"Y U
NO" Guy
Origin
The "Y U NO" Guy meme became popular in 2010, making its
first appearance from the Tumblr platform.
This is the original file that became popular:
The origin of the "Y U NO" Guy is from a 2002 Japanese
Carton, Gantz' Chapter 55: Naked
King. The cartoon was translated into
English in 2009 (Ko). This is the
English-translated comic that was used to create the "Y U NO" Guy:
(images from Ko)
The file was first circulated on the 4chan imageboards and then later
became a viral hit when it was used through the MemeGenerator website, allowing
for easy reinvention. The format for the
meme was the top would have a subject noun and below would say, "Y U NO
(verb)," or "Y (verb)." Below
are a few examples:
(images from MemeGenerator)
Popularity
"Y U NO" Guy was popular in 4chan imageboards, but when
MemeGenerator became the format for the meme, the easy reinventability made the
meme a participatory publication; allowing anyone to publish it. I believe this meme became popular because it
was very editable and the meme targets problems that the majority of people
encounter and asks why. As seen in the
examples of the more popular "Y U NO" Guy memes above, the subject/noun is usually something that a
large group or majority group in has previous knowledge context of, and the verb or "Y U NO" statement is
the criticism that is typically focused on that individual/group/issue/item. The image shows an expression of rage and frustration. The image sets up the criticism to be loud
and angry.
According to Google Insights, "Y U NO" Guy started
trending in August of 2010 and peaked in December 2011. The graph also showed that the "Y U NO" Guy was mostly used in the US and UK, but from my experience using MemeGenerator, it seems to have influence in other countries such as Spain, Germany, and Russia also. The trending statistics show a sharp rise and
now a steady decline.
(image from Google Insights)
Why is it popular?
From my exposure to the "Y U NO" Guy memes, it seems to
me that the reason why the "Y U NO" Guy meme became so popular is
that allows a humorous platform to criticize products/issues/people/organizations. These are criticisms that many
consumers/participants have, but probably can't voice out loud, but the "Y
U NO" Guy meme enables a humorous voice.
Also, because the meme isn't necessarily related to any specific topic
or issue, the "Y U NO" Guy meme can be used to criticize anything by
anyone; as seen by the random topics in the memes above. I chose the "Y U NO" Guy meme
because I have encountered the meme in many different places online and didn't
know the origin behind it.
Influences
The "Y U NO" Guy meme is also part of a group of memes
known as the "Rage comics." This
group includes Cereal Guy, Okay Guy, Forever Alone, PFFFFT, Troll face, Me
Gusta and more (Arandilla).
(image from Arandilla)
Works
Cited
Arandilla,
Rachel. "The Power of Internet Memes and a lot of Fun Along the Way."
Social Meda, Web Design. Accessed November 18, 2013. http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/power-internet-memes/
Ko,
I really want. "'Y U NO' Guy." Know
Your Meme. Cheezburger. Accessed
November 18, 2013. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/y-u-no-guy
Maria,
Jakub. "'Y U NO' Guy meme - meaning and origin. Accessed November 18, 2013. http://jakubmarian.com/y-u-no-guy-meme-meaning-and-origin/
"Y
U No." MemeGenerator. Accessed
November 18, 2013. http://memegenerator.net/y-u-no/
No comments:
Post a Comment