandom

The group has gained a large fandom due to its genre crossing music and because of its animated members. The group has several tumblr blogs related to them, such as fuckyeahgorillaz[13] and Gorillaz Confessions[14]. Gorillaz also has a sub-reddit[15] and over 100 000 tagged images on DeviantArt[16], many of them being fanarts.

Related Memes

Gorillaz “Demon Days” Cover Parodies

Gorillaz “Demon Days” Cover Parodies are parodies of the cover of the album art of Demon Days, often replacing the band members with other fictional characters, often stylized in a similar way.

Search Interest

External References

[1]Wired – Keeping it (Un)real

[2]Wikipedia – Formation of Gorillaz

[3]Wikipedia – Gorillaz

[4]Wikipedia – Gorillaz: Phase Two

[5]Wikipedia – Gorillaz: Phase 3

[6]Gorillaz – Website

[7]Twitter – 2D

[8]Twitter – Murdoc

[9]Twitter – Noodle

[10]Twitter – Russel

[11]Facebook – Gorillaz

[12]Twitter – Gorillaz

[13]tumblr – fuckyeahgorillaz

[14]tumblr – Gorillaz Confessions

[15]Reddit – r/gorillaz

[16]DeviantArt – Search results for “Gorillaz”

[17]Gorillaz Wikia – Gorillaz Unofficial

Jaded Teenage Girl

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About

Jaded Teenage Girl is a copypasta originating from a Tumblr post in which user TashaLovesNirvana tries to fend off her detractors and trolls by claiming she was a “jaded teenage girl” who had endured through many hardships in her life.

Origin

In early February 2015, Tumblr user TashaLovesNirvana replied to post submitted by user Winnerchallenged, in which she revealed that she is a “jaded teenage girl” after dealing with several hardships, including asking out “the cutest guy” in her grade only to find out that he had a girlfriend (shown below).[1] The post was subsequently deleted.



Spread

On February 9th, Tumblr user bakrua posted a screenshot of TashaLovesNirvana’s post, which gained over 22,500 likes in the first two weeks. That day, Redditor straightallies submitted the text of the Tumblr post to the /r/copypasta[2] subreddit. Also on February 9th, Tumblr user lizardmafia[3] submitted a clickbait headline version of the copypasta (shown below, left). Meanwhile, the science666[4] Tumblr blog highlighted a photoshopped picture of Richard Dawkins wearing a T-shirt with the words “We are all teenage girls” printed on the front (shown below, right).



On February 10th, Tumblr[6] user kumagawa posted a dramatic reading of the copypasta (shown below). The next day, Tumblr user officialjeffandonuts[5] posted a version of the copypasta framing it as a discussion between him and his dog.



Search Interest

Not available.

External References

"Anime Was a Mistake"

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About

“Anime Was a Mistake” is a troll quote misattributed to Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most popular and influential Japanese artists and film directors in anime history, that conveys a strong sense of disdain towards the art of anime and its fanbase at large, including those who identify themselves with weeaboo and oktau subcultures.

Origin

The troll quote stems from the transcript of Miyazaki’s interview with the Japanese news site Golden Times[2], published on January 27th, 2014. During the interview, Miyazaki expressed skepticism regarding the current state of anime as an art form and a cultural industry, particularly how little the new generation of animators are seeking inspiration from actually observing human behaviors and interactions in real life. On January 30th, a translation of the original interview was provided by English-language Japanese news site RocketNews24.[1]



You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, ‘Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life. If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it. Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!.


Spread

On January 26th, 2015, Imgur user Ondaheightsofdespair submitted two animated GIFs of Miyazaki captioned with made-up quotes expressing extreme dissatisfaction with the state of anime and otaku culture in a post titled “Old sage drops some wisdom.” It quickly reached the front page of Imgur, receiving over 8,800 points.[3]



Notable Examples




Search Interest


External References

Bee Movie

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Work in progress. Feel free to request editorship.

About

Bee Movie is a 2007 computer animated comedy produced by DreamWorks Animations, starting Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger. The movie follows Barry, a bee who has recently graduated from college and it’s about to enter the hive’s honney-making industry, but everything changes when he meets Vanessa, a florist. During the years, the movie garned a massive fanbase on Tumblr.

History

WIP

Online Relevance

WIP

Search Interest

External Links

Padamalgam

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About

Padamalgam is an internet slang, contraction of the French sentence pas d’amalgame which means no conflation in English. Initially used to convey mockery and criticism of the perceived overly political correctness from the French mainstream media when reporting on acts of violence comitted by people of a specific social background and religious orientation, namely Islam, the term has then been embraced by various islamophobic groups on social networking sites.

Origins

Among the earliest blog posts coining the term is an article from Les enfants de la zone grise[1], issued on May 5th 2010 and titled “Grande peur des non-pensants”, arguing that the French media were quick on dismissing any argument in favor of a causal relationship between acts of violence comitted by muslims and Islam itself under the pretense of not wanting to promote conflating or denigratory comments against them.

Spread

While the slang didn’t get as much notability online in the years 2010 and 2011, It began to spread on March 21th 2012 when it was converted to an hashtag[10] and posted to Twitter, following the Toulouse and Montauban shootings[2] (shown below).

On that same month, many articles and blog posts[3][4] were made reusing the slang in order to mock the media and the government on how they covered the event by first claiming the attacks were done by a neo-nazi before revealing the real culprit was muslim Mohammed Merah. The Huffington Post also parodied this sentiment of “political correctness”, in a cartoon presenting a spokeperson stating that no conflation should be made between the shooting and Japan because the killer was riding a Japanese-made bike[5] (shown below).

As a matter of fact, many French right-wing groups took this new slang on their own to highlight perceived threats coming from Islam[6].

The 2015 shootings

The hashtag #padamalgam got a resurgence in popularity following the 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting as well as the 2015 Copenhagen shootings[9]. Many tweets were very critical of the fact muslims were the perpretrators of both attacks. Some users even made parodie images of medicine tablets with the name padamalgam as pills that enable people to be oblivious to a perceived increase in attacks only perpetrated by muslims. Newspaper Le Monde commented on the phenomenon[7] and its islamophobic tone, highlighting the tweets as well as several facebook pages[8] made after the name.

Twitter insight

External References

El Risitas

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El Risitas (Spanish for “the giggles”, real name Juan Joya Borja) is a Spanish actor and comedian. In recent years, video of an interview with El Risitas has become a popular source of parody-subtitled videos akin to the “Downfall / Hitler Reacts” meme, with the videos often titled “interview with an employee of [some organization]”.

Origin

The original video is of Jesús Quintero interviewing El Risitas on Quintero’s show “Ratones Coloraos”. The video features El Risitas laughing as he tells a story of when he was a kitchen helper and how he was told to tie 20 pans together and throw them in the ocean to be cleaned, though he only returns with one. The earliest upload of the interview was to YouTube on June 25, 2007. As of February 18, 2015, this video has almost 1.2 million views.[1] A video with English subtitles was uploaded for the first time on February 3, 2015.[2]

Popularity

Investigating.

Viral Instance


One of the more popular videos was a video related to the controversy around the NVIDIAGTX 970. The video, titled “SHOCKING interview with nvidia engineer about the 970 fiasco”, was uploaded to YouTube on January 30, 2015, and contained subtitles related to how the GTX 970 was deliberately gimped. As of February 18, 2015, the video has almost 1,000,000 views.[3]


Another popular video was related to the city of Ottawa, Canada’s public bus system, OC Transpo. The video, titled “Interview with an OC Transpo employee”, was uploaded to YouTube on February 4, 2015, contained subtitles relating to the buses often running late or skipping stops entirely. As of February 18, 2015, the video has almost 100,000 views.[4]

External References

Cultural Appropriation

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About

“Cultural Appropriation” refers to the practice of adopting various aspects of a minority culture by individuals belonging to a dominant cultural group, including iconography, music, language and social behavior. The practice is often portrayed in a negative light by those who view it as exploitative or culturally insensitive. Others have rejected the charge that it is harmful, claiming that cultural imitation is done out of admiration with no intent to harm.

Origin

The exact origin of the term “cultural appropriation” is unknown, although the concept appears to have been predominately used in academic circles in sociology and anthropology prior to the Internet. On September 9th, 2003, the book Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture[9] by Greg Tate was released. On November 12th, 2004, the pop song “Harajuku Girls” by Gwen Stefani was released with her debut album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. (shown below). On October 31st, 2005, comedian Margaret Cho published a blog post expressing misgivings with the song for promoting racial stereotypes.



On June 8th, 2005, the book Who Owns Culture?: Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law[1] by American lawyer Susan Scafidi was released. In May 2006, the annual feminist science fiction convention WisCon held a panel on cultural appropriation. The panel was subsequently met with criticism online, with several Livejournal users creating lengthy posts about the subject.[4][5][6][7][8]

Spread

On January 15th, 2009, the political blog The Angry Black Woman[10] published an article about cultural appropriation, which cited heated debates sparked by previous panels at WisCon. On April 29th, the Tumblr[3] blog “My Culture is Not a Trend,” was launched, which highlights examples of perceived cultural appropriation on the Internet. On January 15th, 2010, the blog Native Appropriations[8] was launched as “a forum for discussing representations of Native peoples.” On November 4th, 2012, the Tumblr blog “Cultural Appropriation on Tumblr”[9] was launched. On April 14th, 2013, singer Selena Gomez delivered a live performance of her single “Come and Get It” while wearing an Indian-themed outfit and bindi on her forehead, which lead The Universal Society of Hinduism to demand an apology from the pop star (shown below, left). On March 4th, The Huffington Post[12] published an article questioning whether the “Harlem Shake” meme could be considered an example of cultural appropriation. On November 24th, singer-songwriter Katy Perry received condemnation for performing her single “Unconditionally” while dressed as a Japanese geisha (shown below, right).



On April 23rd, 2014, the music video for the song “Hello Kitty” by Avril Lavigne was released, which drew criticism for scenes featuring the pop star eating Japanese foods and dancing in front of backup dancers wearing Hello Kitty costumes (shown below).



On May 25th, Redditor asgardian-princess submitted a screenshot of a Tumblr post accusing non-native Spanish speakers who speak the language as being guilty of cultural appropriation to the /r/TumblrInAction[14] subreddit, where it garnered upwards of 3,900 votes (97% upvoted) and 670 comments prior to being archived.



On July 9th, Time[11] published an op-ed titled “Dear White Gays: Stop Stealing Black Female Culture,” which denounced white gay men who emulate the social behavior of black women. On July 15th, The Daily Beast[12] published an article titled “You Can’t ‘Steal’ a Culture: In Defense of Cultural Appropriation,” asserting that “the concept of cultural appropriation has morphed into a parody of the original idea.” On July 17th, YouTuber the1janitor uploaded a video arguing that online cultural appropriation shaming has been “taken to a ridiculous level” (shown below).



On August 5th, The Daily Dot[11] published an article titled “5 Things White People Need to Learn About Cultural Appropriation.” On August 18th, the music video for the pop song “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift was released on YouTube, which drew criticism for its portrayal of Swift crawling around women performing a twerk dance (shown below).



On December 20th, Reddit _I_Have_No_Mouth submitted a screenshot of a Tumblr post complaining about “cultural dishes getting butchered by ‘innovative’ crackers” to the /r/TumblrInAction[13] subreddit, where it gained over 4,700 votes (96% upvoted) and 480 comments in the first month. On December 29th, The Daily Beast[15] published an article accusing rapper Iggy Azalea of appropriating black culture.



Related Memes

We’re a Culture, Not a Costume

We’re a Culture, Not a Costume is a poster ad campaign that features students of various ethnicities holding photos of people dressed in Halloween costumes that could be perceived as culturally insensitive. The campaign inspired a series of photoshop parodies depicting animals and fictional characters with photos of people wearing their respective Halloween costumes.



Search Interest

External References


Colin Wyckoff (Kitty0706

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Work in progress


About

Colin Wyckoff was a Garry’s Mod animator and is mostly known for his works such as Team Fabulous 2 and Elliot goes to school. He was popular in the game’s community and uploaded a variety of content, Such as “Elliot Goes to School,” “Team Fabulous 2,” and “Team Fortress 2: Moments with Heavy.” He died at age 20 due to leukemia, causing a giant reaction in the Garry’s mod community.

Origin

Not much is known about Colin’s early life. It is known that he created his Youtube account in April 2007. According to an interview(video will be provided), it has been said that him and his brother made the name by random, and he made his first video on September 14, 2007 named “True Crime: Criminal Justice Part 1.” The video did not end up as good as he thought it was, but he kept on going.

Spread

On June 25, 2009, Colin uploaded "Team Fortress 2: Moments with Heavy – Heavy orders an Xbox 360, which was his first video to reach more than 1,000,000 views. The video gained positive feedback and many likes, as well as getting him major popularity.

Later, in September 29, 2009, Colin made “Elliot Goes To School,” another popular series with also gained well-received feedback and recognition easily established his name into the Garry’s Mod community as well as the gaming community as a whole. His largest hit in his career was the earlier mentioned “Team Fabulous 2,”

Notable Examples

Death

On January 25, 2015, Kitty0706 “Lost his battle against Leukemia” at the age of 24-25. DasBoSchitt, in response, informed the public with his video:“A Fond Farewell to Kitty0706 (Colin Wyckoff).” This made many upset and left in dismay, and many wished to pay their respects towards the late Colin Wyckoff. As of now, Colin remains at peace, and may he be remembered as one of the most well-known and respected Garry’s Mod animators of all time.

External References

Giantdad / The Legend Never Dies

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Work In Progress

About

Giantdad is a meme about a character build in Dark Souls that is popular among griefers, the Giantdad (sometimes referred to as Bass Cannon or the Legend) was initially created by the youtuber OnlyAfro. It has since then spawned many pieces of fan art, tribute videos, including a song by Ken Ashcorp. Giantdad is often associated with Mountain Dew, Doritos, and the hatred of casual gamers.
Work In Progress

Origin

Work In Progress

Spread

Work In Progress

Notable Examples

Work In Progress

Search Interest

External References

Work In Progress

Rozen Maiden

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[W.I.P. don’t complain until it’s actually done. I still need a good premise summary, I could use help]

About

Rozen Maiden is a Japanese manga and anime series first written by female manga author duo Peach-Pit and later adapted for TV by studio Nomad, followed later studio Deen. The series has garnered a significant fan following online, spawning a number of fan creations and memes, most notably Desu, which gained popularity through use in spam attacks on 4chan during 2006.

Premise

It’s about Rozen Maidens

History

Rozen Maiden first originated as a seinen manga series, written by female manga duo Peach-Pit, composed of authors Banri Sendo and Shibuko Ebara, and serialized in Monthly Comic Birz from August 12, 2002 to May 30, 2007, running for 8 volumes. A second series, this time serialized in Weekly Young Jump, also ran from April 17, 2008 to January 23, 2014, running for 10 volumes. As well as the manga, Rozen Maiden also received a 12-episode anime adaptation by studio Nomad, airing from October 7 to December 23, 2004 , followed by 12 episode and 2 episode sequel series, Rozen Maiden: Träumend and Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre, which aired from October 20, 2005 to January 26, 2006 and December 22 to December 23, 2006 respectively. A fourth series, this time animated by Studio Deen, also known for their work on shows such as Hetalia and Higurashi, among others, was also created, running for 13 episodes from July 4 to September 26, 2013

Online Relevance

In North America, the Rozen Maiden anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks, with the first, second and fourth seasons available for streaming on Crunchyroll[1]. The series has gained a large online following on many sites, including on Tumblr[2], Reddit[3], 4chan’s /a/ (Anime and Manga) board[4], Fanpop[5], My Anime List[6], and DeviantART[7]. There are numerous sites that provide episodic information about the series, such as the _Rozen Maiden wiki[8], TV Tropes[9] and Anime News Network[10]. In addition, the Rozen Maiden Facebook page also has over 22,000 likes[11].

Fandom

The Rozen Maiden series has spawned a significant online fanbase since it’s creation, which has created much fanart and fanfiction. On the Japanese fanart site Pixiv, there are over 27,000 images tagged under “ローゼンメイデン”[12], as well as over 5,000 videos on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga[13]. On DeviantART, there are also over 23,000 images tagged related to the series[14].

Related Sub-Memes

Desu

Desu is a Japanese word that is often used in spam attacks and thread derailments on forums and image by both fans and haters of anime alike, after the term’s use during the raids against 4chan’s /b/ random board by fellow 4chan board, /a/ anime and manga, in 2006 . The use of the word is usually accompanied by images of Rozen Maiden character Suiseiseki, due to her tendency to end sentences using the word within the series.

Rozen Maiden Ending Parodies

*Rozen Maiden Ending Parodies refers to a number of OP/ED parodies based around the ending credits theme to the third season of the Rozen Maiden anime, Rozen Maiden: Ouvertüre. The parodies garnered popularity on Nico Nico Douga, with many users copying the style using hand drawn animation parodies featuring different characters from other anime series.

Niconico 涼宮ハルヒの鬱蝉ノ影/オーベルテューレEDNiconico 【手書きMAD】ひぐらし罰ゲームでローゼンED

Search Interest

External References

[1]Crunchyroll – Rozen Maiden

[2]Tumblr – Rozen Maiden

[3]Reddit r/Rozen Maiden

[4]4chan – /a/ Anime and Manga

[5]Fanpop – Rozen Maiden

[6]My Anime List – Rozen Maiden

[7]DeviantART – Rozen Maiden groups

[8]Rozen Maiden Wiki – Home

[9]TV Tropes – Rozen Maiden

[10]Anime News Network – Rozen Maiden

[11]Facebook – Rozen Maiden

[12]Pixiv – ローゼンメイデン

[13]Nico Nico Douga – ローゼンメイデン

[14]DeviantART – Rozen Maiden

Lolicon

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WORK IN PROGRESS.

About

Lolicon (Lolita Complex) refers to a complex in where a person is attracted to fictional prepubescent girls, usually named as lolis. Lolicon is often portrayed in various japanese types of media such as anime, manga and doujinshi.

History

The term “lolicon” comes from lolita complex, which originated from Vladimir Nabokov’s book Lolita, and was used for the first time in japan in the 1970s. Later, the term started to be used on manga doujinshi to describe erotic stories about young girls.

Shotacon

Shotacon (Shota Complex) is the same kind of attraction but, this time, applied to fictional prepubescent boys, usually named as shotas.

Search Interest

Barack Obama Watching TV

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About

Barack Obama watching tv is a photograph of president Barack Obama seated in front of a television and laughing towards someone offscreen. It has become a popular exploitable image online in which people edit what was displayed on the tv screen with various random images.

Origin

On August 28th 2008, Hillary Clinton held a speech at the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado, in which she called on delegates to vote for her rival, then senator Barack Obama, for presidency. Broadcasted nationally, Obama followed the event on television while being invited in the home of supporters in Billing, Montana[1]. Papparazzi photographs were taken by Emmanuel Dunand of the Agence France-Presse (owned by Getty Images). One of them shows the senator laughing while looking at someone offscreen (shown below).



Spread

As early as September 30th 2008, a parody version featuring a woman giving an hidden handjob to her partner on the tv screen was posted on blog “The Wiz of Odds”[2]. In the following year, many foreign-speaking blogs featured their own parodies[3][4].
On October 6th 2009, Youtube user JustinBieberOneLove uploaded a video in which Obama is seemingly watching singer Justin Bieber on tv (shown below). As of February 2015, the video has accumulated more than 200 000 views.

On March 21th 2010, a photoshop contest featuring the photograph was organized in a Newgrounds forum thread[5], which has gained more than 4 000 views and 50 replies.
On January 16th 2012, another edit featuring deceased rapper Tupac Shakur was posted on blog Truth about Tupac[6]. On January 20th 2015, Tumblr user afroforestry posted a parody picture featuring Tom Brady[7] in reference to the Bradying trend.

Examples



I Posted It Again, LOL

A variation from the meme appeared on the web as the same photograph featuring the macro “I Posted It Again, LOL underneath. It was mainly used as a reaction image with various pictures referencing copypasta stories or recurring photographs posted on imageboards and forums in order to signify that any corresponding thread or post was actually a repost made by trolls.



Exploitable



External References

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