Contextualization
“[It] is not that television is entertaining but that it has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience. […] The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining.” -Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Futurama’s Fry meme interests me because it brings to light many outrageous paths our brain can take us when analyzing things. The first popular usage of the meme included the text “Not sure if trolling, or just stupid”. This first meme highlights a common thought process when reading ridiculous things on the internet. The meme has adapted and taken on political issues, relationship issues, and even financial issues among many others. This blog is organized with older meme variations in the earliest posts, with newer variations being at the top. Here is a collection of many of my favorite adaptations the meme has taken. Fry and many other characters of Futurama have since been made into several memes, usually based off quotes from the show. I found that this meme related to Neil Postman’s views because Futurama has become an extremely successful show that parodies many current issues affecting society. In many ways our cartoons and memes have become a primary source of news.