Identifiable by Pixels Alone

About

Identifiable by Pixels Alone or A Great Historical Moment Can Be Recognized by Pixels Alone refers to a catchphrase used in a series of posts in which a pixelated image of a widely recognizable figure, scene, artwork, meme, etc. is shown under a variation of the phrasal template, "a successful X should be identifiable by their pixels alone," encouraging viewers to guess what is being shown. The posts became popularized on Twitter in March 2023, gaining viral spread to sites including Instagram and Facebook.

Origin

On March 19th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @misamericana posted a pixelated image of actress Jamie Lee Curtis, writing, "A really successful character should be identifiable by their pixels alone," garnering over 3,900 likes in a week (shown below). This is the earliest known example of the meme.

Spread

The trend spread over the course of March 2023. For example, on March 24th, Twitter^[2] user @aesforloona posted a pixelated image of K-pop star Loona, garnering over 1,700 likes in three days (shown below, left). On the same day, a Redditor posted a pixelated image of Hasan Piker crushing a watermelon with his thighs to /r/okbuddyhasan,^[3] garnering over 500 upvotes in three days (shown below, right).

On March 25th, 2023, the Facebook^[4] page Friends Addiction posted a pixelated image from Friends, garnering over 54,000 reactions and 3,200 shares in two days (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References