Photos of an angry looking cat dubbed "Grumpy Cat" have become an online sensation over the past year. The cat, actually named Tartar Sauce, was introduced on a website called Reddit by its owner's brother on September 23, 2012. From that website, photo shopped parodies and images surfaced from viewers and the original post reached 25,300 views in just the first 24 hours. It has continued to be replicated and photo shopped on other websites. Grumpy Cat now has its own website, Twitter account, and Facebook page. As of August 2013, the Facebook page had over 1.1 million likes. I know personally that I have seen numerous images of Grumpy Cat on my social media. With such a rise in popularity, we also see corporations taking the image and using it for profit. A t-shirt line snagged the image of Grumpy Cat to use for t-shirts and big companies such as Urban Outfitters and Hot Topic jumped on the band wagon to sell shirts with the image as well. Even stuffed animals and Halloween costumes have been made in honor of Grumpy Cat. September 13, 2013, Friskies (the cat food company) announced their plans to use Grumpy Cat's image to promote their products.
Grumpy Cat is a good example of popular culture because it is well liked (especially seen with the number of Facebook likes it has), well known (many people have an idea of what Grumpy Cat is), targets mass culture (it is available on Google, etc. and can be seen by a large audience), and it belongs to the people (it's for everyone, but also belongs to everyone; many people have taken the image and photo shopped it to make it their own). I would also say that the Functionalist theory can be applied to Grumpy Cat because it creates social solidarity for those that see it, thus creating unity in a sense for those that participate, contribute, and add to the phenomenon. It also reinforces collective conscience as viewers of Grumpy Cat develop shared values and thoughts in regards to it (finding it funny, liking it, etc.). For example, someone could post a picture of Grumpy Cat on Facebook, and other people could like it/comment it on it and thus it could bring the people together in their agreement on the image. The cat in reality is not actually grumpy (it's a cat..), but the appearance of it being this way is seen as funny to many people, and their reactions to it create social solidarity. It is also important to note that social networks can help us understand how popular culture actually becomes popular. Gladwell suggests that those individuals known as "connectors" are able to spread fads and trends due to them knowing a lot of people, but also
Grumpy Cat is a good example of popular culture because it is well liked (especially seen with the number of Facebook likes it has), well known (many people have an idea of what Grumpy Cat is), targets mass culture (it is available on Google, etc. and can be seen by a large audience), and it belongs to the people (it's for everyone, but also belongs to everyone; many people have taken the image and photo shopped it to make it their own). I would also say that the Functionalist theory can be applied to Grumpy Cat because it creates social solidarity for those that see it, thus creating unity in a sense for those that participate, contribute, and add to the phenomenon. It also reinforces collective conscience as viewers of Grumpy Cat develop shared values and thoughts in regards to it (finding it funny, liking it, etc.). For example, someone could post a picture of Grumpy Cat on Facebook, and other people could like it/comment it on it and thus it could bring the people together in their agreement on the image. The cat in reality is not actually grumpy (it's a cat..), but the appearance of it being this way is seen as funny to many people, and their reactions to it create social solidarity. It is also important to note that social networks can help us understand how popular culture actually becomes popular. Gladwell suggests that those individuals known as "connectors" are able to spread fads and trends due to them knowing a lot of people, but also
by knowing a variety of people. By knowing a wide audience, as well as different kinds of audiences, they are able to spread popular culture. This could definitely be seen with Grumpy Cat, as connectors shared the image and it was viewed by a large, diverse audience. These audiences could then develop ideas and feelings about the image and also contribute to the growing of the trend by sharing it with their groups of friends.
The Original image of Grumpy Cat
A Photo shopped version of the Grumpy Cat image
Image used of Grumpy Cat for Friskies
Want to see more of Grumpy Cat? Check out:
This blog was made possible with the help of the "Mix it Up" textbook and http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/grumpy-cat
Yes, I used to see Grumpy Cat on my Facebook timeline quite often. I have literally laughed out loud because of some of the memes and I think there were even a few that I related to because sometimes it boasted a legitamate critique of society, in my view anyway. Yeah, I have agreed with a cat, (thinks: "Yeah, that's not weird at all").lol -Nico Ortiz
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of pop culture, especially with how it became popular, the 80/20 rule. I remember not really caring when I saw the first few images of "grumpy cat" on face book but now I love him! I would totally purchase a "grumpy cat" magnet, lol. Also, I automatically knew what it was before even reading your info, although your post was very informative. :) It does create a collective conscience for those who enjoy a good sense of humor. -Kris Lake
ReplyDeleteI adore this topic! I have found myself looking up these pictures more than once, I find some of them hilarious. Great job and very informative!
ReplyDelete--Brittany Burke
I really like your topic and I thought your blog post was very informative. I like how you broke down your topic into the ways pop culture is defined (well liked, well known, targets a mass audience, and belongs to the people). I also like your strategy of using the functionalist approach and describing how social networks impact pop culture for your topic. I'm sure this will be a great essay! -Brooke Stahler
ReplyDelete