If 2020 Was A X / If 2020 Were An X

About

If 2020 Was A X, sometimes written as If 2020 Were An X, refers to a snowclone and image macro series that revolve around posting pictures of various things that describe and encapsulate the year of 2020. Typically, these appear as a reaction image with the phrasal templates “if 2020 was a X” or "if 2020 were an X," often including different objects or people with a negative but humorous connotation. The theme was widespread early on during the summer of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, but saw a resurgence in late 2020 as the year came to an end.

Origin

The first example to use the theme surfaced online around November 2019, but the exact first is unknown. One of the earliest versions was posted on November 24th, 2019, by the Facebook^[1] page His Smile, which depicted the character Alexos Mathon from the South African soap opera Skeem Saam with the caption “If 2020 was a person” (shown below).

Spread

The theme continued to spread in the following weeks and months, particularly as 2020’s gloomy events unfolded over the course of the year. On March 18th, 2020, Facebook^[2] page Coronavirus Public Meme Service posted another example depicting Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones, receiving over 5,400 shares, 530 likes and 430 comments in eight months (seen below, left). On March 27th, Redditor HedgehogTurtle posted a variant to the /r/memes^[3] subreddit, receiving over 38,700 upvotes, 267 comments and one Reddit award in six months (seen below, right).

On May 7th, Facebook^[4] page Grey’s Humor, which revolves around the show Grey’s Anatomy, posted another version of the meme that included a scene from the show, accumulating over 73,000 comments, 40,000 shares and 28,000 likes in six months (shown below, left). On July 8th, Snoop Dogg reposted a version that was widely shared around social media to his Instagram^[5] account, accumulating over 730,000 likes in roughly four months (shown below, right).

On November 14th, Twitter^[6] user swifferstruggle tweeted another variant using a screenshot of a Twitter conversation, receiving over 120,000 likes and 15,700 retweets in four days (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References