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