![]() One image on the Reddit forum r/dankchristianmemes characterizes “Angry Hulk” as atheists (or “heathens”) in conversation with each other and “Civil Hulk” as atheists in conversation with Christians. Civil Hulk (one of several made based off of Avengers: Endgame), shows how a memed image embodies different meanings depending on who’s providing its context. The case of one newer meme template, Angry Hulk vs. Dolly Parton even did her own version of the meme with the context of the lyrics of her hit song “Jolene.” Meme forums are galleries of both static creation and real-time reactions, language factories for the kinds of specific emotions that are only needed for a moment or two. It then became a private joke in a small community, then moved to the sphere of mass consumption via Twitter, then was remade into another private joke for a different Facebook community with a host of unspoken understandings of its own. ( Warning: That post also jokingly expresses suicidal ideation.) This particular template was apparently born when a member of a Turkish Facebook group put labels on a stock photo. One post in the group makes memorable use of the Distracted Boyfriend meme, labeling the boyfriend as “Me” and various distracting women as drugs and alcohol. The Facebook page Dank Recovery Memes trades in the kind of dark, self-deprecating humor one might find in a real-life AA meeting. Nowhere is this more apparent than in smaller communities, where they are appropriated to signify a shared interest, belief, or burden. Memes are fun for those who make and distribute them not simply because of their humor, but also because of the feeling of recognition they provide. ’60s Spider-Man is always ready to hijack your comment thread. ![]() The most popular templates pass from the wilds of message boards and image forums into mainstream social media channels, where they become instantly recognizable, and arguably less funny. While some meme templates grow to have tremendous audience potential, they’re typically born on the quieter edges of the internet, made to communicate a very specific joke for an insular group of people to understand. It’s also a signal boost toward its own niche. But a meme isn’t simply an image shared electronically. Memes are a highly democratized art form - the makers own the means of production, and the reproduction applications are endless. Like every forum for memes, r/freefolk represents the living spirit of its users, and it has a language of its own. ![]() ![]() Understanding their sudden rejection of the show that brought them together requires a backlog of knowledge around the deep history of both obvious and esoteric jokes that run throughout fantasy fandom, an appreciation of Sean Bean (who acted in both franchises), and a baseline literacy in how displeased fans behave. A GoT-ified Surprised Pikachu, made to mock narrative inconsistencies in the series in a cute way.Īfter the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, “The Bells,” left the show’s fans divided, the Reddit forum r/freefolk reacted with a turn best understood by the extremely online: They briefly rebranded, in equal parts sarcasm and earnestness, to become a Lord of the Rings subreddit. ![]()
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