Description of meme
Nyan Cat is a YouTube video consisting of a GIF animation of the Nyan Cat and a remix of a Japanese pop song called "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!”. The GIF animation was created and posted by the user “prguitarman”, who’s real name is Christopher Torres, on his website “LOL-comics” on April 2. 2011. The GIF features the Nyan Cat, with a body of a pop-tart flying through space and leaving a rainbow after itself. The remix of the "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!” that is used in the video was posted on the Japanese video sharing service Nico Video on January 30. 2010. YouTube user “saraj00n” uploaded the “Nyan Cat [original]” video on April 5. 2011. Soon after the meme became a viral success. As of November 28. 2013 the video have over 104 millions views. This is the original video posting:When did "Nyan Cat" begin to become popular on the Internet?
Looking at Google trends we see that the Nyan Cat meme became popular over a short timespan from April 2011 to its top peak in June 2011. The video kept a steady popularity until the end of that year. After December 2011, its popularity has been steadily declining, as we see on this graph. But despite the decline, it seems like the meme still have some popularity today.
Why did “Nyan Cat” become popular?
First of all i think it is fair to assume that the video gained a lot of its popularity simply because its annoying and that the idea of a simple animated cat flying through space is funny. I think a great part of what makes the video exciting is the annoying effect it could have on others if the video its played for a long time as a prank or similar. There seems to be several extended versions of the original video posted on the internet, which i assume is made for this purpose. Also the GIF and the song are available for anyone who want to make their own version of it, making it easy to participate and generate new versions of the Nyan Cat, which to some extent also could be a reason the meme generated its popularity as quickly as it did.Other memes that emerged from this or have been influenced by "Nyan Cat":
The Nyan Cat meme has been modified and re-uploaded in numerous of different ways. A simple search for "Nyan Cat" on YouTube gives you 764,000 results. An example of what have come out the original meme is the "Nyan Cat world collection" video which features new versions of the cat:Similar examples include websites like http://www.nyan.cat/ where the point is to watch a version of the Nyan Cat meme as long as possible, and this 8-bit video/music version of the original meme:
Examples that might show the diversity of Nyan Cat memes emergence is this metal cover of the Nyan Cat song here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3_nAzNwyBo, or this smartphone game which is based on the meme https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hu.butcher.nyanCat&hl=en.
Sources:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nyan-cat-pop-tart-cathttp://www.prguitarman.com/index.php?id=348,
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm13455867
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=nyan+cat#q=nyan%20cat&cmpt=q
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