Casey Anthony Memes

During the last few months people have been watching the story of Casey Anthony, a woman accused of killing her daughter. After being acquitted, the controversial topic became a hotbed for internet users everywhere. Here are a few examples of how internet memes quickly adopt pop culture issues, and exploit them.

This meme is based off a Dos Equis commercial, The most interesting man in the world.^^^

Popular Memes/ Rage Faces

Troll Face

-This face is commonly used to infer that someone was being fooled or angered intentionally, "trolling". Originated on 4chan in 2008.


Forever Alone

-Mostly used in Rage Comics to express loneliness and lack of fulfillment with life. Originated on 4Chan in 2010.

 Me Gusta

-When used in rage comics, the face is used to describe an awkward or disgusting event. "Me Gusta" in English translates to "It pleases me". Originated on Reddit in early 2011. Within hours of the face being posted on a thread me gusta had already taken over sites like tumblr, 4chan and funnyjunk.

Y U No Guy

  -Uses SMS shorthand style writing to bring attention to a certain subject. One of the most manipulated rage face to date. Originated on Tumblr in 2010.

Rage Guy (FUUUU-UUUU)

  -Rage Guy created the foundation for rage comics, which describes an everyday situation that eventually ends up bringing rage. Originated on 4Chan in 2008. In early 2010 merchandiser Hot Topic created shirts with rage guy on the front. Users of Reddit and 4Chan were disappointed with commercial sales of rage guy, so they began to give rage guy racist qualities thus halting the sales of the t-shirts.

F*** Yea

  -F*** yea guy illustrates triumphant moments that occur in our daily lives that make us feel awesome. Originated on /b/ board in 2010.

Scumbag Steve

  -Scumbag Steve is a meme that includes overlaid texts usually depicting partying, drugs or unethical actions. The image came from a rap album called Ma Gangsta by a rap group named Beantown Mafia.
"Scumbag Steve" is a 21 year old named Blake Boston. Originated on Reddit, early 2011.

Philosoraptor 

  -Philosoraptor is an image macro series that often questions paradoxes and challenges the reader with deep, existential questions. Was originally created as a t-shirt but was soon adopted by 4Chan as a meme.

PedoBear

  -PedoBear gained its notoriety through 4Chan in which an image of a bear would be used to signal illegal pornographic content by another user. PedoBear is often found in the background of child-like activities inferring pedophilia activity. Originated on 4Chan, although the date of discovery is unknown.

 Joseph Ducreux

-Joseph Ducreux is an 18th century French artist who was known for his unorthodox style of portrait paintings. The internet adopted him as a meme with overlaying text featuring archaic reinterpretations of rap lyrics. Originated from various websites in 2009.

Foul Bachelor Frog

-Foul Bachelor Frog Meme depicts situations in which a single bachelor would find himself. Usually unhealthy or disgusting scenarios. Originated on memegenerator in 2009.

Good Guy Greg

-The Good Guy Greg meme is actually an antithesis to the Scumbag Steve meme, which means this meme deals with situations where "greg" is put into a situation and chooses the morally correct action. It is unknown who "Greg" is in real life but the meme originated on 4Chan in 2009.

Key Terms/Phrases

Troll: Someone on the internet who purposefully enters wrong information into a thread or blog in order to evoke the emotions of another user to become angry. When another lashes out at the troll, the trolling is successful.

Rage Comics: Web Comics that will usually have four panels, and in those panels the creator will use different rage faces to help tell a story. Mostly real life stories that more commonly end with a punchline.

4Chan: An imageboard website created in October 2003, used to post about anime and manga. It is responsible for the popularity of internet memes. No registration required.

Reddit: A social news website which allows registered users to posts images or submit links. Popularity of posts can be determined by an "thumbs up or down" system.

Advice Animals: Image macro series that show an animal (or human) with overlaying text that represent the trait of that meme. For Example, "Technology impaired duck" would have text displaying a misunderstanding of technology or complete ignorance.

Introduction into the Internet Meme phenomena

A "Meme"(pronounced meem) by definition is "An idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture". An Internet meme is an idea that is spread via world wide web and may be portrayed through a picture, website. hashtag, video, etc. Internet Memes have been known to spread and become popular within a day or so, rapidly spreading throughout the world. Memes' have caught the attention of researchers, studying the growth and popularity as well as predicting the amount of time a certain meme will have during the height of its popularity. Some entrepreneurs have caught on and have used memes commercially for free viral marketing. Pop culture has a heavy influence on the creation of new memes.