About

“All About That Bass” is a 2014 pop song co-written and performed by British recording artist Meghan Trainor. Upon its debut in June, the song was met with critical acclaims for its catchy beats and advocacy of body positivity, though not without criticism from some feminist bloggers asserting that the lyrics sends mixed messages about women’s self-image and gender relations.

Origin

On July 11th, 2014, Meghan Trainor’s official Vevo YouTube channel^[1] uploaded the music video for “All About That Bass.” The video features Trainer singing about being happy with her fuller figure, surrounded by dancers who are not as thin as dancers in music videos tend to be. As of October 2014, the video has gained over 190,000,000 views.

Controversy

On August 6th, Feministing^[6] published an article titled “Why Meghan Trainor’s body acceptance anthem “All About That Bass” is disappointing.” The post criticized the song for attaching body positivity to the male gaze and for putting down thin woman, the post explains:

“Secondly, good lord, people, it’s like it’s scientifically impossible to write a song about how great it is to have curves that doesn’t insult people who don’t. Being thin doesn’t make you a bitch. Being thin doesn’t mean you’re dumb. Being thin doesn’t make you “slutty.” Being thin means you’re just that: thin, and adhering a little more closely to the impossible-to-fully-meet expectations of what our bodies should look like.”

On August 18th, Jezebel^[7] published a post titled “Meghan Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass’ Hit No. 1 and We Feel Dirty,” which again talks about the songs lyrics being too dependant on what men think of womens’ bodies:

“Trainor’s lyrics remind me of that dumb Twitter thread surrounding #feministsareugly last week, which resulted in bunches of women making duck faces to prove to men, who already don’t agree with their views, that they are sexy. Ladies, wake up, who cares what those neanderthals think?”

On August 20th, The Atlantic^[8] published a post titled “Meghan Trainor is ‘All About That Bass,’ Others Are All About That Controversy.”

Spread

On September 5th, Post Modern Jukebox^[3] uploaded a cover of “All About That Bass.” As of October 2014, the video has gained over 4.6 million views.

On September 27th, YouTuber TiffanyAlvord^[4] uploaded a cover of “All About That Bass” titled the “Beauty Version” which alters the lyrics so it doesn’t specify that the singer is a heavier woman. As of October 2014, the video has gained over 1 million views.

On October 5th, YouTuber MattSteffanina^[2] uploaded a video of himself and a young student performing a hip hip dance to “All About That Bass.” Within a month the video gained over 9 million views.

Notable Examples

Covers

Parodies

>

Search Interest

External References

About

#FullMcIntosh is a Twitter hashtag primarily used by the pro-GamerGate camp to mock various arguments put forth by pop culture critic Jonathan McIntosh and other social justice bloggers in the gaming world that they perceive as being illogical and absurd.

Origin

The term #FullMcIntosh was coined on October 16th, 2014, after Jonathan McIntosh retweeted an article posted by Badass Digest author Devin Faraci.^[2] That same day, Twitter user @Sargon_Of_Akkad took a screencap of the tweets and criticized both McIntosh and Faraci, while coining the hashtag #FullMcIntosh in the process,^[3] possibly in reference to the expression “You Just Went Full Retard”. The message was favorited 92 times and was retweeted 85 times.

This is why you never go #FullMcIntosh, compadres. #GamerGate#NotYourShieldpic.twitter.com/YJ4vbYQImO

— Sargon of Akkad (@Sargon_of_Akkad) October 16, 2014

Jonathan McIntosh

Jonathan McIntosh, the subject of the hashtag, is a producer and writer of the divisive “Tropes VS Women” video series hosted by Anita Sarkeesian. His presence on Twitter^[1] exploded during the events of the GamerGate controversy, which he became involved in.

Spread

On October 23rd, Twitter user @BasedWeasel posted a line chart illustrating the range of the so-called McIntosh Scale, which garnered over 190 retweets and more than 200 favorites in less than a week.

In the following days, the usage of the hashtag increased exponentially when McIntosh compared the colors on Vivian James’s t-shirt to Piccolo Dick, implicitly equating the color scheme to rape.^[4] In response, many detractors began mocking his statement by indiscriminately labeling characters that are drawn in green-and-purple color scheme as rapists.

#BeyondMcIntosh

In addition to #FullMcIntosh, similar hashtag #BeyondMcIntosh is used for particularly extreme statements.^[5] The hashtag spread to Tumblr shortly afterward, where one post that explained the significance of the term gained 12 notes.^[6] The hashtag eventually caught Jonathan McIntosh’s attention on October 27, 2014, at which point he objected to the criticism.

Amusingly they’ve made several hashtags for me designed to paint non-controversial points like this as ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/cDKjoZFDBP

— Jonathan McIntosh (@radicalbytes) October 27, 2014

Search Interest

External References

Overview

Blackface Costume Controversies refers to photos which are posted online which feature people, often celebrities, wearing blackface, often for a Halloween costume, and the accusations of racism that follow.

Background

Blackface, which involves a white person darkening their skin to appear black, was a popular part of American minstrel shows^[12] in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The shows involved white performers in blackface mocking black individuals using racial stereotypes. It was later used in the early films of the 1920s.

Notable Developments

Billy Crystal’s Oscars Blackface

On February 26th, 2012, Billy Crystal appeared in blackface portraying Sammy Davis Junior during the Academy Awards ceremony.

Crystal was criticized by many sites the following day. Feministing’s^[14]“Memo to Billy Crystal” explained:

“Blackface is not okay. Ever.”

On March 1st, The Hollywood Reporter^[15] reported Davis Junior’s daughter supported Crystal, saying:

““Billy previously played my father when he was alive, and my father gave Billy his full blessing.”

Waverly High School

On October 15th, 2012, CNN^[9] reported students at New York’s Waverly High School dressed in blackface to perform a skit reenacting :Chris Brown’s":http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/chris-brown violence against his then girlfriend Rihanna. They also published a photo taken from Facebook.

The incident was covered by several websites the following day including Jezebel^[10], which featured support Waverly students and alumni were showing for the skit and The Huffington Post.^[11]

Julianne Hough

On October 25th, 2013, actress Julianne Hough wore blackface as part of a Halloween costume^[1] meant to portray Orange is the New Black character Crazy Eyes.

On October 26th, Hough tweeted out^[3] an apology saying:

“I am a huge fan of the show Orange is the New black, actress Uzo Aduba, and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people and I truly apologize.”

Ray Rice Halloween Costumes

On October 26th, 2014, ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann^[6] tweeted^[5] out a photo of a couple wearing blackface as part of their Halloween costume portraying Ray Rice and his wife.

The picture, as well as other blackface Ray Rice costumes tweeted to Olbermann, were covered by several websites including Gawker, Feministing^[7] and USA Today.^[8]

Search Interest

External References

About

If Paintings Could Text is a single topicTumblr blog which features text messages paired with famous works of art.

Origin

The single topic Tumblr blog ifpaintingscouldtext^[1] was created on June 18th, 2014.

Spread

On August 26th, the blog’s Twitter account^[4] was created, as of October 2014, the account has gained over 120,000 followers. On September 15, 2014, Buzzfeed^[2] published a post on the blog titled “This Tumblr Shows You What It’d Be Like If Classic Paintings Could Text And It’s Awesome.” On September 18th, Whudat^[6] named “If Paintings Could Text” the blog of the day. On September 26th, College Humor^[3] covered the blog. On October 27th, Bustle^[5] published a post titled "If Paintings Could Text Is the Inevitable Tumblr We’ve Been Waiting For.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Production Logo Parodies are spoofs of vanity cards used by film and television production companies, which are typically shown in the opening or closing credits to brand content.

Origin

The earliest known production logo parody was made by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) in a spoof of their own Leo the Lion logo shown in the opening of the 1935 Marx Brothers comedy film A Night at the Opera (shown below).^[2]

Spread

In the 1961 Tom and Jerry cartoon “Switchin’ Kitten,” Leo the Lion is substituted with the cat Jerry in the MGM production logo (shown below).

In the 1971 Monty Python film And Now for Something Completely Different, a version of MGM’s Leo the Lion logo is shown with a rabbit substituted for the lion (shown below).

On March 28th, 2007, YouTuber Aslam Husain uploaded a parody of the Universal Studios opening production logo (shown below, left). On September 16th, 2008, YouTuber VJGeorgeFraggle uploaded a music remix video using the 20th Century Fox opening logo (shown below, right).

On October 15th, 2011, YouTuber ChampmaniacPictures uploaded the 20th Century Fox opening production logo sequence with a saxophone playing the background music (shown below, left). On January 31st, 2012, YouTube BaconGitt15 reuploaded the saxophone video with the addition of a recorder flute playing the background music (shown below, right). On May 24th, a compilation of 20th Century Fox production logo parodies were highlighted on the Internet news blog Slacktory.^[1]

On April 30th, 2013, YouTuber syujsunil1989 reuploaded the recorder flute version of the 20th Century Fox video, receiving more than 1.69 million views and 770 comments in two years. On July 8th, YouTuber fatawesome uploaded a comedy sketch in which the Universal Studios production logo circles the entire earth and blocks out the sun (shown below, left). On September 10th, CollegeHumor uploaded a parody of the Pixar opening production logo animation, in which a jumping lamp murders the letter “I” (shown below, right). In the next year, the video gathered upwards of 5.4 million views and 16,600 comments.

Notable Examples

Scary Logos

Scary Logos refer to a variety of vintage television production company logos that were used as bumper sequences between the 1960s and early 1990s.

Search Interest

External References

Introduction

In late October, 2014, demonstrations started to be held in Budapest, Hungary, which were triggered by the government’s announcement of a proposal about an Internet tax to be entered in 2015. The ruling right-wing coalition’s larger party, the conservative Fidesz made their proposal public on October 21, as part of the modified “Taxation Law” meant to extend the existing telecommunications tax to Internet usage. The proposal designates a 150 forint/GB tax rate (with 150 forint being around 62 US cent, 38 British penny and 49 eurocent). This idea, possibly coupled with other current issues surfacing around the government prompted multiple, generally peaceful demonstrations in Budapest and in other cities in and out Hungary.

A Facebook page named Százezren az internetadó ellen (“Hundred Thousand Against the Internet Tax”)^[1] was created on the same day the proposal was made public by Balázs Gulyás, a 27 year old political blogger.^[2] A week later, on the 28th, the page had more than 225,000 likes.

Gulyás acted as the main organizer of the two Budapest demonstrations, also making speeches to the crowd. The first event was on the 26th in the early evening hours, and instantly got international media coverage. According to mainstream news portals, tens of thousands of people gathered, and while the demonstration’s intention was peaceful, hundreds of people attacked the Fidesz party headquarters after the event finished. The building’s fence was toppled and it’s window were broken in, many people hurled broken computer equipment at the building, including monitors. The day ended with no riot police intervention, though they were assigned to the scene.

Despite the demand of the demonstrators, Fidesz made it clear they will enter the new tax next year, but they proposed an amendment to cap the tax at 700 forint/month/subscriber for home users and 5000 forint/month/subscriber for business users, while stating they intend the tax to be paid by the ISPs rather than the end users. The demonstrators, not finding this satisfactory, gave an “ultimatum” to the government to abandon the plan in the next 48 hours or they would face another mass demonstration. Since Fidesz didn’t retract their idea, another demonstration was held on the 28th in the early evening hours. Simultaneously, similar events took place in multiple cities in Hungary, and also in Warsaw, Poland. All these later events ended without any vandalism.

Background

Some media outlets speculated about the possible reasons behind the fact that the demonstrations are the largest anti-government events since the protests in 2006 against then-ruling socialist party MSZP. Fidesz won the elections in 2010 with a large majority, making them being able to pass laws without hindrance from other political forces, and they also won the 2014 election. Party chairman and prime minister Viktor Orbán used this political power to introduce several changes according to his political visions, like opening towards Eastern nations outside the European Union, notably Russia. Fidesz also crafted the new constitution of Hungary on the basis that the existing one existed as a legacy of the fall of communism 1989.

Possible reasons for the demonstrations’ popularity include Fidesz’s austerity measures and new taxes affecting the telecommunication, energy, and banking sectors, the dissolution of the private pension fund system, the adoption of a new constitution crafted solely by Fidesz, the approval of the new “Media Law”, the decision accepting a Russian loan to support the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant, and the supposedly shady nationalization of tobacco shops. Two focal issues which demonstrators are well aware of are the corruption accusations of government-related officials by the US government, and the fact that Fidesz itself opposed and criticized a similar Internet tax when rival MSZP considered it in 2008.

Online reactions

On Twitter, multiple hashtags became associated with the tax and the demonstrations, the most widely used is #internetado (“Internet tax”). Others include #netado (“net tax”) and #internettax.

The Százezren az internetadó ellen page and other online forums received images which mocks and ridicules Fidesz and the idea of the Internet tax, generally by using an already established meme, but sometimes with sarcastic photoshops.

Notable examples of memetic reactions

Search interest

External references

About

Fiverr is an online marketplace where freelancer workers offer a variety of services ranging between $5 and $500.

History

Fiverr^[1] was launched in February 2010 by founders Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger. By 2012, the site had over 1.3 million services listed. On May 3rd, the site received $15 million in funding from the venture capitalist firms Accel Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. In December 2013, a Fiverr iOS app was released on the Apple app store. In February 2014, Fiverr partnered with Coinbase to enable bitcoin payments on the online marketplace. In March, an app for Android operating system was released.

Features

Fiverr allows users to buy and sell freelance jobs referred to as “gigs.” In January 2012, the “Levels” reputation-based promotion system was implemented which grants sellers advanced tools after completing transaction milestones.

Highlights

Rog and Tyrone

Rog and Tyrone are nicknames given to Roger Stockburger and Gordon Hurd, respectively, a pair of video testimonial spokesmen on the online marketplace Fiverr who are often enlisted to create humorous anime-related videos by users in the /a/ (anime) and /s4s/ (shit 4chan says) boards on 4chan.

Traffic

As of October 2014, Fiverr.com has a global rank of 150 and a United States rank of 268 on the traffic analytics site Alexa.^[2]

Search Interest

External References

About

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an idiomatic expression that is often used in image form on the internet to present and contrast the characters or aspects of a particular media franchise.

Origin

The expression originated from the 1966 Italian epic Spaghetti Western movie, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.^[1] One of the posters^[2] used to promote the film (shown below) has since become an iconic example of film advertising, and is the stylistic basis for many of the meme’s derivations.

Spread

Being a pre-internet meme, the popularity of the phrase was strongly tied to the success of the film, which propelled it to idiomatic status. Although the film was originally strongly criticized for its depiction of violence, it has since been reevaluated and declared a masterpiece,^[3] establishing it as a classic of the Western genre and the phrase as a popular expression.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

“Shrekt”, a portmanteau of Shrek and rekt, is a term associated with the animated film character Shrek often featured in montage parody videos.

Origin

On April 17th, 2013, YouTuber Battlecruiser Plays uploaded a montage parody video titled “Shrekt.wmv,” which featured various images and video clips of the ogre character Shrek (shown below).

Spread

On December 3rd, 2013, YouTuber RossBoomsocks uploaded a video titled “Get Shrekt,” featuring a 3D model of Shrek dancing to the 2013 EDM song “Animals” by Martin Garrix (shown below, left). On April 2nd, 2014, YouTuber Vagabonds uploaded another montage parody video titled “Shrekt,” featuring scenes of the character Shrek fighting in a boxing ring in the 2001 film Shrek (shown below, right).

On April 4th, uploaded a video titled “Get Shrekt!”, featuring footage of a modded version of the game Goat Simulator using a playable Shrek character (shown below, left). On April 16th, a Facebook^[2] page titled “You’re About to get Shrekt” was launched. On June 14th, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Flamekeeper submitted an entry for “Shrekt.” On October 2nd, thecreatuehub YouTube channel uploaded a Let’s Play video titled “Get Shrekt,” featuring footage from the game Shrek Super Party (shown below).

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Chaika Face (or sometimes referred as mwee) is a photoshop meme orginated from a stillshot frame of the main character Chaika Thrabant from the anime “Coffin Princess” episode 4. The template reaction face has been included as a faceswap fad on the many websides.

Origin

The awkward looking reaction of the anime character Chaika comes from the 4th episode of the anime Coffin Princess when the heroine Dominica Škoda stares and grins at her.

When one of the 4chan user asked why the fad had became popular recently and where the fad came from, another anonymous user claimed that the 2chan users have ignited the trend^[1].

Spread

wip

Template

External References

About

Ellen DeGeneres is an American comedian and host of the daytime talk show The Ellen DeGeneres show, which has featured interviews with several prominent viral video stars since its launch in 2003.

Career

In the early 1980s, DeGeneres began performing stand-up comedy at clubs in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1982, she was awarded the title of “Funniest Person in America” by the American cable television network Showtime. In 1989, played the role of impressionist Margo Van Meter in the short-lived television sitcom Open House (shown below, left). From 1994 to 1998, Ellen starred as the neurotic bookstore owner Ellen Morgan in the television sitcom Ellen (shown below, right).

In 2001, DeGeneres starred in the sitcom The Ellen Show as the character Ellen Richmond (shown below, left). In September 2003, DeGeneres began hosting the daytime talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show (shown below, right).

Online History

In December 2006, DeGeneres interviewed Sammy Stephens, the star of the Flea Market Montgomery commercial (shown below, left). On September 14th, 2007, DeGeneres interviewed Daft Hands creator Austin Hall, who performed a live version of the hand dance on the show (shown below, right).

On April 25th, 2012, DeGeneres read several passages from the erotic fiction novel Fifty Shades of Grey (shown below, left). On September 11th, 2014, DeGeneres interviewed Noah Ritter, a five-year old who was nicknamed “Apparently Kid” for starring in a local news segment at the Wayne County Fair in Pennsylvania (shown below, right).

Oscar Selfie

During the Academy Awards ceremony on March 2nd, 2014, DeGeneres approached renowned actress Meryl Streep for a photo opportunity in an attempt to break the record for most retweeted photo, a title previously held by a photo of President Obama and the first lady embracing tweeted after his re-election in November 2012.^[13] As DeGeneres and Streep prepared to take the photo, other actors in the audience jumped in to photobomb, which resulted in a group selfie featuring DeGeneres, Streep, Jared Leto, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts, Lupita N’yongo and her brother, Kevin Spacey, Channing Tatum, and Angelina Jolie.

Social Media Presence

As of October 2014, The Ellen DeGeneres Show has more than 16.6 million Facebook^[1] likes, 33.7 million Twitter^[2] followers and 10 million YouTube^[3] subscribers.

Personal Life

DeGeneres was born on January 26th, 1958 in Metairie, Louisiana. In February 1997, DeGeneres came out as a homosexual during an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

DeGeneres has been romantically linked with actresses Anne Heche, Alexandra Hedison and Portia de Rossi. On August 16th, 2008, DeGeneres and de Rossi were married at their home in Beverly Hills, California.

Search Interest

External References

About

“YO-KAI Disco” is an audiotrack from a Japanese shoot’em up game Mamorukun Curse! (Japanese: まもるクンは呪われてしまった!) developed by G.rev and Gulti.^[1] This song has been a popular musical reource for MAD videos and Youtube Poop Music Videos (YTPMV’s) on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga (NND) since 2013.

Origin

Mamorukun Curse! was released for the Japanese arcade in 2008, and then ported to XBOX360 in 2009 and to PlayStation3 in 2011. Additionally, it was localized and released in the North America in July 2013. This song “YO-KAI disco” is written as background music for the stage “Entrance to the Netherworld” by a Japanese composer Yousuke Yasui.^[2] This electro-pop tune played with nostalgic age-old sounds is known as the representative song of this game.

Spread

The earliest instances in this MAD video series were uploaded to NND in 2010 which features A Certain Scientific Railgun^[3] and El Shaddai.^[4] Meanwhile, the video that led to a substantial increase in popularity of the series was “HAPPY Disco” which parodies Ryuho Okawa^[5], the founder of Japanese new religious group Happy Science^[6] known for his passionate speeches and incomprehensible interviews with guardian spirits. The original post in January 2012^[7] was soon taken down due to the copyright infringement, but its reprint posted in December in that year (Shown below) finally became popular on NND and succeeded to earn many followers.^[8] Because of this, subsequent MAD videos uploaded after the following year usually use the sped-up version of this song as same as this video.

Niconico HAPPY Disco

In addition, “YO-KAI Disco” has been occasionally used in YouTube Poop Music Videos (YTPMVs) since the middle of 2013.^[9]

Various Examples

Niconico はっ！自分は家畜以下のミーナ・カロライナでありますっ！！
Left: Attack on Titan | Right: Kotoura-san

Left: Team Fortress 2 | Right: Boxxy

BLU-RAY Disc Series

BLU-RAY Disc Series (BLU-RAY Discシリーズ) is a series of Yo-kai Disco MAD videos fearturing anime Blu-ray/DVD TV commercial movies. The trigger of this small fad was a MAD video uploaded to NND on May 24th, 2014, which features a Blu-ray/DVDTVCM for anime Saki.^[10]

Niconico 【咲-saki-全国編】BLU-RAY Disc

Dozens of videos following this video’s style have been uploaded on NND.^[11]

Niconico 【まど☆マギ】BLU-RAY DiscNiconico 【イカ娘】BLU-RAY Disc
Left: Puella Magi Madoka Magica | Right: Squid Girl

Search Interest

[Not Available]

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos listed in this section.

About

Space Sushi is a novelty Twitter account which tweets out pictures of sushi set on space themed background.

Origin

The SpaceSushiPicTwitter account^[2] was created on July 21st, 2014. As of October 2014, the account has gained over 19,000 followers.

Spread

On September 26th, a Space Sushi Tumblr blog^[1] was created. On October 29th, io9^[3] covered the Twitter account.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

You see Ivan refers to a series of images of Russian soldiers superimposed with humorous text, often in broken English. The image macros typically reference an attitude of reckless enthusiasm for war or weaponry.

Origin

The original picture was created on February 3rd, 2013, on 4chan’s /vg/ (video game general) board’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. thread^[4]. The image was created by superimposing a comment post on a screenshot, making fun of a bug where a character holds a pistol like a rifle.

Spread

The original picture under the title “You must aim like this”, was uploaded to FunnyJunk on October 31st, 2013^[1]. A compilation of images related to the meme was uploaded to Imgur on August 4th, 2014, titled “Another Russian Comp, Comrade”.^[2] This was followed by another compilation titled “You see Ivan…” on October 28th.^[3]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Pac-Man is an arcade video-game published by Namco in 1980. It consists a yellow character that eats dots while escaping from ghosts in a blue maze. Pac-Man is considered one of the most popular video-games, having generated more than $2.5 billion by the 1990s.

History

When Toru Iwatani^[1] started to develop his project in 1979, the idea was to make something different from space shooters and the game was aimed for girls. The character concept was inspired by a pizza missing a slice.

Impact

Pac-Man has been referenced in numerous of games and sites. An example is the Google interactive doodle (shown left) and the easter egg from Bioshock Infinite (shown right):

Fan Art

Search Interest

External References

^[1]Wired – Q&A: Pac-Man Creator Reflects on 30 Years of Dot-Eating

Editor’s Note: This entry is currently being worked on

About

Manoj Night Shyamalan (also name M. Night Shyamalan) is an movie director who made some a film of: The Sixth Sense, Signs and The Last Airbender^[1].

History

[WIP]

Spread

[WIP]

Related Memes

What a Twist!

“What a Twist!” is an expression referencing the signature plot twists. The phrase was originally quoted in an episode of the Adult Swim cartoon show Robot Chicken titled “The Twist,” aired on April 17th, 2005. In the episode, a clay-animated character parodying M. Night Shyamalan says the line after a twist ending is revealed.

I See Dead People

“I See Dead People” is a memorable quote from the 1999 supernatural horror film The Sixth Sense. On the web, both the original line and its snowclone variations have been used to mock a particular group of people for their behaviors or stereotypes.

Racebending

The Last Airbender Casting Controversy (known as Racebending) began in December of 2008, when Entertainment Weekly published the a list of the leading cast members for the upcoming film The Last Airbender , based on the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender . Many fans were outraged to see that director had chosen an all-white cast to play the leading characters, who were all reputably Asian and Inuit in the cartoon version. This is a common Hollywood tactic known as “whitewashing”. A few months later, pop singer Jesse McCartney, who was to play the main antagonist Zuko, was replaced by Dev Patel due to the filming conflicting with McCartney’s tour dates. Many speculated that this would end the race controversy, since Patel was Indian. However, Patel’s addition to the cast only fuelled the controversy, as fans cited that the only leading minority was cast as the film’s villain.

Search Interest

External Links

^[1]Wikipedia – M. Night Shyamalan

About

Gizoogle is a website that lets you translate almost everything on the internet into gangsta slang by replacing the text with ebonics.

History

The website was created in 2005 by John Beatty after being inspired by Brandon Yoders’ over-use of gangster slang on Istant Messanger.

In an interview^[2], John said the following:

“Just to humor this one individual person I made the site in 2 days time. These little projects for fun would help me improve my knowledge of Regular Expression formulas and the PHP language. In doing so I learned how to make the code understand the use of consonants and vowels words and determine intelligently where to place alterations in the words and sentences. I’m really regretting scrapping that code after all these years now!”

Although later he claims that he also got inspired by Snoop’s TV show, Doggy Fizzle Televizzle^[1], which aired on MTV in 2002 and 2003.

Popularity

Despite not being popular at first, and not being available due to crashes until 2011, Gizoogle’s popularity grew in 2013 as Trollpasta Wiki users started using the translator to create gangsta-fied versions of popular creepypastas, such as Smile.jpg, 1999, Jeff the Killer and more.

Search Interest

^[2]Gizoogle 2.0 – Gizoogle’s original creator shares insight on recent popularity, Gizoogle.com.

^[1]Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Doggy Fizzle Televizzle

About

When Mama Isn’t Home is a video remix series based on a clip of a father playing the trombone while his son slams an oven door repeatedly to a drum a beat.

Origin

On October 6th, 2014, YouTuber bauerbirds uploaded a video titled “When Mama Isn’t Home,” featuring a father and son wearing sunglasses while performing a short song in the kitchen using a trombone and oven door for a kick drum (shown below). In the first month, the video gained over 560,000 views and 340 comments.

Spread

On October 22nd, 2014, Redditor Ricklo submitted the video to the /r/youtubehaiku^[1] subreddit, where it received more than 3,700 votes (95% upvoted) in one week. On October 26th, YouTuber Jaanis Hallman uploaded a remix on the video in which the duo perform a song to the background music of an outdoor EDM concert (shown below, left). The same day, Redditor mocfusing posted the video to the /r/videos^[2] subreddit. Within four days, the video gathered upwards of 1.08 million views on YouTube and 5,200 votes (94% upvoted) on Reddit. On October 27th, YouTuber Copy Cat Channel uploaded a “Goatified Remix,” featuring clips of yelling goats edited over the original “When Mama Isn’t Home” video (shown below, right).

On the online image board Tumblr, various users recreated the scene using fictional character from various popular shows and other origins through the “#when-mama-isn’t-home” tag,^[3] such as Fire Emblem,^[4] Homestuck,^[5] Neon Genesis Evangelion^[6] and Feels Guy.^[7]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

10 Hours of Walking in NYC refers to a viral video of a woman walking through the streets of New York City while being cat called, harassed and followed by various men.

Origin

On October 28th, 2014, the Street HarassmentVideo YouTube channel uploaded a montage video by the advocacy group Hollaback featuring footage of a woman walking around New York City while being cat called and followed by various men (shown below).

Spread

On October 29th, The Young Turks YouTube channel uploaded a discussion about the Internet reaction to the video (shown below, left). On October 30th, Funny or Die posted a parody video in which a white man is shown receiving praise and special treatment while walking around New York City (shown below, right).

Criticism

Following the release of the original Hollaback video, many criticized the creators for showing clips of men belonging to minority groups.

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

“That’s Forbidden Love” is a phrase used to describe a taboo relationship, usually between two women or girls. It is often associated with a related phrase “Girls Can’t Love Girls”.

Origin

The quote was originally said by Hitomi Shizuki, a character from a Japanese anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which aired in 2011. On January 29th, 2011, a screencap of the character from the show, with the comment “But that’s forbidden love” was posted on 4chan’s /a/ (anime and manga) board^[1].

Spread

On March 10th, 2011, an image macro (pictured below, left) based of the original post surfaced on 4chan’s /a/ board^[2]. On February 12th, 2012, a similar image macro (pictured below, right) with a caption “Girls can’t love girls”, a line which appeared in the English dub of the anime, was posted on /a/^[3].

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References