About

Little People Match Cuts refers to videos of people with dwarfism passing and throwing objects to others, or getting passed objects, in which a match cut effect is employ so that these objects get comically smaller or bigger when changing hands.

Origin

While the exact origin of the trend is unknown, it's estimated to have originated on TikTok in early 2021 with memes in which footage from a javelin throw sports competition for little people was match cut with clips of toothpicks landing onto people, humorously implying that he javelins are toothpick-sized. On February 8th, 2021, TikTok^[1] account spectiplier posted the earliest found such video (original author unknown). The video gained over 14,600 likes in two years (shown below).

Spread

On May 16th, 2021, TikTok^[2] user @aidyscape posted a match cut in which he "caught" a diving little into his bag (shown below, left). The video gained over 70,400 views and 820 likes in two years. On May 23rd, TikToker^[3] @iw_second posted a similar meme that gained over 398,000 views and 23,900 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

On October 20th, 2021, TikToker^[4] zeki.bagirov posted another match cut meme using the javelin throw competition clip which gained over 34.9 million views and 1.7 million likes in two years (shown below).

The clip received viral spread online, being reposted multiple times. For example, on December 25th, 2021, Redditor Obsidian__Wolf reposted it to the /r/HolUp^[5] subreddit, where it gained over 80,800 upvotes in two years.

The video inspired other TikTokers, including little people on the app, to join in on the meme format. For example, on February 10th, 2022, TikToker^[6] @shortblokejosh posted a meme that gained over 5.2 million views and 593,000 likes in one year (shown below, left). On March 11th, TikToker^[7] @ahnao posted a video that received over 4.5 million views and 489,000 likes in one year after being reposted by another TikToker^[8] (shown below, right).

Starting in July, TikToker^[9][10] fernandomaximo10 posted a series of humorous match cut videos about gym, many of which went viral on TikTok and beyond it.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References