Norm of the North

About

Norm of the North is an animated movie produced by Lionsgate, starring Rob Schneider in the title role. The film was poorly received by critics and fans and was largely forgotten until the official Twitter account for the film began shitposting on the site, sparking new interest in its social media presence.

History

Norm of the North was released in January of 2016. The movie is about a polar bear named Norm--voiced by Rob Schneider--and his friends who travel to New York City after their home in the North Pole is overtaken by real-estate tycoons. Norm ends up becoming a mascot for the corporation that took over his home in order to topple it from the inside.^[1] The original film would be followed by three direct-to-DVD sequels: Norm of the North: Keys to the Kingdom (2018), Norm Of The North: King Sized Adventure (2019), and Norm of the North: Family Vacation (2020). All of these films would continue to follow the story of Norm as well as the supporting cast.

Reception

The first film was very poorly received. The film received 6% on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a 21% on Metacritic.^[3] Aside form the film's rigid animation, critiques argue that one of the main reasons for the film's poorness of quality is due to its childish humor. MARTER LEGACY AUTHOR on Cinematic Excrement writes: "All of the jokes in Norm of the North can be put into three categories: (1) toilet humor, (2) pop culture references, and (3) twerking."^[4] Despite having been so badly received, the franchise went on to release three direct-to-DVD sequels. Because these releases were direct-to-DVD, they were not as popular. Like the first film, the sequels bombed with critics, each receiving around 3/10 stars.^[5]

Online Presence

Both the original movie and its sequels were generally agreed upon by mainstream media to be generic, low-budget animated films made to pander to a child audience. For the next three years, the films would receive little attention, but social media platforms made to promote them would stay active. On March 20th, 2019, the Norm of the North Instagram posted a word search puzzle asking their followers to comment on which character name they saw first.^[6] Followers of the page immediately took notice to the letters spelling out "porn" located horizontally three rows from the bottom.

The post was shared around various social media platforms and ultimately received more than seven thousand likes. The post received several thousand more comments than it did likes, with most of them being the word nice. This trend of spamming the same word or phrase in the comment section would continue on in future posts.

Twitter

On March 1st, 2021, management of the brand's official Twitter appeared to have shifted. After a two month hiatus, the page posted a singular tweet, which was the movie's name in all lower-case. The tweet received more than thirty thousand likes.^[7]

This post, and posts following this one, were much different from the generic corporate tweets that had been posted previously, instead being more relatable to modern Generation Z humor. No official statement has been released explaining why this shift in the account's management occurred. The account currently still posts Norm of the North-related memes, some receiving thousands of likes at a time.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References