One Does Not Simply
In 2001, The Fellowship of The Ring, the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was released. In the scene, the main characters are deciding how to destroy the Ring of Sauron and they come to the conclusion that it must be destroyed in the the volcano Mount Doom. Boromir points out the difficultly of the task by saying,“ One does not simply walk into Mordor.”( Fig. 29) This became a meme in 2004 when people began to parody the ways in which someone could enter Mordor, such as“ one does not simply drive into mordor” with a photoshopped image of Boromir in a car. Puns and rhymes also were very popular, such as“ rock into Mordor” or“ wok into Mordor” each with accompanying photoshops to land the joke. As the meme evolved, most remained with the screen capture of the film and the lolcatz style top and bottom text. Most retained the first part of the line but then would replace the later half with some other task, such as“ eat one tic tac.” Although this meme has not been popular since the early 2000s, the Disney Channel show Gravity Falls referenced it in 2015.( Fig. 30)
Navy Seal Copypasta
Also known as“ Marine Copypasta,”“ Internet Tough Guy Copypasta” and“ Gorrila Warfare Copypasta,” the“ Navy Seal Copypasta” first originated in 2010 on 4chan.( Fig. 28) It was a long paragraph filled with grandiose threats in a clear‘ tough guy’ front. This became a meme because of how exaggerated it is and was often used as a reply to a minor inconvenience or slight insult. Copypasta is slang for‘ copy paste’ and is a well known format for copying some text and distributing it in various places. They often become memes. Another subsection of copypastas are creepypastas, which are a modernization of horror based urban legends. This meme has been dramatically read and sung, as well as adapted to fit a number of other memes and fandoms, such as a version where all vernacular is‘ pirate speak’. Although no longer popular, this meme enjoys sporadic resurgences, usually when other memes are being combined.( Fig. 32)
Orly
“ Orly,” slang for‘ oh really’ is a part of lolspeak, originating in 2003. There is implied sarcasm in the phrase. Most frequently, this phrase would be paired with an image of an owl, often looking‘ surprised.’( Fig. 31) Variations included puns and rhymes regarding‘ orly’ such as‘ surreally’ with a photoshopped Dali moustache. This meme became unpopular after 2005.
Chuck Norris Facts
After the release of the movie The Pacifier, starring Vin Diesel, in 2005 the SomethingAwful forums created a“ Vin Diesel facts page” where people would make up exaggerated facts, parodying the ridiculousness of the premise of The Pacifier. Ian Spector created a website that would generate these facts, as well as allow for user submitted ones. As this meme peaked, Spector created a poll requesting the next generated celebrity. Chuck Norris won, even though he was a write in. As a result, Chuck Norris facts became a meme. The premise is the reversal of reality or the impossible made feasible. For example,“ some people sell their souls to the devil, the devil sold his to Chuck Norris.” These memes spanned traditional masculine values from strength, endurance, and attitude to any abstraction that would yield Norris being considered awesome. Chuck Norris has even acknowledged the meme saying his favorite was“ they wanted to add his face to Mount Rushmore, but the granite is not hard enough for his beard.” This meme has not been popular since the mid 2000s.
16 | Part One: Early Memes