Memes began with making fun of life, a way of communicating and introducing an internet culture and bonhomie, something that is not just for the millennials.
There’s something for everybody. What began with Good Guy Greg, Bad Luck Brian, Me Gusta etc, there are memes that have become even more specific. There are some meme pages that champion the cause of feminism. But the higher number of meme pages cater to sexist, misogynistic pop cultural references. The meme pages, particularly those based on Kollywood actors and actresses, is, for a lack of a better term, crass.
Most of these meme creators, ardent fans of the actors, make a meme-version of whatever acts their favourite stars glorify in their films. For instance, Sivakarthikeyan, the star of Remo, glorified stalking as a form of courting the person you love. And soon enough, he earned a trove of fans who decided to immortalise their idol’s sayings through memes. Sometimes they use stills from their films with deep quotes, like this one:
18839555_449399635420458_4968354022774005959_o
As a regular user of social media, one does get tired of calling out the blatant sexism and everything troubling in these memes. However, there are some who call out these fans coming in with their own brand of humour.
A page that started out a few years ago, Mystic Tamil is a popular Facebook page with the profile image of a “keyboard nayagan“. Here’s the thing, once you are on MT’s page, you cannot go back. In their ‘About Me’ section, they declare that there’s a lot of humour and plenty of sarcasm. Hilarious fictional stories on actors along with a glossary of terms you need to be familiar with to understand their page better. It’s not for everybody, especially the volatile, easily offended fans.
Along with their wry sense of humuor, the administrators of MT call out the kanni pans (pathetic + fans = pans) through fictional stories often loaded with what most of the actors on-screen subscribe to their female counterparts. From Vijay, Suriya, Ajith, Dhanush, Sivakarthikeyan, Jeyam Ravi, and even Bharath, no one’s spared. The page holds actor Prashanth, best known for his performance in Jeans, quite dearly. Innumerable stories on how the once famous actor tries to revive his career to his interactions with Abbas, there’s a lot going here.
More than anything, the administrators of the page roast a celebrity’s fan who goes at length to defend their actors.
Another meme page that comes pretty close to roasting the fans and Kollywood actors is ‘Admit It. We Exist’. Its name originates from those memes that begin with these words, usually by engineering students and often to do with girls. Again, these memes include stills from films and are filled with what they call “deep and profound” quotes or facts of life. Something like these:
This page, too, choose to point out the obvious in these troubling memes as opposed to make stories like their other counterpart Mystic Tamil.
The misogyny reeking from those memes are also addressed. Unsurprisingly, they feature the same stars who propagate misogyny in their films.
Dank Thamizhan, another meme page, likes to roast the good people of Kollywood with humour that’s darker and less obvious. Not something you’d get on the first try.
Considering a film like Vivegam, filled with over-the-top action sequences and hyperbole, the page pitted its director Siva and AR Murugadoss in terms of logic in their films win this meme.
Or who’s ruining Tamil films now:
Or Rajinikanth’s vague response on entering politics:
They don’t really call out misogyny much considering their page has a dedicated number of memes ogling at popular actresses. They do make an exception, sometimes:
These meme pages, with a sense of humour and calling out everything that’s wrong in Kollywood, balances things, even though they’re handful in number. Memes that call out Bollywood are also usually limited to Buzzfeed India and Feminist Bollywood Gifs. But it’s a start, nevertheless. In the time of cartoonists getting arrested for making fun of politicians and other people in the news, one resorts to memes.
Back when Oviya was on Bigg Boss Tamil and was the favourite contestant, meme followers witnessed a surge in number and quality, supporting a top female candidate who was popular for more than just her looks.
If anything, memes are tantamount to pop culture. To some, it’s a form of expression. To others, it’s a form of dissent, an outlet. And what’s better than calling out Kollywood and its troubling premises with a sense of humour?
