Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
"Leeroy Jenkins" Meme
Bradley Harringotn
Leeroy Jenkins is a youtube clip that began to go viral in
2006. It is a video from the computer
game World of Warcraft, which was and still is a very popular and well-known
game. In the video there are 12 members
of a group huddled together discussing their attack strategy in order for them
to be able to complete their quest. They
are all very serious about their plans, going as far as figuring out
mathematically their chances of success to a percent. Out of no where Leeroy Jenkins shouts his
battle cry and runs in by himself forcing the rest of his team to follow and
eventually die during the quest.
I think
this became so popular because WOW is taken so seriously by those who play it
and so the video was spread through that large group and eventually made it’s
way onto youtube where non WOW players could appreciate it’s humor. It is so entertaining because of the way this
group of people are taking this so seriously and in one second it all backfires
on them because of one idiot. This meme
led to figurines and cards for Leeroy Jenkins.
The figurine is holding a chicken leg in his hand because his response
to the other players getting upset with him was “at least I got chicken”.
"Planking" Meme
Brandon Kraft
Planking began to become popular in 2007
when Gary Clarkson and friend Christian Langdon created a facebook page for
their group game invented by them 14 years earlier. This was a peak time in the
rise of the facebook epidemic so anything remotely interesting that arose during
this time rapidly grew. It became popular because its hilarious first off, and
also a worldwide competition over the internet came about (not officially) of
topping someone else’s plank and creating your own image in a more extreme
setting.
Planking is an
activity consisting of lying face down —sometimes in an unusual or incongruous
location. Both hands must touch the sides of the body.
Planking developed quite slowly as the two
friends started doing it in grade school and did not hit the Internet and gain
attention until 14 years later. When they advertised it over facebook in 2007
the response worldwide was immense.
Other known variations of planking are:
o
Teapotting: bending the arms into the shape of a teapot
o
Owling: a person squats "like an owl"
o
Horsemanning: two
people so that they appear to be a single body with a detached head and is a
revival of a photography fad popular in the 1920s
o
Batmanning:
hanging upside down by your feet
o
Other ones which
have been ‘related’ although not exactly similar are in American football such
as Tebowing, Gronking and Kapernicking
"Gingers Do Have Souls" Meme
Michaela Lalanne
When did this begin to become popular/famous on
the Internet and why?
The meme “GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS!!”
became popular on the Internet in 2010. It was aired on YouTube and gained
millions of views and thousands of response videos. This meme gained its popularity
for two reasons: first off, because of the controversy that developed over the
South Park episode “Ginger Kids”, and secondly because of school violence
awareness and the increase in violent acts against red-headed students.
Description of the meme, “GINGERS DO HAVE
SOULS”
·
The term
ginger has been used for a long time to refer to people with red hair. People
have been making fun of “gingers” for decades, however it was South Park that
really brought the discrimination of gingers to a national audience.
·
The
phrase “gingers have no souls” was first introduced in the South Park Episode
“Ginger Kids”, which aired on November 9, 2005.
·
In this
episode, a presentation is given on redheaded children, which includes a
made-up disease pertaining only to redheads. Additionally throughout the
episode, the South Park characters poke fun at redheaded people and
discriminate against them.
·
A few
years later on January 14, 2010, YouTuber CopperCab uploaded a video titled
“GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS!!” where he dramatically expressed his anger and
frustrations with redheaded discrimination.
·
CopperCab
goes on an emotional rampage about being bullied in school due to his red hair
and includes awkward phrases such as, “I’m ginger, and proud of it”
·
CopperCab’s
video received over 3.1 million views and over 600 response videos in the first
month after being uploaded. In addition, it also led to mash-up videos and
remixes.
How popular did it become and over what time
span?
CopperCab's video has had
over 30,000,000 views on YouTube since it was created. In addition to its many
response videos and remixes, CopperCab’s video also led to the creation of a
website and a line of t-shirts. Google searches of the word ginger have been
increasing since 2004, however according to Google insights, it peaked in 2010
with CopperCab’s YouTube video.
"Gingers Do Have Souls" Meme
Paul Bosco
The YouTube video “Gingers do have souls”
was first released on January 14th 2010. Michael Copper, the subject, discusses being
redheaded and how it is the cause of bullying at his school. Most of it is directed at him, and he’s “sick
and tired of it.” The main topic that
these bullies choose to say is that gingers don’t have souls. The saying that gingers don’t have souls
comes from the crass TV series, South
Park. There is an episode, which
aired back in November of 2005 that makes fun of the redheaded folk and claims
they have no souls. Within the first
month the video had 3.1 million views and over 600 comments. Today, 3 years later, the video has 32, 686,
323 views and over 650, 000 comments on YouTube. The reason that this video is so funny is due
to a couple things. Firstly, he persists
that he does indeed have a soul because he’s Christian is weird. Copper obviously did not understand that it
was intended to be a joke and so his obstinate denial is funny. It is unfortunate that he felt as if he was
actually being bullied. I personally
think it’s funny because it’s funny when people “lose it” on camera.
There have been many remixes of the video
made to poke fun at him. One video was
made by his “parents,” apologizing for their son’s rant, but in fact it is just
another spoof. There have been a variety
of songs made with his lines and spoofs created, but the most famous is the
response of South Park. They made a spoof that had the character Eric
Cartman, who is the most outspoken against gingers, dressed as a ginger making
the same speech as Michael Copper. Below
are the links to watch the original video, the one by his “parents” and the South Park edition.
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