Gotta Meme 'em All: Genetics and Smugleaf
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When something is popular, what do people tend to do about it? They talk about it, of course. These days it happens particularly on the internet, whose capability of providing instant communication between people separated by entire oceans is often used to share drawings of cartoon characters accompanied by lines of humorous text. Most people like to call these "internet memes".
Pokémon is popular. There is no denying it; this multimedia franchise is nearing its 20th anniversary in the next couple of years and has touched the hearts of countless children and adults alike. The franchise's newest video games, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, sold over 3 million copies worldwide in their first week, while other video games for the Nintendo 3DS which are considered popular have been on the market for years and have not sold anywhere near this many copies in their entire lifespan. So "popular" is a more than accurate adjective describing Pokémon.
"Meme" is a term first coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene to refer to how a gene might possibly acquire traits by being transferred culturally rather than through biological replication.
| “ Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. ” | ||
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This word is derived from the Greek word "mimeme", which means "imitated thing". A meme, as explained in Dawkins' book, is any behavior, idea, or trend that is transferred from one human to another.
Nowadays, when someone uses the word meme, it is most likely in reference to a picture, video or story seen on the internet, which is typically produced and shared online to provide people with humor. Many memes can be compared to a virus; they infect the internet, spread through it and eventually die out (lose prevalence). Although some internet memes are created solely for the purpose of being internet memes, many originate from other media, such as television, movies, video games, etc.
Almost anything that is (or was) popular in today's culture has been made into a meme in some way, shape, or form. One good example of this is a screencap from the episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants "Band Geeks" in which the character Patrick Star is shown raising his hand and asking, "Is mayonnaise an instrument?" The text is often altered to say other humorous quips, just as many image macros are.
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Just as most popular media has spread like wildfire on the internet in the form of a meme, Pokémon has been on many occasions. Whether referencing an absurd line of text from the video games, or making fun of a character for their annoying personality, or even having no clear origin and spreading due to its bizarre appearance, Pokémon internet memes are many in number. In this column, the most notable memes will be covered, with their origins and diffusions on the internet being explained.
Smugleaf
Smugleaf was a name given by the English-speaking Pokémon fandom to the Grass-type starter Pokémon of the then-unreleased games Pokémon Black and White Versions.
An episode of the Japanese television program Pokémon Sunday (later succeeded by Pokémon Smash!, then Pokémon Get☆TV) which aired on May 9, 2010 showcased the three starter Pokémon of the new video games, Pokémon Black and White Versions. As this was aired in Japan and the games' release date in Japan was before the release dates in other regions, the English localized names of the starters were not known at the time. Ideas began to spread around the internet as to what the English localized names would be, and one that took hold in the English-speaking fandom was that Tsutarja, the Grass-type starter Pokémon, should be named Smugleaf.
The fan-made concept for this Pokémon's nomenclature was that it is a Grass type, explaining the word "leaf", and that it had a cocksure look on its face, hence the word "smug". This became popular among the Pokémon fandom and arguably became what many call a "forced meme". A forced meme is when an idea for a meme is used repeatedly by a small group of people in hopes of having it catch on, but the attempt usually fails as it is used to the point of aggravating many others. Despite this, there were others who believed that Smugleaf was the next big thing, and often used it to troll, or annoy, others.
| “ ...what's so special about this Pokemon, you ask? Unlike the other Pokemon, Smugleaf is a Pokemon full of win. It has so much win, Some Argue that it is the new Mudkipz, despite it not being as kawaii as Mudkip. And some say that its better than Mudkipz. Yes, a Pokemon that even outranks Mudkip. With it, Nintendo has successfully created the world's first Troll type Pokemon. ” | ||
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This meme met its demise when the Unova starter Pokémon's English localized names were revealed, with the Grass-type starter Pokémon's name being Snivy. Due to the overexposure it caused, a Kotaku article published about it is also thought to have caused it to die.
Smugleaf is still used on the internet on occasion, although with far less prevalence; it is now most often used as a rage face, or "smugface".
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Closing
This was the first article in a column on Pokémon memes. Articles in the future will provide more in-depth explanations on the origins and spread of various Pokémon memes. If you have any suggestions as to what future articles should feature, as well as any general questions, comments, and criticism, the author can be contacted here.
References
- Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene - The full text can be found online here
- Richard Dawkins on the internet's hijacking of the word 'meme' - Wired
- Richard Dawkins - Know Your Meme
- Smugleaf/Snivy - Know Your Meme
- Smugleaf - Encyclopædia Dramatica (NSFW)
- Smugleaf: A Meme in the Making - Kotaku
- http://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
