Dramatic Dmitry

About

Dramatic Dmitry is a reaction image macro series featuring images from the album Paranoia by Russian musician Vladimir Brest. The meme includes several images of him expressing sadness on the beach. On the cover, he runs sand through his hands with intense focus; sits on his knees with his arms outstretched looking to the sky; and other positions showing despair. Online, many use the meme to express frustration over trivial or First World Problems

Origin

On April 15th, 2011, Vladimir Brest tweeted ^[1] "Владимир Брест "Паранойя" ст. и муз. В.Брест" (shown below). The tweet announces that the album had been uploaded to YouTube but is no longer available.

On April 20th, 2011, Vladimir Brest released the album "Paranoia" (ПАРАНОЙЯ). The album cover features him running sand through his hand (shown below, left)

That day, he posted the image of the cover as well as several other outtakes on the Russian social media site VK.^[2] The post received more than 350 reactions in less than 10 years (right).

Spread

Over the next two years, the image grew in usage on various meme sites in Russia. On April 7th, Brest posted a series of pictures on VK (shown below, left).^[5] He said, "I want my songs to be attached to these memes. It is also bad that most of the pictures are obscene. All this is seen by children. I do not want to be a person guilty of degradation and corruption of the young generation … Attention to my person has become much more. People at first threw me memes. There are still cranks who claim, 'You are the star of the Internet!'"

The following day, on April 8th, a variation of the meme that features the text "Forgot my headphones at home" went viral on 9GAG. ^[6] The post, which features the title "Dramatic Dmitry," received more than 42,000 points in less than eight years (shown below, right).

Days later, on April 19th, 2013, Brest gave an interview about the photo to the website progorodsamara.^[4] He said:

Hello, Vladimir! Tell us, when did you first see the picture with you, and where did this photo come from?

- Initially, there was a photo shoot for the album "Paranoia." Then my designer mounted two photos into one and posted it on my avatar. Even the exact date was saved on April 20, 2011. About a year ago, we saw the first meme about the plush on the MDK (popular public in Vkontatka – editorial notes). Someone remade it a couple of times, and so it all went out. The second wave went about two weeks ago.

- And how do you feel about this kind of Internet popularity?

- I myself am generally positive. However, I want my songs to be attached to these memes. It is also bad that most of the pictures are obscene. All this is seen by children. I don’t want to be a person guilty of degradation and corruption of the young generation … Yes, and the majority of visitors to my page have not reached adulthood.

On June 8th, 2013, YouTuber obzorinternetov uploaded a video about the image's use in memes. The post received more than 26,000 views in less than seven years (shown below).

One of the most popular variations of the meme features the caption "Forgot My Headphones At Home." The image went viral on Tumblr at the end of 2013. On December 8th, 2013, Tumblr^[3] account Humor Train shared the image, receiving more than 140,000 notes in less than seven years.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References