Category Archives: Digital

Creationist Cat

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA; Tyler, TX
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English

While conversing with an informant about cyberlore, internet cats, cat videos, and the like, she told me about “Creationist Cat,” so I asked her to elaborate in an interview.

Informant: “There’s this thing on the Internet called ‘creationist cat,’ and it’s sort of a parody of creationist ideals… I watched the videos all the time ‘cus I think they’re entertaining and funny. And… usually he does sort of like, parodies… the cat is actually, like, made to talk, and he does parodies of like the most, sort of, extreme and irrational creationist ideals, but it’s satire. He’s acting like he really believes in it, um and, I don’t know like one example is, he did a TED talk, or a ‘TED’ talk – not obviously a real one – about how Noah’s ark was real and he goes on about how like he can talk to other animals and they all vouched for it and it was actually a real thing that actually happened and, yeah it was really funny.”

Collector: “So why do you think that the creator of the cat videos is doing this, like, what’s the point?”

Informant: “Um, I think mostly for entertainment, but I also think it’s maybe rooted in, like a desire to illegitimize that whole theory of thought, you know, like making it seem silly so that people who are creationist might be like, ‘oh, this is actually silly.’ OR just for the entertainment of people who already reject that entire mass of ideology.”

Collector: “Yeah, and who did you learn about these cat videos from?

Informant: “Um, I think it was on like suggested, like, ‘what to watch’ on YouTube, you know like a suggestion and I saw one video and I started like, looking for more content from this, because I thought that it was just, really funny”

Collector: “What is your personal opinion on the topic?”

Informant: “Um, I don’t know, I just like cats in general, but it sort of makes it even funnier what he’s trying to do, ‘cus if it was just some person doing it, it would seem more hateful, but since it’s a cat, it makes it… I don’t know, it like softens the blow, almost? Yeah, so I mean, um, that’s probably I don’t know, that’s probably why I like it so much”

Collector: “Haven’t cat videos been made before?”

Informant: “I think it’s a play off of that… ‘cus like cat videos and like, cats are so related to the Internet, you know, I don’t know, they’re so big, and now… maybe just cause like cats are awesome, actually, I see it, when like you have someone who’s in the internet all the time, they’re a lot like a cat. Like, you know, like, very secluded, they’re sedentary, you know, they’re maybe not as friendly, so maybe that’s why they relate to cats so well. And that’s why they became such a big thing”

As almost any frequent visitor of meme sites and YouTube will tell you, cats are a big deal on the internet. Some people have gone beyond simple memes and videos, and used their computer skills to create more elaborate content, such as Creationist Cat. As evidenced by the informer’s experience, internet cats can be used for many purposes, including entertainment and political/religious commentary. Creationist Cat is a prime example of the combination of those two.

Awkward penguin meme

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA; Tyler, TX
Performance Date: 4/29/15
Primary Language: English

I was discussing the topic of memes with the informant, so she told me about the popular “awkward penguin” meme theme.

“The awkward penguin meme is just like, I don’t know, people put phrases on it, like extremely awkward situations that happen to them in daily life, you know? And I don’t know, it’s just meant to be funny… With these kind of memes, the animal really like defines it, and I guess like, maybe that it’s a penguin because penguins walk awkwardly, you know? How they walk. So it wouldn’t really work if you put something like a lion, because lions aren’t awkward, they’re just super graceful and awesome, so like, it wouldn’t work, so I think the penguin is very central to the idea”

There have been a lot of customized memes since memes began getting super popular a few years ago, but there’s been a few big meme themes that have been especially popular because of their widespread relevance. The awkward penguin, as explained by my informant above, seems to be one of those enduring meme themes.

Below is an example of a meme created using the awkward penguin template, from an unknown internet author. first-day-of-college

Doge meme

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 18 March 2015
Primary Language: English

doge meme

Background:

Doge originated on Tumblr when this one picture of this really cute dog with this huge face was given comic sans text over it with poorly grammatically structured phrases over it. Usually these phrases are in different colors and center around a common theme. In this example, that would be about fashion. Usually the format is “much (blank), many (blank), wow” but can have all sorts of other poorly structured phrases. Then it got really popular and spread to 4chan and reddit and all these other sites. I’m pretty sure the first place I ever saw it was Facebook. I don’t know what I like about it. I don’t know what anyone likes about it. It’s just so funny. It’s like… so… I’m trying to find the right word. Like, infantile? … Dumbed down? That it’s just hilarious. There’s something inherently funny when someone says something wrong grammatically, like in everyday conversation with someone, it’s funny when people mess up. So to have a cute dog saying it just works, staring you right in the soul. Something it really capitalized on when it was getting popular was just a really ridiculously high frequency of posts. It got super annoying, but that almost made me love it more.

Context:

There’s actually no specific time this is appropriate. I guess just during sessions where you and your friends are hanging out on your phones showing each other funny pictures.

My Thoughts:

It seems to be that since there’s no specific context for this other than friends hanging out, it’s used as a way to bond in the digital age. I mean, if people are on their phones anyways, it’s a lot easier to connect with people by sharing things that are mutually humorous than trying to make jokes yourself. In this way, the doge meme becomes a sort of social lubricant to facilitate group dynamics, much like alcohol.

“Condescending Willy Wonka meme”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 18 March 2015
Primary Language: English

wonka meme

Background:

Can I just say the internet? I never went on reddit or 4chan or anything like that, so where would I have seen it? Probably just a stupid comment thread on Facebook or something, back in the day. It’s based on Willy Wanka and the Chocolate Factory, it’s a screenshot of that, and Gene Wilder is one of my favorite actors. He has such great delivery and great comedic timing, so probably any screenshot you take will be funny. Then the internet kinda owned it cuz in the film, he’s not being sassy in that scene this is a screenshot of, and turned it into this other thing which I think is interesting. Even though this meme has specific uses, I think it’s interesting that it’s adaptable to specific conversations, so it has the same function but keeps changing the words that overlay the image.

Context:

You’re supposed to use it when you’re mocking someone’s complaining, like “Oh you have to do four papers? Your life is so hard.” Or like demeaning someone who thinks their life is important. I guess I just mean the meme has gotten such specific usage in conversation it’s essentially become it’s own recognizable phrase like anything else in a language, but it’s not based around the specific words, it’s based around the construction and delivery of the words which is pretty fascinating to me having taken linguistics classes.

My Thoughts:

I think this meme is hilarious. He just looks so sassy. My informant is definitely correct that if someone constructs a sentence in this way, anyone from my generation will be able to recognize it as the “Sassy Wonka” meme almost immediately. It’s cool that the internet can facilitate this kind of folklore which becomes a part of everyday situational lexicon.

“Wolfjob meme”

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 18, March 2015
Primary Language: English

 

Background:

There’s this youtube channel called Game Grumps that consists of two dudes named Danny and Aaron, and Danny told Aaron about this picture on one of the episodes of the show. The Game Grumps have kinda owned the picture by doing a lot of photoshops with it where to censor it they’ll put their faces over the nipples or add a top hat over the penis or whatever. There’s a Christmas version and a Jew version, but I think all of them embody the same vision or purpose which I guess is just vague internet awkwardness, like something really awkward done very seriously, which creates this quality of irony and campiness that I find hilarious.

Context:

Danny first used it between his friends like they’d be texting and whenever things got awkward or he had to break a silence he’d send wolfjob. The way he puts it is there’s something weird and adorable about it which juxtaposed with this ridiculous CG thing it helps to break those silences. I use it a little differently because I know people don’t know about wolfjob, so I use it for a lot of shock value or to comment on the awkwardness of a situation by making it even more awkward through this photo.

My Thoughts:

I guess this is just me, but I don’t understand how this breaks awkward silences as opposed to creating them. In the first place the photo is really lewd, and I don’t know where the comedy comes from. But I think it’s interesting that my informant and many people over the internet find this funny – especially over the internet where people can like it anonymously without admitting to another live person they think this thing is funny thereby facing the judgment of others.