Taylor and Smudge Forever: How "Woman Yelling at a Cat" Exemplified Being Online in 2019

Editor's Note: This editorial first appeared in the February 2020 issue of Meme Insider. To subscribe to Meme Insider, please visit MemeInsider.com

If boiled down to its base elements, the internet would be nothing but a collection of arguments about video games and pictures of cats. Strangely enough, these two things that the internet loves the most couldn't be more diametrically opposed. Arguing about inane things, such as Star Wars or if hot dogs are sandwiches, fuels the internet's vast troves of message boards and social media sites with clicks, karma and likes. Likewise, the peaceful serenity and general mystery of cats receive similar reactions, garnering praise from across the spectrum--everyone likes a cat video. Together, online arguments and cats combine to form a sort of online yin and yang, ironically depicted in 2019's biggest meme: "Woman Yelling at a Cat."

Cats have a long history of online usage, whether they’re Grumpy, a monorail or playing the keyboard. In a 2018 video, the New York Times' Amanda Hess said of internet cats, "Cat videos are so popular on the internet that they have become universal shorthand for the internet itself. They are the mascots of being online." This still holds true today.
Way back in the mid-to-late 2000s, cats wanting cheeseburgers were a nearly ubiquitous meme, and we've barely evolved from there. Your 2008 tabby cat may want a burger, but a 2019 maine coon can have a little salami. The year prior, felines everywhere pleaded the loops, brother. Something about a cat's expressionless stare warrants giving it people food, even though cats show almost no interest in their owner's dinner plates.

Part of the entertainment value offered by internet cats is in how they are interpreted, making a game out of trying to understand what they are doing and why. Compared to their canine counterparts, cats offer no real clues to their thinking. Most of their actions consist of pausing, staring and licking, so humans often fill in the gaps and project their feelings onto them. Grumpy Cat isn't actually grumpy, but she certainly looks it. Therefore, when you get a work email at 5 pm on a Friday, it’s the perfect meme for expressing frustration. Since we cannot control cats, we attempt to ascribe meaning to their actions, asserting our power any way we can. They're our pets, after all, right?

However, 2019 signaled a turning point for cats online. Two major icons of the internet pet world sadly passed this year: Grumpy Cat and Little Bubs. The passing of arguably the two most famous internet cats seemed to mark the end of a more innocent era of internet meme-ing, a sign of the times that the party might be over. As Hess points out in the aforementioned video, people had already begun turning their attention to dogs, rating them, loving them and enjoying them. But the cat would have the last laugh. Slowly but surely, one meme stayed relevant throughout a good portion of 2019: "Woman Yelling at a Cat."

Few memes exemplify the futile efforts to control the cat quite like "Woman Yelling at a Cat." The composite two-panel image macro features the Real Housewife of Beverly Hills cast member Taylor Armstrong screaming at the adorable cat Smudge seated before a plate of salad. Here we have a representation of what it means to be in an argument online: Passionate screaming that's falling on deaf ears. At different times, everyone has either been Taylor and Smudge, arguing one point or another against someone who simply does not care and vice versa. While it always feels better to be Smudge, there's no doubt that we understand the anger of being dismissed.

Many internet memes highlight the cultural mood of being online. The more popular the meme, the more people feel connected to a particular emotion. In 2017, one year after the 2016 presidential election, the internet tore itself apart in partisan fights about politics. At this time, many latched onto "Distracted Boyfriend," which shows people turning their attention from what they currently have to what they perceive as a superior alternative. A little over a year later, at the end of the decade, few memes could sum up the collective experience of being online quite like "Woman Yelling at a Cat." "Distracted Boyfriend" may have shown us the search for something better, but in 2019, we're perfectly suited to sit there and take it, like Smudge. There's a tinge of confusion in Smudge's expression as if to say, does anyone know what this person is screaming about? Exhausted by a decade of heaviness, does anyone get what we're even screaming about anymore? Anyone who's logged into Twitter or Reddit in the back half of the decade could relate.

But there's also a confidence in Smudge that people connect with. The cat's undeterred look in the face of pure and righteous anger exemplifies the confidence that many have in their online personality. While in the days of the early internet, people were warned against sharing, these days people share far too much and don’t care who knows it. Furries may have been the object of internet mockery in the early days, but now the lifestyle is more or less commonplace online, even accepted and respected. Take the screaming long enough, and it all just turns into noise.

As we entered 2020, "Woman Yelling at a Cat" summed up the decade online better than just about any other. From the futile experience of attempting to change someone's mind to the confidence of dismissing one's screaming through outright confusion, Taylor and Smudge represent both sides of the coin. It's the capper to a decade taken over by memes and one that continues to sit there with a plate of salad, wondering what everyone is screaming about.