Mario, the Idea vs. Mario, the Man

About

Mario, the Idea vs. Mario, the Man or the Perchance Essay is a comedy philosophy essay that explores the idea of the video game character Mario vs. Mario as a man. The essay is fake and was posted to Twitter by comedian Phil Jamesson in February 2022 as if it was a real paper that he handed in and received an "F" grade on for reasons including his repeated, incorrect usage of the word "perchance." The post went viral that year and inspired further memes referencing it, including videos voicing it over.

Origin

On February 18th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user and comedian @PhilJamesson posted a photograph of the first two paragraphs of a purposely bad philosophy essay titled, "Mario, the Idea vs. Mario, the Man." The essay is written as unprofessionally as possible and , including phrases like, "crushing turts" and "stomp a turty" and a comparison of Mario to Dr. Pepper. The writer also uses the word "perchance" incorrectly throughout. The post gained over 611,000 likes and 69,000 retweets in 10 months (shown below).

Everyone knows Mario is cool as f--k. But who knows what he's thinking? Who knows why he crushes turtles? And why do we think about him as fondly as we think of the mystical (nonexistent?) Dr Pepper? Perchance.

I believe it was Kant who said "Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play." Mario exhibits experience by crushing turts all day, but he exhibits theory by stating "Lets-a go!" Keep it up, baby!

When Mario leaves his place of safety to stomp a turty, he knows that he may Die. And yet, for a man who can purchase lives with money, a life becomes a mere store of value. A tax that can be paid for, much as a rich man feels any law with a fine is a price. We think of Mario as a hero,but he is simply a one percenter of a more privileged variety. The lifekind. Perchance.

Spread

On February 18th, 2022, the day the post was made, multiple Twitter^[2][3] users commented memes referencing it under the post, many based on the phrase "you can't just say 'perchance'" (examples shown below, left and right). On the same day, the text of the essay was posted to /r/copypasta,^[4] gaining roughly 30 upvotes in 10 months.

On February 19th, Elon Musk seemingly shared the post on Twitter,^[5] writing, "Wario term paper," then deleted it. On the same day, YouTuber^[6] Seedy posted a voiced-over version of the meme, garnering over 36,000 views in 10 months (shown below). On February 20th, a meme referencing the essay was posted to /r/whenthe,^[7] garnering over 430 upvotes in the same span of time.

On February 22nd, Instagram^[8] user turtle.meme.god posted a voiced-over version of the essay, garnering over 220,000 views in 10 months. It was posted to YouTube^[9] that day, garnering over 197,000 views in the same span of time. On February 24th, Phil Jamesson posted a video to YouTube^[10] about the essay and sequel culture, confirming it's fake, garnering over 170,000 views in 10 months (shown below, left). On February 27th, YouTuber^[11] Jeaney Collects posted a voiced-over version of the essay, garnering over 1.9 million views in 10 months (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References