Row Row Fight the Powah

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurren_Lagann http://encyclopediadramatica.com/ROW_ROW_FIGHT_THE_POWAH http://macrochan.org/search.php?tags=ROW+ROW+FIGHT+THE+POWAH

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2009-07-27T21:18:06Z

Tengen toppa Gurren Lagann anime serie & 4chan

2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= active catchphrase, japan, 4chan, music, row row

Row Row Fight the Powah <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nR4esFv3LJ4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nR4esFv3LJ4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <h2>Origin</h2> The “Row Row Fight The Powah” catchphrase is the altered line of the “Raw Raw Fight The Power” lyric and can be initially found in three differents songs, all from the same anime: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PUB0QS?ie=UTF8&tag=rocketboom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000PUB0QSI">Tengen toppa Gurren Lagann</a>. - “Libera Me” From Hell, see the video above, which is the original song. - 2 versions of the anime soundtrack called “Rap wa Kan no Tamashii da! Muri wo Toushite Douri wo Kettobasu! Ore Tachi dai Gurren Dan no Theme wo Mimi no Ana Kappo Jitte yo” First one here: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wxX3JkGHmDI&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wxX3JkGHmDI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Second one there (IWASAKI TAROU REMIX): <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ragg5HmQ2CE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ragg5HmQ2CE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Here are the catchy lyrics: DO THE IMPOSSIBLE SEE THE INVISIBLE ROW! ROW! FIGHT THE POWER! TOUCH THE UNTOUCHABLE BREAK THE UNBREAKABLE ROW! ROW! FIGHT THE POWER! <h2>Context of meme</h2> The followings informations come mainly from Encyclopedia Dramatica. I’ll sum it up as worthwhile as I can. On september 10th, 2008, it was the day that the <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/large-hadron-collider" title="LHC">Large Hadron Collider</a> was to be fired up. As a result, Moot, beloved (ahem) 4chan creator, décided to make fun of all the fear surrounding media, about the possibility for the LHC to generate small black holes that could end all life on earth. He renamed the board Positron Uprising with a direct link to the single service website <a href="http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/">http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/</a> and he word-filtered everything that could be written on /b/ by “Row Row Fight the Powah” while the Iwasaki Tarou remix version of the music from The Tengen toppa Gurren Lagann series was playing endlessly in the background. <img src=":http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/1/1c/Rowrowrandom.jpg" alt="" /> Moreover, a website named <a href="http://www.rowrowfightthepowah.com/">http://www.rowrowfightthepowah.com/</a> was even created and was used to redirect to some obscure forums but it eventually went down. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fig%2Fmodules%2Fgoogle_insightsforsearch_interestovertime_searchterms.xml&up__property=empty&up__search_terms=row+row+fight+the+powah%7Crow+row+fight+the+power&up__location=empty&up__category=0&up__time_range=empty&up__compare_to_category=false&synd=ig&w=600&h=350&lang=en-US&title=Google+Insights+for+Search&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js"></script><h2>Consequences and Evolution</h2> This “meme” wasn’t really welcome by /b/tards. The constant stream of the same catchphrase eventually broke down /b/ and /b/tards spread to all the others 4chan boards. Needless to say, it became… nasty. But, in the meantime, it allowed variations to follow and spread too. The first one was the /v/ retaliation or V-rage: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xSBSxZzRfyE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xSBSxZzRfyE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> An awesomely funny webcomic was made by an anonymous, soon followed by flash animations depicting the civil war that occured between the /v/ board and /b/. The webcomic is available there: <a href="http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Rage">http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Rage</a> Then, it combined itself with other memes such as demotivational: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TSkLGakP5wI&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TSkLGakP5wI&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qAzCbQADOis&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qAzCbQADOis&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Or even Boxxy: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZG-7QR1JHxU&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZG-7QR1JHxU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Behold, the remix of the remix ! <a href="http://static.4chan.org/flash/b/redux.mp3">http://static.4chan.org/flash/b/redux.mp3</a> The meme also reached YTMND the same day it took off from 4chan, although it didn’t gather as much views: <ul> <li><a href="http://rowrowfightthepower.ytmnd.com/">http://rowrowfightthepower.ytmnd.com/</a></li> </ul> <ul> <li><a href="http://rowrowfightthepowah.ytmnd.com/">http://rowrowfightthepowah.ytmnd.com/</a></li> </ul> <h2>Going Mainstream</h2> January 2009, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph held an online competition to design the new Union Jack for their flag, after a controversy about the Welsh Dragon requested into the design. Partyvan.info was the winner, presenting a flaming skull with Gurren Lagann sunglasses logo. It was also entitled: “It’s about doing the impossible and fighting the power.” <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1572168/The-new-face-of-Britain-Flag-poll-results.html">Britain flag poll</a> <h2>Today’s Evolution</h2> Recently, a new trend involving the “Row row fight the powah” line started appearing on internet and consisted in adding the <a href="http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/832/1188233739594rc1.png">Kamina’s sunglasses</a> (Kamina is the main character’s “big brother” in the serie) in drawn pictures or altered photographs: <img src="http://th05.deviantart.net/fs40/300W/f/2009/028/b/6/Row_row_fight_the_Twilight_by_Habimaru.png" alt="" /> All these images are titled with the “Row row fight the powah” catchphrase.

2009-11-07T04:13:23Z

555

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