Archive for the ‘Pepe The Frog’ Category

Matt Furie celebrated yesterday’s Free Comic Book Day by killing off Pepe the Frog – Boing Boing

Spare a thought for poor Matt Furie, a wonderful indie comics creator whose Boys' Club comics featured a lovable frog called Pepe that was adopted by the neofascist movement (the so-called "alt-right") as a symbol for racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia and misogyny.

Furie tried to rehabilitate his creation, which is classed by the Anti-Defamation League as a hate symbol, but did not succeed.

So yesterday, in a single page comic included in the Free Comic Book Day title World's Greatest Comics, Matt Furie killed off his creation.

I really feel for Furie -- it's hard to imagine a shittier fate for one's lovable creation that for it to be transformed into a symbol used by the worst people on the internet to harass and terrorize people. Furie and Fantagraphics published a Boys' Club anthology last year -- you can support him by getting a copy.

Today, on Free Comic Book Day, as part of Worlds Greatest Cartoonists, Furie published a one-page comicof Pepes wake. In the strip, Pepe lies in a casket while his Boys Club friends Landwolf, Brett, and Andy gather round to memorialize him. Though the tone is still marked by irreverent, slacker humor (Landwolf pours booze on Pepes face to toast him), its a clear declaration that Pepe is now dead. The alt-right has killed the joy.

Guess What Happened to Pepe the Frog on Free Comic Book Day [Marykate Jasper/The Mary Sue]

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Matt Furie celebrated yesterday's Free Comic Book Day by killing off Pepe the Frog - Boing Boing

Pepe the Frog Is Dead: Creator Kills the White Supremacist … – CBR – CBR (blog)

After fighting an uphill battle to reclaim the feel-good image of his popular character after it was perverted by a culture of hate, cartoonist Matt Furie laid to rest Pepe the Frog in Fantagraphics Free Comic Book Day offering, Worlds Greatest Cartoonists. In a one-page strip, Pepe lies in an open casket while Boys Club friends Landwolf, Brett and Andy mourn him in their irreverent fashion.

Furie debuted Pepe and the Boys Club characters on his MySpace blog in 2005 and published four issues of the crews adventures through Buenaventura Press, stories that were collected into a single volume by Fantagraphics in 2016. Pepe, as seen in Boys Club, is a mellow dude getting stoned with his friends, regularly engaging in gross-out humor. But more recently, Pepe has been adopted as an icon and mascot by the extreme conservative alt-right movement, and as memes showing the chill frog promoting white nationalist and anti-semitic messages graduated from 4chan and Reddit into the mainstream, the Anti-Defamation League last year designated Pepe a hate symbol.

RELATED: Meet Pepes Daddy Matt Furie Talks Boys Club

Pepe had starred in more innocent memes for years, his Feels good, man mantra applicable to all manner of situations. But as detailed by the Daily Beast, this began to change in 2015 thanks to a coordinated campaign on a subversive corner of 4chan. A self-identified white nationalist told the Daily Beast that, We basically mixed Pepe in with Nazi propaganda, etc. We built that association. When, later, Pepe was used in images promoting Donald Trumps bid for the presidency, the memes served both as a coded message to the alt-right subculture and, through exposure of their version of Pepe to mainstream audiences, an amplification of the groups more extreme content.

Furie and Fantagraphics denounced the alt-rights use of Pepe. Its completely insane that Pepe has been labeled a symbol of hate, he wrote in an essay for Time magazine. Its a nightmare, and the only thing I can do is see this as an opportunity to speak out against hate.

Before Pepe the Frog was a meme designated a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League, he began his life as a blissfully stoned frog in my comic book Boys Club, where he enjoyed a simple life of snacks, soda and pulling his pants all the way down to go pee, Furie wrote in Time. As early Pepe memes elevated his popularity and Furie was entertaining multiple licensing deals, the cartoonist recalls thinking, Memes rule!

But that was before 2016, a time when our culture evolved to include Internet culture in this election (mostly to seek out the Millennial vote). A smug Trump-Pepe was shared by Trump himself on Twitter in the beginning of the election race, a move I assumed was a nod to young voters. Or perhaps it was a more sinister nod to some fringe, racist groups that used Pepe as a mascot for their agenda. Or just another famous person sharing a Pepe meme because its cool (like Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj did in the past). I have no idea.

Furie ended his essay by stating that Pepe is love, and soon responded with a new comic showing Pepe horrified at what hes become.

Earlier in 2016, around the time Fantagraphics Boys Club collection was released, Furie spoke with CBR about his creations. [T]he characters in Boys Club will always be a part of me. Andy the wise guy, Landwolf the party animal, Brett the fashionable dancer, and Pepe the chill frog they are all tweaked reflections of my own values and sensibilities, Furie said at the time. Their personalities unfolded and blossomed as time went on, but just like the person in your life that you love the most, one day they will die. And death can be as beautiful as life, because its what makes life important.

Now, it would seem, that day has come. The rehabilitation of Pepe was always going to be a struggle, and its hard to imagine Furie taking much joy in creating new Pepe strips knowing that, whatever his own intentions, the character would read through tinted lenses.

While its unlikely Pepes official death will stop extremists from co-opting his image, this was, perhaps, the most effective way for Furie to reclaim his character; Pepes soul has returned to his creator. Rest in Peace.

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Pepe the Frog Is Dead: Creator Kills the White Supremacist ... - CBR - CBR (blog)

Pepe the Frog became a hate icon so his creator killed him off – Mashable


Mashable
Pepe the Frog became a hate icon so his creator killed him off
Mashable
Pepe the Frog is dead, killed off by his own creator after he watched Pepe turn from a wholesome meme into a symbol co-opted by neo-Nazis for the alt-right. Pepe was created by cartoonist Matt Furie back in 2006 for his comic Boy's Club, but after ...

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Pepe the Frog became a hate icon so his creator killed him off - Mashable

The US alt-right ‘meme war’ to sway the French election is failing – PRI

Days after the first round of the French presidential election in April, an anonymous user on the messaging board 4chan waged war total meme war, that is against centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron.

We must bombard French social media with pro [Marine] Le Pen propaganda, to remind the French who is on their side, the user wrote.

Avideo embedded in the 4chan post urgedusers to generate memes depicting Macron as Marie Antoinette. "Make Macron look ridiculous. Make him look elitist," the male voice in the videoinstructed.

Hundreds of userscommented in support of the campaign. Many of them"had been very active during the US presidential election and ...took consistently strongly right-wing views, particularly anti-Islamviews," said Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow for information defense at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, who's beenstudyingthese efforts and their reach.

But their efforts don't appear to be resonating with French voters.

"There was very little penetration there," Nimmo said, adding that much of the content was "lost in translation" quite literally, some of the content was not translated to French.

And some of it included images that could be deemed especially offensive by French audiences, like images intertwining Le Pen with Pepe the Frog,a meme that came to be associated with the extreme far-right during the US presidential election.

"If you think of the English language connotation of referring to the French as frogs it's not complimentary, and the French are aware of it," Nimmo said. "Marketing anything in a different country, in a different language, in a different culture is hard work. And frankly, the alt-right is not usually known for its cultural sensitivity."

Other social media generated by English-speaking alt-right internet users to influence the election has also largely failed to gain traction in France.According to a review by The New York Times, "more than one-third of posts linked to certain political hashtags originated from the United States, although few went viral in France." The French academic who conducted the Times review also found that about two-thirds of Twitter messages using the hashtag MFGA (Make France Great Again) originated in the US.

"The irony is that much of alt-right is strongly nationalist and strongly anti-globalization. And what it's doing in these campaigns is trying to act as an international and globalized effort to support nationalist and anti-globalist people in other countries," Nimmo said."Right there,there's a philosophical problem."

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The US alt-right 'meme war' to sway the French election is failing - PRI

ESSAY: What Does It All Meme? – Montpelier Bridge

This essay was written as part of a pretty dry structure writing class in Advanced Expository writing for Classification and Division. I was a student teacher at U-32 this past fall in the class when this was written. Nate Morris chose the subject of memes. If you dont use the internet, particularly social media, or are older than I am, you may have no idea what he is talking about. I know just enough about technology to think this is very witty, but not enough to really get it all the way. Carla Occaso, managing editor.

The internet is an incredible place. It has altered the landscape of business, allowed us to reconnect with childhood friends and given us common (though not necessarily neutral) platforms to discuss our opinions with millions of other users. On a less serious note, the internet has developed its own subculture with its own tropes and its own humor. The staple source of laughs come in the form of what is called an internet meme. On the surface they can seem like simple puns or jokes when in fact they mean so much more to the people posting them or the audience its intended for. Memes have distinct audiences, historic icons, mechanics such as the meme economy, and oftentimes second meanings that put it in a very different light.

A meme is a concept, catchphrase or piece of media that spreads from person to person, gaining an audience, and with the endless stream of information thrown at you on the internet, memes have become widely accessible by all audiences. Examples such as grumpy cat or rickrolling have been adapted by all kinds of people, and thanks the the straightforward format of the original image macros, anything can be made into a meme. Everyone is able to use or create a meme, but due to how broad its spectrum has become, not everyone will understand a joke or even the fact that there was a joke. Ironically, in a medium meant to connect everyone, memes can be more divisive than they are connective.

Some internet users go past the base definition of memes, and assimilate with what is called meme culture. They dedicate time to studying memes to understand all aspects and corners of the meme spectrum. They see the term meme as the broadest descriptor of one of these pieces of entertainment. In reality, memes can go much deeper than what you see viewing it for the first time. There are subcultures of memes and subcultures within those subcultures.

To get an idea of how deep a meme can go, the perfect example is the rise and fall of Pepe The Frog. Over the course of its lifetime, Pepe has been reiterated the most out of any meme, changing appearance and meaning to the point where it has no core message or joke. Pepe became the apex meme because it encompassed broad portions of the humor spectrum. However, every meme that exists will eventually cease to do so, and Pepe went down in flames.

Pepe The Frog originated in a comic called Boys Club by Matt Furie, depicting Pepe as a laidback dude enjoying life. A specific panel in the comic shows Pepe saying feels good man when asked about why he goes to the bathroom with his pants all the way down. This panel was used as a reaction image on the internet when it started to gain popularity. Users took a liking to the friendly amphibian and began producing their own pictures of Pepe, building their own character over years of reiteration. For the majority of Pepes lifetime, he was depicted as a smug, racy frog with heavy depression. From this base, users changed Pepes appearance, keeping his general look while altering things such as his color, shape and clothing while making sure it could be identified as Pepe. These are called Rare Pepes, theyre referred to by that name because they are posted on obscure sites or forums. Pepe thrived and during this period was referred to as the best meme or the king of memes, until it kicked the curb hard when it intermingled with hate groups. The KKK and Neo Nazis adopted Pepe as a mascot and used iterations of him in uniform for propaganda. Around this time Donald Turnip also began posting pictures of Pepe in his image on twitter. Pepe was marked as a hate symbol because of his adoption by these hate groups and he tanked. The landscape of Pepe memes became barren as no morally-sound person would use them after what happened, and as a result the true Pepe fans got what they wanted. Pepe is considered obscure now and thats exactly what Rare Pepe creators desire, allowing them to create Rare Pepes in peace.

All memes collect and converge in what has been dubbed the meme economy, a metaphor for how the lifetime of a meme works and its popularity. Similarly to how a new stock acts, a new meme is under the radar at first, and then it begins to gain recognition. It picks up steam and then spikes in usage. Then it plateaus before gradually losing footing before it stops being used completely. Some memes stick around longer than others due to when and how long it takes them to plateau, too fast and people will lose interest quickly. Too slow and its apex will be lackluster. The parallels to the stock market are strikingly close.

Sometimes, memes can have a darker meaning behind the initial joke for reasons other than ironic or black humor. A study showed that the admins running popular internet meme pages on facebook actually use memes as a coping method for crippling depression. Some memes would have double meanings that only dedicated fans would perceive, hinting that they are unhappy; others would straight up be ironic jokes about suicide or self harm. Many Pepe memes alluded to this and became a popular outlet for expressing these feelings.

Groups involved in the the Rare Pepes or the distorted hood memes take the basics of these memes and further its definition to the point where only those involved after weeks of following the way it changes will understand the humor it has to offer. The most prominent subculture is by far ironic memeing. It takes any meme and uses its first meaning as a mask for a new joke. The original meme will experience either subtle tweaks or a complete overhaul, rewriting the joke while making sure it still identifies with the original meaning. These people create ironic memes as a way to set themselves apart from the regular Joes of the internet, referring to them as normies who steal memes and dont give proper credit to its maker, therefore classifying memes as art in a strange turn of events.

When you take a step back, memes really are just a way to express humor or opinions in a variety of ways. The people viewing or creating them all want the same thing whether they claim to be unique or not. Normie or memelord we all want to laugh, and memes do a great job with that, no matter how many layers of irony its on.

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ESSAY: What Does It All Meme? - Montpelier Bridge