Pepe the Frog

The extract from Matt Furie's 2006 comic Boy's Club was given color before gaining popularity

Pepe the Frog is an Internet meme originating from a comic drawing. Its popularity steadily grew across Myspace, Gaia Online and 4chan in 2008; becoming one of the most popular memes used on Tumblr in 2015. Pepe is often portrayed as a green anthropomorphic frog, having a frog-like face and a humanoid body.[1] The meme's original use has evolved over time and has many variants, which include Sad frog, Smug frog, Feels frog, and "You will never..." frog.[2]

History

"My Pepe philosophy is simple: 'Feels good man.' It is based on the meaning of the word Pepe: 'To go Pepe.' I find complete joy in physically, emotionally, and spiritually serving Pepe and his friends through comics. Each comic is sacred, and the compassion of my readers transcends any differences, the pain, and fear of 'feeling good.'"

–Matt Furie, 2015 interview with The Daily Dot[1]

Pepe the Frog was created by American artist Matt Furie. He posted his comic, Boy's Club #1, in a series of blog post on Myspace in 2005 where Pepe first appeared.[2][3] In the comic, Pepe was found urinating with his pants pulled down to his ankles and the catchphrase, "Feels good man" was his rationale.[4][5] He took those posts down when the printed edition was published in 2006.[2]

Pepe was viral in blog posts on Myspace and became an in-joke on Gaia Online. In 2008, the page containing Pepe and the catchphrase was scanned and uploaded to 4chan’s /b/ board, which was described by Motherboard as his "permanent home".[2] It took off among 4chan users, who adapted Pepe's face and the catchphrase to fit different scenarios and emotions, such as melancholy, anger, and surprise.[1] Color was also added, originally a black and white line drawing, Pepe became green with brown lips, sometimes in a blue shirt.[3][4] "Feels Guy", or "Wojak", an unrelated character typically used to express melancholy, was often paired with Pepe in memes.[5]

Around 2015, as Pepe's usage was increasing, a phenomenon began on 4chan where users would declare certain variants as rare, known as a "rare Pepe". These images, sometimes as physical paintings[6][7] were put up for sale and auction on eBay and posted in listings on Craigslist.[1][2] 4chan users referred to those who used the meme out of the website as "normies" or "normalfags" (a portmanteau of "normal" and "faggot") in response to the meme's increase in usage.[2] That year Pepe was #6 on Daily News and Analysis' list of the most important memes and was the most used meme on Tumblr.[8][9]


Notable uses

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Khan, Imad (April 12, 2015). "4chan's Pepe the Frog is bigger than ever—and his creator feels good, man". The Daily Dot. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kiberd, Roisin (April 9, 2015). "4chan's Frog Meme Went Mainstream, So They Tried to Kill It". Motherboard. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Mazur, AJ (August 7, 2010). "Q&A with Matt Furie". Know Your Meme. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Collins, Sean T. (July 28, 2015). "The Creator of Pepe the Frog Talks About Making Comics in the Post-Meme World". VICE. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  5. 1 2 Haskell, Will (July 30, 2015). "This guy created the frog meme that's all over the internet — here’s why he’s ‘kinda pissed off'". Tech Insider. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  6. ↑ Blevins, Joe (October 28, 2015). "Read This: Could images of 4chan’s “sad frog” meme actually be worth money?". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  7. ↑ Bergado, Gabe (September 10, 2015). "The rare Pepe trade is booming on Craigslist". The Daily Dot. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  8. ↑ Nair, Roshni (December 27, 2015). "Best of 2015: 15 memes that won the internet". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Here are the 10 most important memes of 2015, according to Tumblr". Irish Examiner. December 8, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Te Pepe by David Astil". New Zealand Government. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  11. ↑ Hunt, Elle (May 14, 2015). "New Zealand's new flag: 15 quirky contenders". The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  12. ↑ Power, Julie (May 16, 2015). "New Zealand flag designs: Kwi, piwi or kiwi?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  13. ↑ Resnick, Gideon (October 20, 2015). "4chan 4 Trump". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.