KYM Review: Subcultures of 2014

Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s 2014 State of the Internet series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events, subcultures, sites, apps and people that made their mark online this past year.

lenty of television shows, video games and films gained significance online this year, with many growing substantial fan bases across various community sites.

In film, Star Wars nerds rejoiced with the release of the trailer for the upcoming Disney film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which inspired a slew of parody videos and a photoshop meme mocking the newly revealed crossguard lightsaber. Last year's animated musical Frozen remained culturally relevant with a relentless onslaught of parodies and covers of the film's hit song "Let it Go" by Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

On the video game front, the new releases in the Super Smash Bros. franchise provided a slew of new Internet memes related to game's growing roster of playable characters. Donkey Kong continues to remain an Internet culture staple with this year's resurgence in Lankyposting on 4chan. Meanwhile, Pokémon became the focus of the biggest livestreaming event in history as an estimated 1.16 million people joined together to play a co-op version of the 1996 Gameboy game Pokémon Red on Twitch.

In serials, podcasts made a huge comeback this year, most notably with the juggernaut Serial by the producers of This American Life, which manages to suck in nearly anyone who listens to it like a black hole. In television, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson wowed audiences with their performances in the crime drama series True Detective,

Five Nights at Freddy's

Type: Survival Horror Game Profile: Players assume the role of an underpaid nighttime security guard at a pizza restaurant inhabited by homicidal animatronic animals in this point-and-click single player video game.. Highlights: After a successful release on Valve's Steam distribution service in August, the sequel Five Nights at Freddy's II was released on the platform in November. Figures: On Steam, the original Five Nights at Freddy's is averaging at 257 concurrent players and the sequel is averaging at 379 players. (SteamCharts)

Goats

Type: Animal Profile: These domesticated mammals managed to bleat out the rest as the year's most discussed animal online. Highlights: Goats were the protagonists of several video games, including Let it Goat, Goat Simulator and Goat MMO Simulator. Australian comedian James Dezamaulds gained online fame with his pet Gary the Goat and, sadly, this year marked the passing of the beloved baby snow goat Frostie from the Australian Edgar Mission Farm Sanctuary. Figures: February this year marked the highest Google Trends spike in searches for the keyword "goat," correlating with the release of Goat Simulator.

Bitcoin

Type: Cryptocurrency Profile: A virtual currency treated like cash that is regulated by a peer-to-peer network. Highlights: This year bitcoin got off to a rough start with the controversial shutdown of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, in which 744,000 bitcoins went missing. Additionally, a slew of new altcoins hit the market, many of which referenced various inside jokes and Internet memes, including Coinye, Dogecoin, RonPaulCoin and NyanCoin. Figures: As of December 16th, 2014, bitcoins are valued at $335.63 with a market cap of $4,569,363,230.

Feminism

Type: Socio-political Movement Profile: Feminism centers around improving the living standards and cultural opinion of women through a variety of means. Highlights: Feminism was a hot-button topic this year in the online gender war, with battles being waged against the manosphere, men's rights activists, GamerGate and self-proclaimed "equity" feminist Christina Hoff Sommers. Time magazine initially included "feminism" in its annual word banishment poll but removed it after a substantial backlash. Figures: 2014 saw a significant upswing in Google searches for the keyword "feminist".

Key and Peele

Type: Television Series Profile: The sketch comedy show stars comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Highlights: Numerous Key and Peele skits have been widely circulated on sites like Reddit, many of which have gained millions of views. Additionally, the show developed notable fan communities on DeviantArt and Tumblr. Figures: The Comedy Central "Key and Peele" YouTube playlist has accumulated upwards of 47 million views.

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