deep fried memes as faux patina
june 2024
in response to a crisp image of rapper teezo touchdown surrounded by skull emojis and generic viral-friendly phrases, twitter user @foursinmyfanta quoted with their thoughts: way too high quality to be funny man.
although we dont discuss it much, there is something endearing about a low-quality image. there is humour in seeing recent memes and trends covered in layers of saturation, distortion, and noise. i think that's why we remain drawn to low-quality, retro-looking deep fried memes and their associated anachronism (anachronisticity?).
according to digital archive knowyourmeme.com (whos clickbait-y ux/ui is unfortunately like if every other shelf in the library of alexandria was replaced with a giant billboard selling viagra), deep fried memes are a style of meme wherein an image is run through dozens of filters to the point where the image appears grainy, washed-out, and strangely colored. the yellow-ish, low-quality resolution that defines deep fried memes can only be achieved naturally through being screen shot and reposted ad nauseum; in other words, a true deep fried meme requires time.
in w. david marx's book status and culture, he writes about patina, a layer of 'visual proof of age in possessions' favoured by old money individuals looking to distinguish their preferences from the flash of new money. he writes that historical value has appeal because of survivorship bias; anything that remains with us today is assumed to have greater intrinsic value. a bracelet accumulating a layer of gritty patina over time is infinitely more valuable than a fake gold-plated wrist-piece.
in the same vein, i think humans are more likely to enjoy spreading a deep fried meme because it evokes a sense of antiquity. upon seeing an image drenched in distortion, we may think it is more valuable than it really is, since looks like its been shared and enjoyed so many times in the past - or at least, it exudes the illusion that others find it funny enough to reshare, so we should too.
it has been, to use a colloquial term, ran through.
nowadays, free services like meme deep fryer allow users to add a built-in faux patina to their image, bypassing the years of recirculation needed to make a meme appear genuinely deep fried. this is akin to the etsy seller promoting copper vases 'aged to perfection' using paint as believable patina. in both cases, the producer and consumer are reciprocally engaged in an act of suspended disbelief; they must pretend that the end product has aged naturally and gracefully, even when it hasn't.
deep fried memes reached their official peak in 2018. 6 years later, cool middle schoolers are aura-maxxing and schizo-posting freakybob using ironic papyrus and rio de janeiro filter. but we still circulate deep fried memes, and their legacy will remain with us forever -- or at least until their value digitally wears off.
