Memes of the Past
- ramyrahman2
- Apr 15
- 3 min read
This meme in specific hits home for my target audience because it wasn't just content it was a whole movement that would change the youtube platform forever. The behaviors ranged from wild stunts like 'MrBeast buying billboards to someone literally hacking 50,000 printers worldwide' (Know Your Meme). What's cool is how it started as a simple subscriber race but then evolved into this symbol of indiecreators versus corporate YouTube. The meme spread beyond screens in ways most don't; actual billboards, printer-hacks, and people shouting the phrase in public or in everyday school classrooms. My site visitors will appreciate how this wasn't just something they watched, but something many actively participated in. It represents a genuine moment when internet drama spilled into the real world in ways both hilarious and sometimes problematic.
A gaming memes which was quite prominent at the time is perfect for the section of my site exploring how gaming references escape their original context. Take Markiplier's shocked reaction to FNAF gore and plop it into any situation where something gets bitten or eaten = thats the bite of ___. What's fascinating is how it sat dormant for years after his 2015 video before exploding in 2019. Its manifestations work because they preserve his perfect dramatic pause/delivery while applying it to increasingly random scenarios. The joke works because of the perfect timing. The visitors to my site will appreciate this as the perfect example of how gaming YouTuber reactions become their own cultural artifacts completely separate from the games themselves.
Perfectly capturing that 2015 Vine era when six-second clips would become cultural phenomena overnight is something that sticks true to this meme. The behavior was beautifully simplistic, where in the meme a person dramatically zooms in on someone's footwear with that instantly recognizable catchphrase "what are those!". After Brandon Moore's original Instagram video hit Vine, it exploded to "20 million loops in just two weeks" (Know Your Meme). What made its manifestations special was the creativity people brought to the format; from church settings to Jurassic Park dubs to even Michael Jordan getting pranked at his own basketball camp. Those who love nostalgia will cherish revisiting this peak Vine-era joke that was so easy to participate in yet constantly refreshed by each new setting. It's that perfect time capsule of when we all briefly cared way too much about roasting strangers' footwear, I also should add that I was a victim of this meme in middle school.
Ideals of the Memes
When viewing the three unique memes I chose through the lens of Davisons' framework for my early internet nostalgia website I was able to unveil interesting ideals. First, the "Great Subscriber War/Subscribe to PewDiePie" meme carries the ideal that online communities can mobilize around creator loyalty/competition, transforming viewership into a lively active participation. Second, "What Are Those?" embodies the ideal that everyday simple objects deserve spontaneous mockery, with Davison noting memes often simply aim "to entertain" (p. 125). Third, "Was That the Bite of '87?!" meme's ideal celebrates shared gaming knowledge alongside insider references, creating connection through recognition of obscure Five Nights at Freddy's lore, thus showing how memes gain influence by being "surprisingly distributed" (p. 125) across gaming communities. Each meme reinforces how internet culture thrives on shared understanding and participation.
By featuring these three distinct memes, my website gives visitors that nostalgic hit while showing how internet humor evolved across different platforms and communities between 2015-2019.
Reference/s:
Davison, P. (2012). The language of internet memes. In M. Mandiberg (Ed.), The social media reader (pp. 120–134). New York University Press.
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