Gone are the days when memes were unfamiliar, foreign concepts. Now, the images, gifs, videos, or pieces of text that make us laugh are shared and reinvented incessantly. Even more interesting than their ability to make us chuckle is the information that memes reveal about our society at this point in time. These funny cultural elements can communicate a lot about us considering that they represent what we collectively talked about or found humorous. This means that these 16 memes from 2016 can shed some light on what kind of year 2016 was and how the mood of this year might have changed.
1. If a Dog Wore Pants
This innocent meme from early 2016 stumped thousands, perhaps even millions. It was the talk of my entire school when we got back from winter break as this lighthearted image provided the kind of wholesome humor we needed to keep us going. There is still no definitive answer to this question; as a matter of fact, this meme only provided a starting point for many to question how other entities (i.e. trees, snakes, and even other pairs of pants) would wear pants.
2. Dat Boi
Dat Boi is possibly one of the most strange, random memes of our time. This poorly animated frog, affectionately called Dat Boi, gained widespread popularity in 2016 for a variety of reasons. Although Dat Boi is a rather mysterious meme, between the frog's neutral expression, the retro unicycling animation, and his nickname and accompanying tagline ("Here come Dat Boi!"), it is easy to see why this meme has managed to entertain so many. The spirit of welcoming and simplicity that this meme provides is representative of the pure humor that kicked off the year. Unfortunately, 2016's mild beginning did not last.
3. Petty Skai Jackson
Skai Jackson initially posted this picture of herself waiting in the green room before she appeared on Good Day New York. Not long after, the image was circulating on Twitter and being paired with notably petty situations or dialogue. To some, her soft smile may not seem petty in the least, but her expression, hand placement, and posture in this photo have made Skai Jackson an icon of pettiness, which became a theme of 2016 fairly early in the year. Iterations of this reaction meme are still being made, which only goes to show what a large role that acts of pettiness have played in 2016.
4. Blurry Mr. Krabs
Similar to pettiness, confusion was a major theme of 2016. This image of a confused Mr. Krabs looking around at his spinning surroundings has been coupled with funny, relatable scenarios that may cause panic or confusion. Some examples are as follows: When you just woke up from a nap and your parents already yelling at you; When you send the screenshot to the person you was tryna talk about; When you filling the chipotle water cup up with Sprite and one of the employees come to restock the napkins & forks.
5. Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer
The mock conspiracy theory that Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified serial killer who claimed to have killed 37 people in the late 1960s and early 1970s, grew in popularity in March of 2016. Considering that Cruz wasn't born until 1970, it is obvious that the memes are not based on truth, but the ridiculousness of this theory is the reason that it has been spread as quickly and consistently as it has. This Ted Cruz meme was only the start of many political jokes that peaked in popularity due to the 2016 presidential election.
6. Crying Michael Jordan
During his 2009 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Michael Jordan cried repeatedly, and the photos taken at that event were, of course, made into a meme. Although this meme wasn't originally made in 2016, it was recreated and shared more than ever this year. Michael Jordan's crying face has been cut out and photoshopped onto other people to convey extreme sadness, especially in the realm of professional sports. The viral meme even managed to catch the attention of Michael Jordan himself, who has said that he is fine with the meme so long as it is used only for entertainment rather than commercial gain.
7. *Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame*
This meme plays on a common trope seen in movies or TV shows in which a character will narrate his or her current situation following the sound of a record scratch and an accompanying freeze frame. Many different pictures have been used to accompany the caption, which almost always reads, "Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation." The images used for this meme often show someone in an extremely uncomfortable or bizarre situation.
8. SpongeGar
This still from a 1999 episode of SpongeBob SquarePants has amassed great popularity this year. The image is often paired with a caption establishing a situation that would evoke an angry, instinctive, or primal reaction. Examples of accompanying captions are as follows: When you're home alone and hear a noise downstairs; When your friend is about to pick you up and you can't find your wallet; When someone asks to use your computer and you haven't cleared your history. The reason that this meme became popular in 2016 is clear; as we all know, many things have occurred this year that have inspired extremely impulsive or visceral reactions.
9. Phelps Face
This picture of Michael Phelps wearing an intensely angry expression reached meme status in the midst of the Rio games. The meme was somewhat short-lived, but this image of the gold medalist was edited, shared, and captioned frantically during the summer Olympics. This meme serves as yet another reminder of the frustration we all seemed to feel at some point during 2016.
10. Harambe
As you probably know, we suffered a great loss this past May when Harambe the gorilla was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo because a child fell into his enclosure. Critiques of the zoo and the child's parents were serious at first, but grieving Harambe became a major facet of internet humor over the summer of 2016. It seems as though Harambe memes, unlike the gorilla himself, will never die.
11. The Arthur Fist
The above screengrab of a cartoon fist is from the kids' cartoon show Arthur. During the summer of 2016, this image was paired with captions describing irritating or trying circumstances. The Arthur fist continues to be edited and shared through several social media platforms; its steady popularity speaks to the increasingly angry nature of 2016.
12. Confused Math Lady
The original photos from this meme were taken from the Brazilian telenovela "Senhora de Destino." As seen above, the image was enhanced with mathematical equations to more accurately express our collective state of confusion. To represent their attempts to put together how exactly 2016 could actually turn out the way it had, internet users took to their computers and began posting this meme, often adding to it a caption detailing a difficult predicament resulting in the kind of puzzlement that has come to characterize 2016.
13. Conceited Reaction Meme
The image contained in this meme is a still from a video of rapper Conceited pursing his lips and rolling his eyes in disapproval during a 2013 rap battle with Jesse James. The original Conceited meme addressed the disparity between the way one looks in the mirror and the way the same person looks in a picture taken by the iPhone camera. In 2016, close-ups of Conceited have become popular reaction images used to express unwillingness, as in the meme above, or disagreement.
14. Obama and Biden
Around the time of the 2016 presidential election, America was forced to accept that this dynamic duo would no longer be in the White House. Cute pictures capturing Biden and Obama's friendship have been paired with funny captions to distract us from the fact that we'll soon have to say goodbye to this lovable pair of bros. While many of its iterations poke fun at President-elect Donald Trump by suggesting that Joe Biden would play some sort of prank on him, the Obama/Biden meme often utilizes the affectionate relationship between the POTUS and his VP to bring joy to the United States.
15. Evil Kermit
This is perhaps one of the most sensationalistic memes of the year; if you have access to the internet, you were probably drowning in evil Kermit memes by the end of 2016. At the heart of this meme is the screenshot from Muppets Most Wanted that features Kermit and his look-alike, who is cloaked in a dark hood and tells Kermit to do bad things. In the final few months of 2016, people have been using the image to represent the two lines of thought, one logical and beneficial and the other imprudent and overly indulgent, that dominate a person's mind in certain situations. Just when someone is starting to turn her life around, for example, the evil Kermit within will probably tell her to skip class or spend all of her savings online shopping.
16. Honey Bun Baby
This adorable reaction meme was likely created in response to all of the anger, hurt, and negativity seen in so many of 2016's earlier memes. Instead of conveying a negative response to any number of circumstances, internet users have paired adorable pictures of now 22-month-old Ashton Howell, or Honey Bun Baby, with different captions to show that positivity still exists. You will struggle to find a meme as pure and uplifting as Honey Bun Baby; his smiling face is the perfect reminder that there is always something to be happy about.
In conclusion...
In reviewing this year's most celebrated memes, I have been reminded of the good and bad elements of 2016. Yes, we all got a little bit frustrated or perplexed or downhearted this year. However, we haven't let that stop us from seeing 2016 through to the end. The newest meme that's gaining traction is one about being destroyed after 2016, and although it's just a silly meme, I have to resist that in some way. So many amazing things happened in 2016, and we shouldn't let a dark shadow be cast over the births, first steps, graduations, weddings, friends, loved ones, and smiles that acted as points of light for 2016. And even if this year was a complete mess with no redeeming qualities, 2016 is ending while we get to keep moving forward towards another year of laughter.
