Life & Culture / Dazed Review 2020Life & Culture / Dazed Review 2020Take our quiz: Which 2020 meme are you?Which weird internet moment summed up your year?ShareLink copied ✔️December 20, 2020December 20, 2020Text Alex Peters <section><h2><h2>Which 2020 Meme Are You?</h2></h2><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-cf2ada5d-7fff-5215-fdf2-fdb868ad7099"><em>Hello you cool cats and Furbies, I hope this quiz finds you on fire. Just before we start, did you know you have a fly on your head? Nature is healing, Mike Pence is the virus.</em></p><p dir="ltr"><em>You are going to take part in a quiz that is so fun. Have you got everything you need? Here you go again, saying you want your Ocean Spray and tu pan. Now you need to go to the toilet? I am once again asking that you wait until later. Oh fine, go piss girl. Remember to sing Happy Birthday afterwards. Marie Antoinette will want you to have clean hands before she lets you eat crocs.</em></p><p dir="ltr">2020. A year that started off optimistically, brimming with hope for a new decade, then quickly descended into chaos and adversity. Our respite? Memes. Memes were our humour, our sanctuary, our pressure valve when things got too much. A mirror to our discordant times they reflected the collective mood back to us. They were surreal in surreal circumstances, delirious when we felt delirious. They contained the multitudes we contain – a mélange of pop culture references, politics, thwarted plans, inane imagery, a sense of global calamity. Memes were a way to both embrace and process the chaos we were experiencing. The more absurd the circumstances, the more they thrived.</p><p dir="ltr">Memes were a way to stay in touch, a shared cultural reference point to relate to each other in isolation. Although we were cut off physically from the outside world, we have never experienced anything more collectively and we experienced the majority of it on the internet. Sometimes the only way to get through despair is humour and memes were a laugh in the face of social collapse. If not always a deep belly laugh, then at least a hysterical chuckle. </p><p dir="ltr">So which weird 2020 meme are you? Take this quiz to find out.</p></p></section><section><h2><h2><strong>Everything is Cake</strong></h2></h2><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-0c432628-7fff-dabd-5483-1e78e41341a6">Congratulations, you’re having an existential crisis! You don’t know who you are or what you are or what’s going on anymore or whether any of it has any meaning anyway. Although, really, does anyone?</p><p dir="ltr">It all started over the summer when a compilation video featuring various <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/49810/1/why-are-we-suddenly-obsessed-hyper-realistic-non-cake-cakes-disguise">hyper-realistic cakes</a> by Turkish baker Tuba Geçkìl went viral. As we watched everything from Crocs and soap to potted plants and chicken breast being cut into and revealed as cake, doubts began to creep into our minds and we were forced to collectively ask ourselves the question – are <em>we</em> cake?</p><p dir="ltr">The Everything is Cake meme hit us all particularly hard because it came at a time when we could no longer rely on the structures and social rituals that have held society together for so long. News was fake. Time was a loose concept. People were cakes. Nothing felt certain anymore and no one knew who or what to trust. And toilet paper being revealed to be cake was both the perfect metaphor for 2020 and, for many people, the final straw.</p></p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>Jane Lynch</strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-14cca9b9-7fff-30c9-b328-3f41211eb988">Congratulations, you are an environment that is so toxic! Just like male comedians, the beauty community, the cast of <em>Glee</em>, plastic, Fleetwood Mac while recording <em>Rumours</em>, and, of course, 2020 itself, you are emotionally unhealthy, detrimental to the wellbeing of others, and full of negative vibes. </p><p dir="ltr">The Jane Lynch “I am going to” meme first appeared in June and quickly became popular as people shared all the things that are creating toxic environments at the moment – and there are many. The meme then morphed into something entirely new as people began to edit, expand, adapt, and change the text and meaning of the original image to suit any scenario at all, from ABBA to the Rainforest Cafe. Like a virus, it kept reappearing in different iterations and mutations, the only common thread holding them all together being Lynch’s antagonistic, authoritative expression and that neon pink tracksuit. </p><p dir="ltr">Now, the meme has emerged in its final form – as a blank diary page onto which we can spill our innermost secrets, fears, and monologues. A collective therapy session at the end of a strange year. </p></p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>Mike Pence</strong>’<strong>s Fly<br /></strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-aa48e928-7fff-227a-4964-1bf26055c4e9">Congratulations, you are the fly on Mike Pence’s head! You enjoy attention and taking centre stage especially if it comes by way of stealing the spotlight from someone else. </p><p dir="ltr">The 2020 US election was unbearably long and painfully nasty, so when the chance for a moment of respite and light relief presented itself people jumped on it. It all started around an hour into the VP presidential debate between vice president Mike Pence and senator Kamala Harris, when <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/50703/1/a-roundup-of-the-buzziest-mike-pence-fly-memes">a fly landed on Pence’s head</a> and remained for exactly two minutes and three seconds. Did the fly just want a front row seat to the debate or was it attracted to Pence’s rotting corpse of a soul? Impossible to tell. What we do know is our six-legged comrade proceeded to launch a million memes.<br /></p>By the end of the evening, Twitter accounts claiming to be the fly had popped up in their hundreds. The fly was offered a three-picture deal with Universal. It had an agent. Was booked for an appearance on <em>the Ellen Show</em>. The Biden campaign added a fly swatter to its merchandise. Meme’s collided with a mashup of the fly skatingboarding to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/50694/1/tiktok-skater-from-viral-fleetwood-mac-dreams-video-gifted-a-car-by-ocean-spray">a la Nathan Apodaca</a>. And for a brief, shining moment we all felt joy. </p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>Mi Pan<br /></strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-b11390fa-7fff-a08e-30e3-62c0cc255f26">Congratulations, you have completely dissociated from reality! But you are having a great time regardless! </p><p dir="ltr">A surreal and unprecedented year called for equally surreal memes and that’s exactly what we got with Mi Pan. Mi Pan started off life as a Russian jingle for Kellogg's cereal Miel Pops. The song was then covered by musician @chernaya.princessa, a remix of which was used to soundtrack a clip of a llama sensually dancing on its hind legs in a ghostly desert while bathed in red light. Based on that description alone, you won’t need me to tell you <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/science-tech/article/50012/1/mi-pan-su-su-su-the-weirdest-memes-of-the-viral-russian-advert-song-miel-pops">it quickly went viral</a>. </p><p dir="ltr">Mi Pan emerged from the strange deep, dark recesses of TikTok to enjoy mainstream success, thanks, in part, to what an undeniable banger the song is. But also because of how undeniably nonsensical and bizarre it is. At a time when nothing makes sense in a complicated way, what a welcome relief it was to experience something that openly threw logic out the window and didn't make sense in an upfront way. </p><p dir="ltr">It’s been a hard year and sometimes it takes disconnecting from the world to enjoy yourself and have a moment of surreal fun.</p></p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>Gossip Girl<br /></strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-027775e8-7fff-ddc9-528f-461d7e448d33">Congratulations, you’re delirious! Your brain is buttery smooth and mentally you’re reached that exquisite state when you’ve been awake for too long and everything is funny in a hysterical kind of way.</p><p dir="ltr">The month was April. Many of us were into our second month of lockdown. Nothing was normal. Everything was overwhelming and surreal, although the harsh reality of the pandemic was finally settling in. News, theories, and rumours were swirling endlessly, constantly, 24/7. Our brains were overloaded, overstimulated and in their fragile state they couldn’t cope with anything too sophisticated or complex. Enter <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/48778/1/best-gossip-girl-memes-twitter-blair-waldorf-serena-van-der-woodsen-instagram">the <em>Gossip Girl</em> meme</a>. </p><p dir="ltr">The Gossip Girl meme follows a simple formula. You’ve got Blake Lively AKA Serena van der Woodsen at the top and Leighton Meester’s Blair Waldorf on the bottom. Serena asks a question and Blair responds using the rearranged letters of the show’s title. The meme is simple and absurd, dumb humour that will make you laugh despite yourself, that will make you feel a bit delirious which is why it was the perfect meme for early lockdown when we all felt delirious anyway. </p><p dir="ltr">As time went on, the questions and answers became increasingly silly and we all collectively fell into hysteria. Peppa who?</p></p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>Billie Eilish<br /></strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-47d00169-7fff-2d64-2e2a-d9058fe757ef">Congratulations, you are unimpressed with the state of the world! Like Billie Eilish bearing witness to the Gen X-ers of the Oscars ceremony, you are variously puzzled, unenthused, and confused as hell by those in charge and the way they are going about running things.</p><p dir="ltr">Back in February when award ceremonies were still business as usual, 18-year-old Eilish attended the Oscars and was seemingly quite taken aback by the strange customs of the older generations. When Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph launched into a musical medley while presenting an award, the camera cut to Eilish who looked absolutely baffled. In fact, every time we cut to her she had a different, disbelieving ‘Ok, Boomer’ expression and it was perfect. </p><p dir="ltr">The poster child for every member of Gen Z who doesn’t understand Boomer attitudes to climate change, who doesn’t understand why Millennials are always talking about their Hogwarts house and saying ‘doggo’, Eilish gave us the ultimate reaction meme and made everyone born before the year 2001 feel cringingly uncool. </p></p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>Bernie Sanders<br /></strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-32cb6b13-7fff-7150-c03f-1a530c29ab03">Congratulations, you are once again trying to do what’s best for everyone despite no one listening to you and people not caring for their own best interests! You’re tired but you keep trying because, like Bernie, you believe humanity is worth saving. </p><p dir="ltr">The 2020 US election was endlessly long and nightmarish and sometimes the only positivity that could be found in it was the memes. From Mike Pence’s fly to Blue Georgia, the election inspired a deluge of memes many of which, particularly at the beginning of the year, centred around Senator Bernie Sanders. Perhaps this was due to his youthful voter-base who have a penchant for turning everything into memes or perhaps the senator just naturally lends himself to being a comedy icon, who can tell. </p><p dir="ltr">The most enduring Bernie meme came from a call to action from Sanders to help garner fundraising and support for his campaign. He tweeted a video of himself wearing a warm winter coat against a snowy backdrop asking for donations in his trademark east coast accent. “I am once again asking for your financial support,” he said. The internet was inspired, inserting their various wants and needs and leaving them in the safe hands of Bernie. </p></p></section><section><h3><h2><strong>My Plans/2020</strong></h2></h3><p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-239dd3ea-7fff-4f6a-3982-10e89763dab6">Congratulations, you are doing your best! Like many of the plans we had for 2020, you have been disappointed. You have been thwarted. But you aren’t going to give up. You are going to persevere despite the odds and continue to find humour in bleak conditions.</p><p dir="ltr">We all had a lot of plans for 2020. We started this year brimming with optimism. A new decade! The roaring ‘20s round two! The Great Gatsby with WiFi and less murder! We quickly found out, however, the year had different plans for us and would derail just about every good thing we had going.</p><p dir="ltr">Like many memes this year, My Plans/2020 is about dashed hopes, thwarted expectations, and the emotional toll that the year has taken. A self-aware nod to these chaotic times. However, despite the bleak circumstances, the meme also is a symbol of how we can find humour in despair, laughter in disappointment. Things may be shit now but they can also be funny and they will be good again. We won’t give up. We will keep up the good fight and keep trying anyway. Mmmm whatcha say?</p></p></section><section><h2><h2> Your friend calls you with a crisis. What do you do?</h2></h2></section><section><h3><h2>You come across a mysterious looking artefact in the desert, what’s the first thing you do? </h2></h3></section><section><h3><h2>You’re at a party - where can you be found?<em></em></h2></h3></section><section><h3><h2>Which Shakespeare character do you most relate to?</h2></h3></section><section><h3><h2>You read a news headline that sounds a bit far fetched. What is your first thought?</h2></h3></section><section><h3><h2>What is your version of self-care?</h2></h3></section> Escape the algorithm! 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