Comparing Galaxy Brain And Putting On Clown Makeup: An Inquiry In 16 Memes

The galaxy brain meme format and the putting on clown makeup meme format are both widely circulated online, and while they give off very different vibes, their structure is similar. Both meme formats center around a human head undergoing a transformation, both are (usually) four panels long with each panel divided evenly between text and image, and both unfurl from top-to-bottom: they are created to fit the direction of your average smartphone scroll. Both meme formats usually narrate an intensification of something, a series of decisions becoming increasingly pitiful or increasingly powerful. Comparing these two formats, it’s clear the success of each lies in the creation of a story, but in the clown meme that story has a cringe ending while in the galaxy brain meme that story has a based ending. If you were to swap out the text from a galaxy brain meme and put it on a clown meme, maybe the cringe would seem based and the based would seem cringe. Maybe the cringe/based dichotomy is more fragile than we suppose.

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