The Meme Textbook Part 2: The Language of the Internet | Page 20

Advice Animals
The first “Advice Animal” was “Advice Dog”
which was created in 2006. The premise for
this meme was giving humorously bad advice,
because of the contradiction between the
happy puppy face and the actual text. (Fig. 44)
“Advice Dog” ushered in the new format for
memes. The format is a usually square image
with a cropped face in the center with radi-
ating lines of specific colors. There is top and
bottom text in the typeface Impact, and it was
often white text with a small stroke. Humor at
this time was mostly based in irony, with the
punchline being the opposite of anticipated.
The “Advice Animals” meme has collided often
with lolcats since they began around the same
time. “Anxiety Cat” and “Science Cat” are exam-
ples of these. (see page 6) “Business Cat” meme
which was created in 2011 and is an image
of a cat in a tie. This meme usually revolved
around puns involving cats and business. (Fig.
46) There were a number of other animal
related “Advice Animals.” “Unpopular Opinion
Puffin” was an image of a puffin walking with
text about unpopular opinions. “Bad Joke Eel”
was an image of an eel with corny, usually fish
or water based, jokes. “Religion Pigeon” sati-
rized religious beliefs, such as ‘love thy neigh-
bor, unless gay.’ “Confession Bear” is an image
of a Malayan sun bear, paired with text about
guilty pleasures, taboo behaviors, and contro-
versial opinions. “Confession Tiger” appeared
in 2012 as an opposing meme to “Confession
Bear.” The focus of the text was usually about
the tiger’s jealousy of the bear. Another vari-
any, appearing in 2013, was “Confession Kid,”
whose text would be about dumb things the
creator of the meme did as a child. “Art Student
Owl” was created in 2011 and was an image
of an owl with a photoshopped cigarette in its
mouth. The text parodied the pretentiousness of
some art students and in jokes of art students,
20 | Part Two: The Language of the Internet
like the amount of time devoted to a drawing or
being awkward around nude models. A varient
of this meme was the “Art Newbie Owl” which
conveyed the naivety and innocence of young
art students. (Fig. 49) “Insanity Wolf ” was an
image of a snarling wolf with text about exag-
gerated and aggressive actions. However, rape
jokes were a common effect within this meme.
The “Advice Animals” meme was actually not
always images of animals. There was a subsection
of the meme that would use a full image of a
person, rather than a cut out face over radiating
lines. A well known example is “Sudden Clarity
Clarence” which was an a photo of a surprised
looking guy in a crowd of people. (Fig. 47)
His expression looks as though he just realized
something amazing and that is what the meme
capitalized on. “Scumbag Steve” was a meme of
a man with a fur coat and tilted hat whose text
would be examples of rude behavior this inter-
net invented character would do. (Fig. 45) The
hat in the image was later used in memes with
the understanding of its original context of rep-
resenting a scumbag. The person in both of these
memes have aknowledged them and both have
made peace with their unintended internet fame.
A number of other memes followed the “Advice
Animals” format although they were not neces-
sarily animals. “Philosoraptor” was an illustration
of a velosoraptor with a contemplative expres-
sion created in 2008. The meme would include
text with philosophical questions, especially par-
idoxical ones. (Fig. 48) “Condescending Wonka”
was a screen capture of Willy Wonka, portrayed
by Gene Wilder, in the 1971 movie Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory resting his
face on his hand. The meme was used to make
fun of other people and situations. (Fig. 50) The
“Advice Animals” meme faded in 2013 as new
meme formats became popular and the comedic
sensibilities of the internet continued to abstract.