Philosoraptor
Why is Philosoraptor so iconic?
The meme I have chosen to analyze is the Philosoraptor. This meme displays a picture of a velociraptor deep in thought, like he is a philosopher from far back in history, like Plato or Aristotle. Philosoraptor began as a t-shirt logo back in 2008, when a guy named Sam Smith decided to model a shirt after his friend Devin, a philosophy major who always made this type of expression. Philosophers are known for challenging the general trivial facts of our society, and turning them on their head to be seen as a deeper concept. It triggers you to think outside of the box, which is something the internet is utterly obsessed with doing.
When considering the different characteristics of the meme, it can be a very versatile photo. Philosoraptor has a strong sense of Fidelity, because it is relatable and catches your eye when scrolling. This meme immediately hooks people because it is a recognizable photo, which can be used for many different captions. The more people began to be drawn to the meme, the more versions were made that worked in every aspect. This gave the meme its sense of Fecundity. People were able to alter the meme however they pleased, whether it is putting different objects on the raptor, and a wide variety of captions. This is common for most of the original memes of that time, a common photo with a white caption. The creativity of the internet community made this meme go viral, with many different ways of looking at it. This eventually led to the Longevity of the meme, which is the last on the list in Richard Dawkin’s three essential meme characteristics. The more people share this meme, the different audiences continue to make new captions and edits which are relatable to a wider audience. There are a lot of questionable things in society which continue to surface, and this meme suits current events perfectly. Whether it has to do with politics, sports, pop culture, and so much more, this meme can never die because society is always willing to see things in different ways.
I remember the first time I ever saw this meme on twitter. I originally saw it with the caption of “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it, does a hipster buy its album?”. This caption was extremely relevant at the time, when I was in middle school, being a hipster was all the rage. Hipsters are known for doing the unknown, and trying their hardest to do things of the grid, while bragging about how removed they are. It is taking a commonly known philosophy question for discussion, and turning it into a trivial stance on relevant pop culture issues. This shows the pure humor emitted from this meme, since it is targeting an internet social group who has a strong identity and relevance. Hipsters love to be recognized online, and other members love to make fun of them, this is the type of win-win quality which makes a meme so popular.
One version of the meme which shows the example of how it displays intertextuality is one that says “if God created the sun on the fourth day, how had four days passed?”. Not only is this version funny, but it also shows how society shares a general knowledge of religious beliefs, and it actually gets the audience thinking. This meme has been involved in lots of juxtaposition as well, with people modifying the background of the meme, and placing the philosoraptor in different locations, changing the context or meaning. According to an article by Kate Brideau,(1) philosoraptor has stayed generally stable when it comes to changing memes. The only changes made have been slight changes to the dinosaur, and addition of some props. The reason this meme has stayed relevant for so long has a lot to do with its political contributions, whether it is commenting on the election or on current events. They keep coming back because of user-generated content, according to an article by Benita Heiskanen. Memes played a bigger role than ever in the most recent presidential election, and that just shows the level of importance they have reached.
The most fascinating part of the epidemic of this meme is that it represents how fast things spread in todays society. In this digital world, everything is expressed through internet humor. In an article by Renee Goh she says that “Situated as frivolous internet jokes, memes may seem to bear no harm or danger.”(3) However we are still not sure whether means will have a harmful effect in the future.
- Brideau, Kate, and Charles Berret. “A Brief Introduction to Impact: ‘The Meme Font.’” Journal of Visual Culture 13, no. 3 (2014): 307–13.
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1470412914544515.“Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720,” n.d. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f
- “Figure 2f from: Groom Q (2014) The Distribution of the Vascular Plants on the North Frisian Island, Amrum. Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e1108. https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.2.e1108,” n.d. https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.2.e1108.figure2f.
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