When it comes to the internet, very few things have become as popular as a ‘meme.’ These text-based pictures have become a large raging fanatic that has quickly spread like wildfire across social media platforms, email accounts, and online browsing worldwide. People use memes to show emotion, struggle, failure, and victory- and memes have become a very strong mainstay in most forms of pop culture and daily life. Lots of people like memes about animals, as well, such as dogs and cats. The adorable pets drive people crazy, and they love the “Angry Cat” memes, and “Silly Dog” memes. These animals are very popular, however, one other animal has quickly stayed in the spotlight from behind the shadows: penguins. SpongeBob, dogs and politics have given us many memes, but penguins are one of the most underrated meme themes and had influenced many meme trends seen all across the internet.
Penguins are cute and adorable creatures with lots of possibilities for meme placement and ideology in the world we know today. Everyone loves cute and funny animals, however, penguins tend to get overshadowed by creatures such as cats or small rodents. For some reason, penguin memes just don’t seem as memorable to others as these do, and penguins quickly get cast into the sidelines. However, looking at the history of penguin memes, one would be surprised and amazed at just how much of an impact these images have had on the internet over the past decade, especially in terms of pop culture references.
The Penguin Movie Craze of the 2000s
We argue that penguin memes started to when cartoon penguin themed movies were rising in popularity in the 2000s. They were painted as silly, meme-ified animals. Examples such as the Madagascar (2005) and Happy Feet (2006) started a strong upheaval of humor and irony based on penguins
As culture changed and advanced, other pop culture references for penguins also came into fruition. Surfs Up (2007), a popular children’s movie about a surfing penguin with a zany chicken as a sidekick also became very noticed. These meme-ified penguins were even sillier than the penguins in Madagascar, mostly due to the movie’s crude humor and adult jokes. In 2014, the penguins in Madagascar even got their own movie, Penguins of Madagascar.
Club Penguin
The penguin craze of the 2000s led to another example of meme-ified penguins, Club Penguin. Club Penguin was an online platform made for young children and adults to interact with each other in a safe online environment. This involved and included lots of different forms of fun and entertainment, including parties, online forums, blogs, and local chats. It was a great way to talk to people in a safe space with lots of colorful cartoons, entertaining music, and sounds. Not only did the rise of Club Penguin match up with the history of cartoon penguins rising in movies and TV, but they boosted each other and only bolstered meme-ified penguins into their cultivated product.
Our First Penguin Meme
Memes as we know today, are usually a silly image with or without text. At the about same time users on Club Penguin peaked, we saw our first penguin meme, the “Social Awkwardly Penguin,”
Originally based on nature photography, the “Socially Awkward Penguin” was started to show awkward social moments and hazards in everyday life. It has come through a lot of phases including color as well as degree of awkwardness. The meme varies on whomever edits the original image, but it always turns into a humorous meme expressing the social tension in the text. Normally embarrassing the writer, this meme focuses on the displeasure and social interaction of whoever is creating it. This penguin meme usually shows the image taken by the nature photographer in the foreground of red and blue, with the socially awkward text surrounding the image. The meme always shows the penguin fleeing from whatever is causing the creator tension. this paved the way for future penguin-based memes General Penguin Memes, “The Well I’m Not Doing It Now Penguin,” and the “Strong Baby Penguin.”
More Penguin Memes
Some examples of cute and funny penguin memes normally go over the adorable factor of the flightless birds. These memes always show a cute photo of the animal while giving off carefree and warm vibes, making the reader feel happy and comforted. These memes grew very popular many years ago because everyone wanted to make their friends and family feel happy with the sight of them.
Another funny penguin meme is the “Well I’m Not Doing It Today” penguin. This clay bird is usually sitting at a small table with its wings crossed and a look of displeasurement across its face. This bird is made to look unhappy and unsettled by whatever text is surrounding it. The creator of this meme can attest their struggles or unwanted desires or obligations using this meme as a vessel for their annoyance.
The final, and certainly most adorable penguin meme as mentioned relies on “The Strong Baby Penguin (see below).” This meme surrounds a small baby penguin with its wings bent to look like the muscles of a strongman or bodybuilder. This penguin is built around the idea of perseverance in the face of failure or discrimination, and gives much creative freedom to it’s users. Baby Penguin is certainly a cute penguin meme, but doesn’t slow down the progress or impact that penguin memes have had on the rise of pop culture and Club Penguin. This growing trend has only made these memes stronger and more searched, building up their impact greater and greater on today’s internet influence.
Club Penguin Becomes a Meme
Not only did Club Penguin help surge such a wave of entertainment through penguin memes, but the culture icon has also been heavily meme’d in its own right. Using fill-able text boxes, warnings from the servers, screenshots of cartoon penguins, and parties held on the servers of the online community- this icon has been meme’d to such a degree that most people on the internet have at least heard of the icon. There’s even a large Reddit community the regularly posts Club Penguin memes (mostly about how they got banned from the site though). Memes help spread popularity on many different subjects and topics, and the impact they’ve had on Club Penguin hasn’t been missed in the media’s eye. It grew so strong that rumors of the website making a comeback quickly spread through the internet, and the memes for the online platform only seemed to grow stronger and stronger. Memes help make history in searched content across the web, and the penguin memes with Club Penguin aren’t any form of exception.
Madagascar Penguins Resurface
As memes started to develop, the penguins from Madagascar themselves started becoming meme’d. That’s right, the penguins that started meme-ified penguins were becoming memes. Memes such as “Private the Penguin” also known as “confused penguin meme” set the groundwork for many animal based memes we see from cartoons and real life today. The blank stares Private holds in his humor based memes set the layout for many different lines of text. Some examples of these include “That moment when you forget your homework at home,” or “When your crush friend-zoned you.” These simple lines can create so much laughter for people having the worst of days and it’s part of the whole reasoning why they became so popular at an advanced rate.
As memes progressed to become even sillier and outlandish, so did the penguins. One example is the “Anger Penguin.” This meme is based on the swollen and larger version of the penguin “Skipper” from the “Penguins of Madagascar.” This image shows him large and in charge, with the simple caption of [Anger]. Users can create this image in their name, and put in certain symbols, words, or ideas that can fuel their anger and show their passionate feelings for any certain topic or subject. It has helped raise the popularity of the Penguins of Madagascar memes greatly, only fueling what was discussed earlier.
Another great outlandish penguin meme is the “No Anime” penguin. This is another meme based on “Skipper” from the Madagascar franchise and circles around the idea of saying no to Anime- a Japanese construct of Television and media that has quickly grown popular in the United States. The “No Anime” penguin has risen greatly on social media platforms such as TikTok, and many people like using it to show their discomfort for the use and interaction of Anime in general. Many people use it in irony, however, especially those who enjoy the Japanese media. It’s another meme that has been searched by millions and sent all over the world, helping to increase the popularity of penguin memes overall.
Resting Our Case
Memes have grown even stronger coupled with the influence of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Memes are such a widespread phenomenon already that are only going to gain more and more popularity in the future. People can use these highly varied images, Gifs, texts, and messages to relay feelings and thoughts to others in as little as a second. Sharing them on social media, business emails, spams, and advertisements makes creating and viewing these very easy and simple. You can express yourself and share memes with friends and family, but the more important fact is the rising history and impact of penguin.
Penguins are a cultural animal icon is an underrated meme source that most people don’t even begin to think about. Many think more along the lines of cats and dogs when thinking of adorable or funny animal memes, yet they’ll still look at penguin memes and laugh or share them with others. Many believe these are less memorable than other animal based memes, however, that can’t be any farther from the truth.
The research above shows that is in fact false, and expresses the nature and history of these memes on a more detailed level. There are many other penguin based memes out there that haven’t been discussed, yet are just as popular or even more known than other memes on the internet. In such a growing electronic void known as the internet, memes can become lost or scattered through the literal decades of knowledge, information, and entertainment. Penguin memes, however, have become timeless, and have yet to disappear entirely from the public eye. Penguin memes are very important and very key to the history of meme culture, and as they continue to grow more popular in the future, many will see the impact these images make on others as they continue to be enhanced throughout the coming years.
The biggest takeaway from this is the importance that penguin memes have had on the internet. These memes helped start and create the memes we know today, and set a lot of the groundwork for future images and Gifs. They created endless laughs and smiles, and helped memes rise in popularity. The different forms of media, such as the movies and television shows, that these penguin memes were based on are definitely to thank, as well. Penguin memes are a very important icon in pop culture, and shouldn’t be brushed aside for the effects of cats, dogs, or other forms of interesting entertainment. They are just as important, and have a great history
Original Memes
