Bottom Line: Edgar’s Fall is a meme that plays on the fact that the Internet loves to see people hurt themselves, especially if those people need subtitles.

The video features a young Mexican kid named Edgar and his cousin Fernando hiking in a ranch near their home town of Monterrey. The video starts with Edgar being afraid of trying to cross a small stream using two long branches as a bridge. Soon after Edgar starts crossing, Fernando starts moving one of the branches, making Edgar curse angrily with a Mexican “norteño” (northern) accent until he finally loses his balance, plunges into the stream and curses even more as he emerges from the water.

Edgar’s fall was the subject of much media exposure in México which included newspapers and the clip being shown on the TV news.

There are ringtones, games, parodies, remixes and even a web page where Edgar is proposed for Mexico’s presidency. There are over 20 versions of the video including Star Wars, Mario Bros, Street Fighter, and Pokémon. Some publicity campaigns have made use of the video without worries of copyright issues, for example Nike’s Joga Bonito campaign. Edgar has also gained other media exposure, appearing on TV shows and in newspapers.

Meme Anatomy: Vaguely Foreign, Embarrassment, Overreactions, Leaked, Kids

Other Sources

Videos: Edgar’s Fall

Pictures: Edgar’s Fall

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 1,400 – 3
Photo Search Results: 392 – 2
Search Volume: 129,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 88 – 1
News Search Results: 0 – 1

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: When absolutely repulsive footage leaks on the Internet, someone is bound to pick it up and run with it. 2 Girls, 1 Cup itself might be a meme but even more spectacular were the reaction videos born from it.

Part of what has facilitated 2 Girls 1 Cup’s spread are the reactions it causes. Thousands of videos exist on YouTube of users showing the original video (off-camera) to their friends and taping their reactions, although some videos seem to be staged. Even Joe Rogan, host of Fear Factor, a show notorious for the disgusting things its contestants are forced to eat, had to turn away in a reaction video posted to his blog. A reaction video starring a Kermit the Frog puppet proved very popular on the community-based popularity website Digg. In January 2008, Slate magazine documented the reaction video phenomenon with a slideshow featuring various reactions. Violet Blue, an author, described this website as becoming “the new ‘tubgirl’ and goatse all in one disgusting moment of choco-poo-love” in a San Francisco Chronicle article. In the “2guys1podcast” episode of Put It In Your Ears, co-host Gavin St. Ours watches the video after claiming he never will, and his entire reaction is caught on tape. “Genuine Nerd” Toby Radloff was so disgusted by the clip that he had to immediately watch it again. Veteran porn star Ron Jeremy walked off while watching the video on The Playhouse.

The video has inspired several parodies, such as a short film by singer and comedian John Mayer to his blog entitled “2 Guys 1 Cup” where Mayer and Best Week Ever correspondent Sherrod Small enjoy Pinkberry frozen yogurt in the same manner that the women in the original consumed the feces. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also made a parody titled “1 Guy 1 Jar”, which he posted to YouTube, and began to eat peanut butter out of the jar, obviously in the same way of the original video. Filmmakers Justin Roiland and Christian Le Guilloux made a 5-minute series called “2 Girls, 1 Cup: The Show” for the short film competition site, Channel 101. It debuted in first place on January 27, 2008. Canadian comedian Jon Lajoie also made a song named “2 Girls 1 Cup song”, which described the activities in the video as if the two women were expressing their love for each other. The music video was instantly popular, gaining over 7 million views.

Meme Anatomy: Gross, WTF, Overreactions

Urban Dictionary

A 2007 viral video that shows acts of Coprophagia and Emetophilia. It is possibly the first time graphic acts of extreme fetishism have been widely viewed by the general public. Reactions to the video have become a YouTube phenomenon and have spawned other videos of this nature. Reaction to the video have included expressions of shock,hysterical laughter,nausea,and comments such as “What the Fuck” and “Why would they do that?”

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: 2 Girls, 1 Cup

Pictures: 2 Girls, 1 Cup

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 30,000 – 4
Photo Search Results: 80,800 – 4.5
Search Volume: 111,000,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 189,468 – 4
News Search Results: 87 – 2.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: If there is anything more meme-worthy than a celebrity losing his mind in private, it’s a celebrity losing his mind in public. The scene between Kanye West and Taylor Swift at the VMAs set off a tidal wave of photos, spoofs and days worth of Twitter Trending Topics.

On September 13, 2009, during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards while Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video, West went on stage and grabbed the microphone to proclaim that Beyoncé’s video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, nominated for the same award, was “one of the best videos of all time”. He was subsequently removed from the remainder of the show for his actions. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”, she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. West was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and by U.S. President Barack Obama, who called West a “jackass” in an “off the record” comment. Kanye’s VMA disruption originated a large amount of internet photo meme with blogs, forums and tweets with the “Let you finish” photo-jokes. West posted two apologies on his blog, one the night of the incident and the other the same day he appeared on The Jay Leno Show, on September 14, 2009, where he apologized again. After Swift appeared on The View two days after the outburst, partly to discuss the matter, West called her to apologize personally. Swift said she accepted his apology.

Meme Anatomy: Celebrity, Overreactions, Iconic Catchphrase

Urban Dictionary

Verb: Taking attention away from someone; stealing another person’s moment

Other Sources

Videos: Kanye West

Pictures: Kanye West

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 19,000 – 4
Photo Search Results: 2,000,000 – 5
Search Volume: 15,300,000 – 5
Blog Search Results: 2,386,322 – 5
News Search Results: 2,840 – 4

Overall Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: What happens when Celebrities lose control? Well, if it’s the right celebrity and just the right context what you end up with is a fast burning meme. Take the case of Christian Bale.

In July 2008, Bale had an angry tirade on the sets of Terminator Salvation, while filming in New Mexico. In February 2009, the audio recording of the incident was released. The tirade was directed at Shane Hurlbut, director of photography for the film. According to Bale, Hurlbut had, for the second time, ruined his concentration by walking into his line of sight during a scene. The recording is of a highly agitated Bale directing profanities at Hurlbut, threatening and belittling him, and finally threatening to quit the film if Hurlbut repeated his offence without being fired for it. It was reported that Warner film executives sent the tape to the insurer of the film in case Bale decided to quit the movie. In an interview with E! Online, assistant director and producer of Terminator Salvation, Bruce Franklin, said it was an isolated incident. “If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove…It was the most emotional scene in the movie,” said Franklin. “And for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn’t walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed.”

Meme Anatomy: Leaked, Celebrity, Overreactions

Other Sources

Videos: Christian Bale

Pictures: Christian Bale

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 32,300 – 4
Photo Search Results: 67,200 – 4.5
Search Volume: 150,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 32,267 – 3
News Search Results: 358 – 3

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: World of Warcraft has consumed the lives of millions of adoring fans, it was only a matter of time before it become a meme in its own right. Leeroy Jenkins combines the Internet’s love of borderline psychosis with the star power that is WoW.

The video was released by the World of Warcraft player guild “PALS FOR LIFE.” It features a group of players discussing a detailed battle strategy for the next encounter while one of their party, Leeroy, is away from his computer. Their plan is ruined when Leeroy returns and, ignorant of the strategy, immediately charges headlong into battle shouting his own name as a battle cry. His companions rush to help, but Leeroy’s actions ruin the meticulous plan, and all of the group members are killed.

The Internet phenomenon started with the release of the video clip to the World of Warcraft game forum in a thread entitled “UBRS (vid) ROOKERY OVERPOWERED! blue please.,” which jokingly presented the video in a serious context. The thread requested that other players provide help with strategy and that Blizzard reduce the difficulty of the encounter. The video spread as an internet meme, and Leeroy’s response to the other players chastisements, “at least I have chicken,” was also much parodied.

When asked about his actions in the video by National Public Radio, Ben Schultz said: “We were drinking 40s and just yelling at each other.

Meme Anatomy: Pop Culture, Overreactions, WTF

Urban Dictionary

1. Leeroy Jenkins is a character from the game World of Warcraft (WoW). He is the main ’star’ in the leeroy jenkins video, where he apparently was warming up leftover chicken in his microwave, came back and had not payed attention that his Guild (Pals for Life) was not ready to run in and attempt to complete a Raid, and they all ran in after him, and died.

The famous line is “LEERROYYY JEENKIINNSS” while leeroy runs in and makes him and his whole guild die. Some of the other things that are said are: “Goddammit leeroy”, “you do this every time”, “you’re so stupid”, and the ever so famous last bit of the video, “at least I have chicken”, indicating he was heating up the leftover chicken.

The Guild has not yet stated whether or not the video is fake. Some say it is, and you can see certain images showing it was setup, while others believe it is 100% legit.

This video has millions of views on YouTube, and almost every internet user knows of it. The video is famous for it’s randomness and chaos. You really have to watch the video to understand it.

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: Leeroy Jenkins

Pictures: Leeroy Jenkins

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 6,310 – 3.5
Photo Search Results: 708 – 2.5
Search Volume: 418,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 16,481 – 3
News Search Results: 66 – 2.5

Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: A classic movie meme that involves overreactions and Samuel L Jackson. What more could you ask for?

The film gained a considerable amount of attention before its release, forming large fan bases online and becoming an Internet phenomenon, due to the film’s title and premise. In response to the Internet fan base, New Line Cinema incorporated feedback from online users into its production, and added five days of reshooting. Before and after the film was released, it was parodied and alluded to on television shows and films, fan-made videos, video games, and various forms of literature.

Many of the early fan-made trailers and later other viral videos and commercials circulated via YouTube, and captured media attention there with such titles as: “Cats on a Plane”(which was featured in Joel Siegel’s review of “Snakes” on “Good Morning America”), “Snakes Who Missed The Plane”, “All Your Snakes Are Belong To Us” (a spoof of the All your base are belong to us phenomenon), and “Steaks on a Train”. Several websites also held contests about the film in fan-submitted short films and posters. On July 6, 2006, the official Snakes on a Plane website started a promotional sweepstakes called the “The #1 Fan King Cobra Sweepstakes”. The contest makes innovative use of the publicity-generating potential of the Internet, requiring contestants to post links on forums, blogs, and websites and collecting votes from the users of those sites. The winner was Max Goldberg, owner of YTMND, who opted to split the prize with the second place winner.

Meme Anatomy: Celebrity, Iconic Catchphrase, Pop Culture, Overreactions

Urban Dictionary

A simple existential observation that has the same meaning as “Whaddya gonna do?” or “Shit Happens”. Taken from the upcoming Samuel L. Jackson movie of the same name, and immortilised by screenwriter Josh Friedman on his blog post of Wednesday, August 17, 2005.

[Link]

Other Sources

Videos: Snakes On A Plane

Pictures: Snakes On A Plane

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 8,900 – 3.5
Photo Search Results: 120,000 – 5
Search Volume: 7,640,000 – 4.5
Blog Search Results: 1,177,263 – 5
News Search Results: 7,950 – 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Cute animals doing weird things are Internet gold. Whether it is a bug eye’d owl or a Panda cub sneezing. Dramatic Chipmunk is no exception.

Fact: The dramatic “Chipmunk” is actually a prairie dog.

Meme Anatomy: Animals, WTF, Overreactions

Urban Dictionary

The legendary chipmunk featured on a top college humor video clip. The chipmunk is obviously distressed and his reaction is epic. The dramatic chipmunk is actually a prarie dog, but no one seems to care. He is god. It can also be used as a noun of which to call someone.

Other Sources

Videos: Dramatic Chipmunk

Pictures: Dramatic Chipmunk

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 7,360 – 3.5
Photo Search Results: 636 – 2.5
Search Volume: 157,000 – 3
Blog Search Results: 14,092 – 3
News Search Results: 105 – 4

Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: This is one of those memes that made a much bigger splash in its country of origin (China) than it did on these shores, that may account for its overall mediocre volume scores, nevertheless whenever you have someone caught on tape ranting incoherently to an innocent passerby you have fertile ground for a meme.

“The Bus Uncle” is a Cantonese video clip of a quarrel between two men aboard a bus in Hong Kong on April 27, 2006. While the older man (Chan), who came to be nicknamed the Bus Uncle, scolded the man seated behind him (Ho), a nearby passenger used his camera phone to record the entire incident to provide evidence for the police in the event of a fight.

It gained international attention for raising questions about civic awareness and cultural mores.

Meme Anatomy: Vaguely Foreign, Overreactions

Urban Dictionary

A grumpy middle-aged man who became an instant celebrity when a video of him ferociously scolding a fellow young bus passenger became a hit on youtube.com. The young bus rider tapped the middle-aged man on his shoulder to request him to keep his voice down while talking on his cell phone. The man reacted vehemently and scolded the young man. The process was filmed by a 22-year-old man with his cell phone and the 6-minute footage was posted on youtube. As of now, the video has accumulated over 2 million hits and the phrases used by the middle-aged man – ‘You face pressure. I face pressure’ and ‘Not resolved yet. Not resolved yet. Not resolved yet.’ – have become the hottest catchphrases in Hong Kong. Newspapers around the world have reported this phenomenon. [link]

Other Sources

Videos: The Bus Uncle

Pictures: The Bus Uncle

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 1,350 – 3
Photo Search Results: 7,390 – 3.5
Search Volume: 40,700 – 2
Blog Search Results: 12,200 – 3
News Search Results: 103 – 4

Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 5 stars

Bottom Line: Images and videos sporting this meme have appeared all over the Internet, like most movie-based memes it was especially popular after the movie’s release and has died off significantly since then.

A parody of Leonidas’ famous line, “This Is Sparta!” From the movie 300. In it, he is justifying what could be considered an over-reaction by calling on the historically no nonsense Spartan culture. It has spread through the internet mostly as Leonidas’ head super-imposed on unrelated images often with slightly modified versions of the quote.

Meme Anatomy: Iconic Catchphrase, Overreactions, Pop Culture

Urban Dictionary

The greatest cry ever shouted in the history of the universe, only to be shouted directly before delivering a kick to the sternum over a large, seemingly endless pit that has no logical reason for being there but looks really, really, awesome.

Other Sources

Videos: This Is Sparta!

Pictures: This Is Sparta!

Meme Strength

Video Search Results: 29,400 – 4
Photo Search Results: 109,000 – 5
Search Volume: 4,280,000 – 4
Blog Search Results: 206,000 – 4
News Search Results: 10 – 3

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars