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Trevor Hall
Gerald Jackson
English 102
15 September 2011
Ineternet Meme: An image, video, etc. that is passed electronically from one Internet
user to another. This definition was very new to me because before this assignment, I had never
heard of this word before. After I saw an example of this I was quickly familiarized with the
term. Memes are all over the internet and it is very hard to get on any sort of social media or
message board site and not see them. They have begun to play a sizable role in pop culture and
the images behind the memes are recognized almost everywhere. One meme that particularly
caught my attention was the Y U No Guy. At first the meme was attractive to me because it was
funny, but after further investigation I realized there was a lot more behind this meme that made
it funny.
I did some research on this meme to try and get past the obvious silly humor on the
outside and try to find out some meaning behind the hideous face. I found that the memes
origins go back to a Japanese cartoon called Gantz. In one of the scenes one of the characters is
making an angry face about the situation. Someone then took the image of the angry face and
put it on a stick figure with hands in an angry position. The text on the image was “I TXT U, Y
U NO TXT BAK!?” After this image was released, it hopped on the meme train and got many
different makeovers and he became the Y U NO Guy. This meme is mostly characterized by
broken English and references to the Asian culture. He is very similar to the High Expectations
Asian Father as in he is never satisfied and is always wondering why things aren’t working. The
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particular meme that caught my eye was, “Hand, Y U NO Fit in Pringles Can?” I thought this
was very funny and interesting because it plays on the stereotypes of Asian people. One
stereotype that it references is the fact that Asian people are very smart but they sometimes do
not get the simple things, such as why his hand does not fit in the Pringles can. Some other
examples of this is when he poses questions like, “Car, Y U NO Transformer?” And, “Ice
Cream, Y U No Stay Frozen?” The meme itself is very humorous but I asked myself why it is
funny.
There are many things that provide some background as to why this meme refers to Asian
stereotypes. The first is the broken English. The broken English immediately told me that it was
referring to some sort of foreigner. When you see the combination of the poor spelling and the
“Y U NO,” it drew me to and Asian accent while I was reading the different memes. That’s
where the play on stereotypes comes in. When most people here broken English like that they
think an Asian person that doesn’t know very good English. Another stereotype that comes clear
after you have read multiple variations of the meme is the fact that some Asians are so smart that
they do not get the small, simple stuff. All of the different memes deal with small, everyday
problems such as, why his hand doesn’t fit in the Pringles can, or why his ice cream does not
stay frozen. This is a part of why I thought this meme was very funny and interesting. It doesn’t
give very many clues as to what the actual image means, but after you read multiple variations of
the meme it becomes very clear what the meme is trying to accomplish. It comments on cultural
stereotypes and simple everyday issues that nobody ever really thinks about.
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