Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

I'm writing this thread because I can foresee it coming in the near future.
For those of you who watched the last Nostalgia Critic's episode (Hello Adam) about that horrendous but enjoyable movie "Double Team", Doug explicitely says, I quote:

I'm not really fond of starting an internet meme but it HAS to be an internet meme. Okay, first we had Jumping The Shark, then Nuking The Fridge, now we have "Frying the Coke"

because of the end scene where the characters are hiding behind a coke machine to save them from a huge explosion.

If people are jumping on it, Doug basically killed a potential meme at birth by saying this, contrary to Bat Credit Card or even "I was frozen today" which was kind of not really explicit.

On the other hand, there is maybe something to say about the "Nuking The Fridge" idiom, thanks to Indiana Jones 4.
Food for thoughts.

I love the Critic and all, but he does have a tendency to do this occasionally. Like the "minion eating popcorn" from Free Willy.

But hey! At least he's not the Amazing Atheist.

To be honest that would be a decent meme! I would of use that scene and use a face mask of Santa (Coca Cola ad) on Dennis Rodman; making a .gif … but I'm not going to be suckered in to all that. If somebody did displaying the "meme" on this site, they're idiots. Because Frying the Coke is a fake meme.

As seen in the comment section and all, NC's fans are starting to make a very few pictures, a wikipedia page and a single-serving website about it.
They are forcing it way too hard for what it is.

No Tomberry, you are absolutely wrong. Doug DOES NOT explicitly state that. The correct (and much differently toned) quote is:

"I'm not usually aware when I'm starting an internet meme, but by go- This has to be an internet meme! It is far to good! OKay, there was Jumping the Shark, Nuking the Fridge… Ladies and gentlemen, this is Frying the Coke!"

Paraphrasing is okay, (not that you got his tone well anyway) but if you claim that he explicitly says, and that you're quoting, it better be the actual quote.

Words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words words.

Ladies and gentlemen,… I made a post.

You can now give me all the negative karma you want.

Whatever.
"This has to be an internet meme!" still stands as ruining it at birth, no matter what.

Agreed. Just because some idiot says something is a meme, does not make it so.

oh man, i don't like myself for it, but it made my blood boil when he did this for a couple of reasons; one, his stupid little jokes are not fucking memes, just because his pathetic little sheep post it in their forum doesn't mean that they are fuckig memes. not once have i ever seen "jumping the shark" or "nuking the fridge" ANYWHERE
also, pretty much what everyone else has said about it being a forced meme etc. it's just dumb and isn't a meme.
oh and the fact that he tries to make out that he "isn't aware that he is making memes". what bullshit, if that were the case why does he use it at every available oppurtunity, they are so forced it's painful.

siiiiiiiiiiigh i take this internet shit way too seriously…

He iddn't invent Jumping the Shark on Nuking the Fridge. Those, especially Jumping the shark, have existed for quite a while. Heck, jumping the shark isn't even an online term, it's just a phrase. One that has it's own wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
If you have never heard of it, well, that's quite bizarre.

I was unaware memes could be aborted.

I recently watched the Double Team episode, and I can certainly understand why he wanted this to become a meme. It was a amazing moment. Truly awesome. It's still not a meme, but I can see why he felt it had to be.

I don't think Frying the Coke even has any potential to be a meme in the first place. It just doesn't sound like a meme at all. Just listen to yourself when you say it, it doesn't have any humorous qualities to it. It doesn't even sound funny. In fact his quote "Best Death Eva!" has more potential to be a meme than "Frying the Coke." Even if he did kill it immediately by saying that it had to be a meme, I don't think it would have made any difference at all. Either way it was going to end up Deadpooled.

I knew when NC said Frying the Coke, that some idiots would try to force it.

Actually I didn't watch that episode. I only watch his episodes if they're something that I've heard of and I never even heard of Double Team. And seriously Tomberry, stop thinking that the Nostalgia Critic kills memes at birth.

Shut up Adam.

It was never born, he's trying to force a meme. It isn't a meme because people are just doing what he said because he told them to.

Where you there when we had the great "Whose Responsible This" astroturf?
It's basically the same thing. By stating that something should be a meme, he killed it, because he somewhat told his fans to make it a meme. Even if it wasn't considered THAT explicit, he did it.
And now what?
Results for "Frying the Coke" return 2 pictures, which one was already in the video to begin with, several forcing attempts on Funny Junk, a total of 7 videos on Youtube, with viewcounts not going as far as 5 000 views, an attempt at a Wikipedia article which got deleted, same for TvTrope article, and some Facebook pages. There is also a nice single-serving site but still…

And we are here, 10 days after the initial NC review. I haven't even seen "Frying the Coke" used in discussions to show when a explosion scene is going too over-the-top.
The potential meme has been forced and failed, in my opinion.

To build on what Tomberry said, here's this video.

Well first, I wasn't here during the Whose Responisble This fiasco. Second, you seem to realize that many other NC based memes are really popular such as I Was Frozen Today and Bat Credit Card. Third, do you seriously hate me? You always seem to have a grudge against me. Is it really true that French people hate Americans?

I hate everyone but myself.
However, I don't see how I was even showing hate to you in my previous post.
If I sounded rude, I'm sorry, but it was just a sum up of what we have got so far with "Frying the Coke" so please, stop thinking you are always the target of people here. You might have been the target before because of your obnoxious behavior at one point, but it's over now… I think.

Anyway, Bat Credit Card works better because he didn't say that it should be a meme, so there is no real backslash here. "I Was Frozen Today" is on a fence, and seems a little dead now.

Another reason why Bat Credit Card worked was because he wasn't aware that he was creating an internet meme. Internet memes have to be accidental, even in the case of Fuck Yeah Seaking.

I hate how everyone is so damn focused on shooting it down, based solely on the fact that other people want to start it. For fucks sake, let it grow and see where it goes. Then, if it doesn't, take pride in saying, "Yeah, I was that one guy that said it wouldn't work on that one forum in KYM".

How many damn times do we have to say that you can't create a meme? Here's something from the FAQ that I and a lot of other old users worked on.

How can I create a meme?
Memes aren’t created -- they occur when a particularly interesting piece of content floats around the internet and begins to be passed around, written about, talked about, remixed, and generally absorbed into our cultural consciousness.
Although it is possible for a person to create the conditions that would be ideal for a meme to form, it is impossible to guarantee that others will participate. If all derivatives within the body of the supposed meme are created by an individual or small, coordinated group of people, then it is not a genuine meme.
Do not confuse memes with the content itself -- memes live outside the content, above it, and around it. Very often the meme involves numerous pieces of content: the original, reposts of the original, as well as the remixes and derivatives; all of which reflect the spread of the meme.

I understand that everyone is saying that memes cannot be created. That's what this forum post is about, isn't it? All I was saying is that someone has to post the meme for it to be known, and people who were posting the "Frying the Coke" idea were operating under the impression that it had already been adopted as a meme. It's understandable too; if I was posting a meme, I wouldn't be thinking that it would be immediately debunked just because someone called it a meme before it technically was one. Don't take me so seriously. It's the internet, after all.

Wow, no comments for 28 minutes since my last post. I don't wanna be the guy who killed this discussion, so by all means, please continue. By the way Katie, the bat credit card was awesome, I agree.

O Hai Double Post!

So, this is meme research, and this forum is supposed to be fairly serious.

That forum post is to discuss the forcing attempt of "Frying the Coke". For now, after 2 weeks, I still stand on my opinion that it failed to catch on, and pretty much so because of its forcing nature.

How do I fried coke?

It doesn't change the fact its just damned funny… I don't think it was forced at all. It is a meme like it or not… Who cares if a person called it out and made it that way? with the potential to do so much with it its just funny… you could do alot more than just show the coke machine… How about the fact that their is a food that is made by actually deep frying Coke… yes deep frying Coke to make a food… or just setting batches of the drug coke on fire? there is so much to do with this more than just a movie refrence and yet you can make references to the movie at the same time… So someone found it out first and said that it had the potential to be? every person pretty much does that when a meme is found who cares if its the same person. Sounds like faulty logic to me. You know what I'm surprised isn't a meme? Joydick look it up… its been around for years and no one has made a single thing to reference it… it hasn't been forced at all… That is what a meme is… coming out of nowhere … forced or not… if you don't expect it its a meme and I wasn't expecting the tiger and blow up or the frying the coke… 2 things in one movie that could be a meme. XD

You bumped this thread quite a bit.

BTW, I used to like the Amazing Atheist, but now hes a cunt attention whore, if he really cared he would wrap himself in barb wire as a sign of protest for some shit, IDK, pick something off the list that needs a good death nearing protest.

Deep Frying Coke has nothing to do with the meme Doug thought he launched.
Your lack of punctuation won't ever hide the fact it's a forced meme that failed to catch on, no matter what some of his fans may think of it.

Oh for fucks sake.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/frying-the-coke#.TeXJEUeBmzY

You know how my idea that newfags shouldn't create entires is back? I mellowed out and decided that we need to keep that for everyone, but now I again say that newfags need to not make entries.

Wow, looking through the comments is like looking at a battlefield. We have Tomberry with support behind him and DrPepperfan giving some advice. And on the opposition we have sEaN Castillpo and Geon who are quickly shot down. A CHALLENGER APPEARS! Katie Starshine with an attitude opposite to her name starts beating the opposition down with verbal abuse. With only 1 opponent remaining she turns to Adam Deland and attacks with a forceful slash earning dishonor among her side. Meanwhile Hercules Trolls Trolls injects some humor into the battle proving that not everyone takes everything like a challenge.

On a more serious note, The origin of a meme personally is irrelevant to it being confirmed or deadpooled unless it's made by someone looking to popularize something no one's ever heard of. It's the spread and Derivatives that matter. Bat Credit Card has some derivatives so = submission with a possible confirm in the future. Big Lipped Alligator doesn't have many derivatives outside of thatguywiththeglasses so it'll probably never be confirmed. Frying the Coke ? until we see some derivatives…. The Critic was merely saying how he sees potential in it. No need to try and call it "forced".

Big Lipped Alligator Moment isn't a meme, it's a trope. And a trope that is heavily debated at that.

I said this in the article for "Frying the Coke" and I'll say it again

I’m sorry. Unless you can give more evidence of spread, I’m afraid I’ll have to deadpool this for the time being. When something is forced as hard as this, it won’t catch on.

The reason forced memes such as “Fuck Yeah Seaking” caught on was because people were able to find it funny or entertaining without knowing about having to know too much about the source material. However, the only reason this would be funny or entertaining to anyone is if they had knowledge of the origin beforehand and thought it was entertaining then.

I would also add that I, myself, added a segment about Frying the Coke in my "Nuking the fridge" entry.
No, I still don't think it's a meme but I think it still deserves a mention for what Doug and his fanbase tried to accomplish.

On the other hand, what about "Jumping the Shark" as a slang as well?
I described its origins in the Nuking the Fridge entry but I found some articles about it saying it's a meme because it has got a Single-serving Website as far as 1996 and is a popular slang on the net.

Is it that true? May we have a separate article for this one?

Well, Frying the Coke is a well-known derivative of Nuking the Fridge

Here's how I fry my Coke

@Adam:
I could be wrong, but I think the only person in this thread who is hostile to you is Katie Starshine. I actually noticed that she seems to be attacking you a lot lately, and I don't know where that hostility is coming from, but maybe such a discussion would be a bit of a derailment of a thread which brings up some important issues about memes in general, so…

@thread:
My two cents on the matter is that "Frying the coke", while not a meme, is not disqualified from meme-ship because of its origins. I think that some people think (and I may have given the impression I think so myself, but I don't) that "you don't create memes" is a rule rather than more of a guideline. The fact is, every meme that exists was created by someone, and while most of them grew with no intention of the creator to make a meme, it's the spread and popularity that make a meme, not the intention (or lack thereof) of the creator.

Yeah, some fans are trying to AstroTurf this from what I hear in this thread. So what? If they end up succeeding (which is unlikely) then I say it will be a meme. If they fail, it won't be a meme. I don't see why we have to prejudge it; it seems to me the preemptive "This is not a meme!" is no more productive or meaningful than fans trying to make it one.

@Brucker
You're quite right about it. There are examples of forced memes that succeeded in becoming "real" memes. We have already talked about some of them like "Fuck yeah seaking!".
My point was, and still is, that I foresaw people trying to make an entry about it just because 5 videos, a bunch of pictures and some forced articles on Wikipedia, TVtropes, Urban Dictionary and even Cracked.com were on their way.

But yeah, I classify myself as being part of the people who think that naming something a meme before it caught on is silly and ruins it, no matter what. Even more so after the "Whose responsible this" event on KYM (I don't think you were there but I invite you to read the deadpooled entry as well as searching for Chris Menning's video about it).
In short, Whose Reponsible This was a potential image macro meme that was catchy but proven to be astroturf right from the start, even having its creators (or fans, for that matter) coming here to protest our deadpool arguments.
I'm not really willing to change my mind since then.

Okay, people create memes but, as far as I've seen it go, they are not aware they are making a meme after it really becomes one. Very few memes have reached the same status with their creators forcing it….

@Tomberry
I agree with pretty much everything you're saying there; I'm just saying that while I agree it's not a meme, I don't want to see it deadpooled for the wrong reasons.

I really should look into "Whose Responsible This," as I do think it was before my time, and you've all got me curious. I also want to remind people of the discussion we had about PUDDIPUDDI, which was in many ways a meme created and forced by moot. (NC doesn't have quite the same influence…)

Interesting, it has an edit history, but no actual article:
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/whose-responsible-this/edits

Ha, it's because it has been deleted. Only entry mods, community managers and staff members can have access to it now. Oh well…
Anyway, Katie posted the video some posts above in this thread.

The point is that the same problem as now occured then. The creators claimed it was a new meme and tried to force it on websites such as Wikipedia before there was a significant amount of genuine interest outside their community, community that wasn't really close to 4chan concerning traffic.

Quoted from Chris's edit for truth:

In many communities, declaring something a meme before it has become a widespread phenomenon is met with negativity.

Hi! I also seen this video when I was in college, and I like it. A bit comedy with an action.

ps3 ylod

Haha. Spam bot. Somebody ban him.
On the thread topic, I say that we wait. NC is somewhat notorious for aborting memes, or at least statements almost worthy of becoming memes. Either way, I don't like him. However, on the off chance that it does become a meme, I shall change the state of my opinion to leaning towards no. because I can.