Internet
Will memes ever reach the level of everyday humour?
They have.
Memed to death. Many songs, books and other pop culture icons have been considered to be ‘dead’, or unfunny, due to overuse. Have you ever considered why you still laugh at those ‘yo mama’ jokes, even when you know they are as original as the pop chord structure? No, and it is still funny. And Anderson .Paak used it in his (FABULOUS) song Bubblin.
Very few people leave the chance to frown upon people who still use the ‘old’ meme templates, which, obviously means more than a couple of years old. Yeah, not that old. Maybe people will even cringe at dogecoin in a few years, nobody knows. Also, just to be clear, the ‘people’ I mention are the anonymous ‘netizens’ who seem to be omnipresent throughout the internet.
All of that considered, I think memes have finally reached the level of humour. Rickrolling is an old, but still possibly the best way to prank on the internet. Much like nutmeg in football, it is unmatched in its subtle ways and deep relation with pop culture. I do not foresee a world where rickrolling isn’t funny. This is one of the first things that I can confidently say about the internet. This is the start of a process of merging the internet and the real world.
Youtube took a decade to become one of the primary factors in mainstream media. Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and more recently clubhouse just exploded. This is the difference between then and now. The internet has blossomed and now it will get industrialised, just like the real world was.
Let us return to memes for a moment. The first meme to go ‘viral’ on the internet was baby cha-cha-cha. It happened in 1996. Since then, many, and by many I mean MANY, memes have gone viral, have become timeless and have eventually become cringeworthy. Previously, memes were primarily shared through Reddit, where the best memes still come from. But, somewhere along the line, memes entered youtube, Twitter and the others, and according to Redditors, ruined them. But that is the quality, not the quantity. Although the average level of laughter has reduced, the number of memes have dramatically increased. Memes have become mainstream. That is the truth of it. People love to just drop references left, right and centre. Previously, it was movies or books or songs that were referenced. Basically, everything in pop culture. Now, memes form the biggest part of pop culture. Youtube is a huge part of pop culture and most YouTubers admire memes. Elon Musk is the most famous billionaire and he loves memes too. It is the memes’ world and we are just living in it.
So, do you agree? let me know, and thank you for reading!
