The Meme Textbook Part 2: The Language of the Internet | Page 16

Other Rage Faces
fig. 28
fig. 29
fig. 30
16 | Part Two: The Language of the Internet
There are a number of other “Rage Faces” worth
mention, but less prominent than the earliers
mentioned. “Derpina” is the name of the female
“Rage Face.” (Fig. 29) The culture of the inter-
net has been overwhelmingly masculine, regard-
less of the actual statistics, and all “Rage Faces”
are men. “Derpina” uses the same faces, but
she has short brown or black hair and a bow to
denote her gender. “Oh God Why” was created
in 2011, by Funnyjunk user Diamondhead to
convey dramatic disgust or embarrasment. (Fig.
30) A popular meme using this “Rage Face” was
parodying historical events to show retrospec-
tive regret, such as France regretting the trade
deal with the USA to obtain Louisiana. The “Oh
Crap” or “OMG Face” was made in 2009 to rep-
resent a range of emotions from fear to shock.
(Fig. 36) The face became popular in 2011, after
being used frequenly to express the frustration
of video game players that certain consoles, in
this case Playstation 3, had very few good games
upon release. The “NO” face was created in 2010
and peaked in 2012. It represents exaggerated
disaproval. (Fig. 32) A secondary style of “Rage
Faces” is to trace a photograph. The “Yao Ming
Face,” occasionally refered to as “Fuck That Guy”
or “Dumb Bitch” is a “Rage Face” is one of the
most well known of these. It depicts basket-
ball player Yao Ming grinning. (Fig 33 and 34)
The face is most often used to represent laugh-
ing at someone else’s misfortune or being dis-
missive of some request. The “Okay Guy” face
represents dejection and is often captioned with
‘okay.’ (Fig. 35) The face was created in 2009
and in 2011, was popularly used in the advice
animals format, although the traditional four
panel “Rage Comic” was also common. (Fig.
103) There are a number of other “Rage Faces”
not included here due to their lack of history
or prominence. Like “No Me Gusta, there are
also variations upon almost every face, often
representing the antithises of the original face.