About

War Flashback Parodies are video remixes and images in which various subjects, such as animals or celebrities, are portrayed as if they are experiencing a sudden hallucinatory episode of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of trauma from combat.

Origin

In popular culture, war flashbacks have been commonly employed as a trope in stories involving veterans with PTSD, many of which are listed on the “Shell-Shocked Veteran” page on the "Shell-Shocked Veteran" page on TV Tropes.^[1] In the 1982 action film First Blood, the character John Rambo experiences a Vietnam War flashback while being tortured by police officers (shown below).

On February 6th, 2010, YouTuber MogDog66 uploaded the Cupcake Dog video edited with various clips from the 1998 war drama film Saving Private Ryan, appearing as if the dog was experiencing a World War II flashback (shown below, left). On August 20th, 2010, YouTuber devious-smile uploaded an alternative version of the Cupcake Dog video featuring images from the Vietnam War and Samuel Barber's 1936 classical arrangement Adagio for Strings, which was prominently used in Oliver Stone's 1986 American anti-war film about the Vietnam War (shown below, right).

Spread

On December 12th, 2014, YouTuber GrinningBullets uploaded a clip of JonTron seated at a discussion panel with the song Sound of Silence playing in the background and various semi-transparent images from wars overlaid (shown below, left). On August 13th, 2015, YouTuber comrade-innawoods uploaded a clip of a running costumed mascot with the "Sound of Silence" playing in the background along with clips from various military conflicts (shown below, right).

On March 27th, 2016, YouTuber Giupatamon uploaded a video of a hamster suddenly freezing and staring into the distance interspersed with various Vietnam War photographs (shown below, left). On April 10th, 2016, YouTuber Pilow Tek uploaded a clip of a cat edited to appear as if it were having a Vietnam War flashback (shown below, right).

On May 24th, YouTuber apigfall uploaded a video of the Kazoo Kid staring at the camera edited with war footage (shown below).

PTSD Chihuahua

PTSD Chihuahua, also known as Chihuahua Vietnam War Flashbacks, is a reaction image depicting a dog staring off into the distance with a double exposure of photos from the Vietnam War overlaid on top of the image. The photo is typically used to reference something that evokes tragic or negative memories from past events, either from the perspective of the dog itself or the subject in the caption. The image is also frequently edited to add additional objects to the collage for more relevance to a specific event, thing or time period referenced in the caption. This meme also uses the same image found in other War Flashback Parodies.

Search Interest

External References