Meme of the Month – October

Meme+of+the+Month+-+October

It’s that time of the year again! SPOOKTOBER. And guess what? The new memes are rolling in faster than you can say “pumpkin”! But what memes exactly are taking off? Are they the same as every other year, or are they newer and spookier than ever? 

The first meme that has become popular is the infamous “Skull Trumpet” or more commonly known, the “Doot Doot” meme. This picture was first released back in 1995 with 3D Movie Maker in the Microsoft Kids release. This program included multiple, for today’s standards, low-quality funny images made to be usable for kids starting to edit simple images and

videos. However, this image was first popularized by Youtuber PiePuppy89 in 2011, when he uploaded this picture with a soundtrack to his channel on Halloween. Since then, it has been taken down, but the legacy of this image lives to this day. It has now become meme tradition, wherein Spooktober, almost every meme that is popular is to a certain extent replaced by this one, for example, this image appearing as a face instead of someone else’s. The name“Doot Doot” comesfrom the sound that the trumpet made in the original video uploaded by PiePuppy89, and is now associated with Halloween and Spooktober. This meme can be found virtually anywhere during the month of Oktober, though at this point it is so popular that people cannot wait to post their spooky memes. Some even started posting them in September, causing this meme to have mostly died off by the time Halloween comes around.

Skeleton Holding Wineglass, Taken from Publicdomainpictures.net

However, there is another contender for this month’s Meme of the Month award: The “Blinking White Guy” meme. This meme exceeded everybody’s expectations and was popular for over 3 months, which is a long time for a meme. Even after famous Youtuber Pewdiepie’s attempt to kill off the meme in his show “Meme Review”, it is still going strong. This meme originates from a 2013 episode of “Unprofessional Fridays” where DrewScanlon, the face of this meme, reacts to an ambiguous phrase exclaimed by the host. This meme is now commonly used to represent a confused or baffled expression. This serves as a reaction to anything ambiguous or suspicious that has been said. This meme has also evolved into a new and more powerful form and is now used to represent virtually anything. The meme has been updated to now include the front and backside of the head, as well as being used in combination with other memes, making its extensions endless.

“White guy blinking meme” Taken from Deviantart (Creative Commons)

Now it is time for the ratings. This month’s categories are: 

  1. Spookiness
  2. Funniness
  3. Usage 

The ‘Doot Doot’ meme earns a 10/10 in spookiness (for obvious reasons) a 3/10 in funniness, and a 6/10 in usage, as it has been used quite creatively recently. 

The Blinking meme gets a 0/10 in spookiness, a 4/10 in funniness, and a 7/10 in usage. This meme has been used the most creatively, giving it an 8.5/10, but it is overused sometimes, causing the rating to drop to a 7.

Therefore, the official Oktober Meme of the Month Award goes to the ‘Doot Doot’ Meme, scoring a blazing 19/30 and winning by 8 points. 

 

Trophy Achievement Award, Taken from Needpix (Creative Commons) Edited By: Lorenzo Bonara