I don’t mean in a retro way. I mean do you think it still works to use older meme formats where they perform the role you need? Or do you think this is like trying to use “groovy” or “tubular?”
A related discussion is about what I call “meta memes”, but there are probably better names for them. Essentially core meme format structures that communicate the same idea even if the images are swapped out. (Although they may have subtly different connotations depending on the pictures.) For example there is the “Not A, B” structure which you can see in things like the Drake meme as one of the more common versions of this, but with many variations using different images. Perhaps some older meme formats simply underwent this transition and still exist, just in an updated form. In which case, I wonder what those newer versions are. Perhaps there are some that never got a modern equivalent, but were left behind anyway.
There are also some memes which by their nature kind of can’t be updated. Like a Rick Roll has to be “Never Gonna Give You Up” because the joke is the very act of being tricked into specifically watching that video again. Are there other examples that fit this category?
Nihil nova sub sole.
That old enough for ya?
We need to go back to cave paintings. It’s just hard to send a whole cave through the internet though.
According to Plato, we only interact with memes through caves, and have no way of knowing if the what the meme means to us is what it actually signifies, or even if it signifies anything at all. It’s all shadows on the wall of a cave and our minds do the rest.
It’s an older meme, sir, but it checks out
Yo dawg, I heard you like old memes, so I put an older meme in your old meme
I don’t think about it at all. If it is still funny then it is still funny.
Some have aged like wine. Others, milk.
Some are still in use that ought to have been dropped years ago. Others have been forgotten and need to make a comeback, or at least get a remake.
And in a large number of cases, people will disagree about which memes fall into which category.
Also a lot of the newer memes have completely passed me by or else are so niche I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to have seen them or not. This revelation largely stems from a recent visit to KnowYourMeme to look for an old meme and all the recent posts were completely opaque and bewildering to me.
I guess this means I’m old, but I already knew that.
I just send whatever meme/gif seems appropriate at the time. IDGAF if its “current”. Especially as I’m 43 and everyone i interact with is a similar age
I don’t even know which year the memes are from, unless it has anything to help identify the year. If it feels right then I share it.
Dude! I think they’re gnarly!
Use at will.
Older memes are 1337. O rly? Ya rly.
They’re streets ahead.
I feel like a good old fashion rage comic still has a chance for peak humor. But I don’t know if bringing back a gooby meme would really hit the same - I think some are just too esoteric to the time.
I only ask that if we do leave any in the dust, please, please can we stop with Loss? Just kill it already
What a loss that would be though.
I generally care if a meme is more overused than if it is old.
You don’t always have to use the freshest meme. If a classic one meets your requirements then go with it.
All your base are belong to us.
