Coming soon: 8 Days of Ryan Gosling
I first learned of the “Feminist Ryan Gosling” meme a few weeks ago when I tried to introduce a friend of mine to “College Freshman.” I made a comment about how if she was unfamiliar with “College Freshman,” she really couldn’t have a good grasp on internet memes in general. She retorted by voicing her approval of FRG, as well as “Judging Spivak.”
Let’s not beat around the bush: neither of these memes is funny. A number of the JS incarnations I’ve seen have made the grave error of using lolcat syntax/spelling in what is clearly an advice animal meme. FRG also bucks conventions by eschewing the standard drop-shadowed Impact font that is almost a memetic universal. Now, there’s a clear functional reason for this; the “bottom text” of FRG memes is often quite verbose, hence there is probably no way to use a sufficiently large drop-shadowed Impact to preserve both the legibility of the text without completely obscuring the underlying image.
These deviations from typical internet conventions are not why these memes are not funny. For the most part, they seek to derive humor from the juxtaposition of academic prose/analysis with pop/internet culture. That can be funny, but perhaps only mildly so, and only the first time it is done. It is insufficient form the basis of a successful meme.
Now, I have to acknowledge that there is one aspect in which FRG is funny. FRG is clearly a derivative of the preceding “Fuck Yeah Ryan Gosling” meme:
See, if you’ve been reading FYRG for a while and come across another picture of Ryan Gosling that starts “Hey girl” you’re gonna expect it to say “Let’s bone” or something to that effect and instead you get a paragraph-length discourse on bodies or subjugation or the Other. (Also note that FYRG uses non-standard meme font, giving further justification to its absence in FRG). And this is a way to make the “pop culture meets Theory” humor that I criticized earlier funny because now you have a well-defined context (FYRG) which is being subverted, and plus you get to feel smart if you get all the academic references, which I don’t. Still, the novelty of FRG should wear off after the first few incarnations.
So maybe I have to retract my earlier statement that FRG is not funny. It is mildly funny, mostly by reference to FYRG. The humor meant to derive from the high/low culture contrast is still forced and shows a lack of understanding of humor, but it’s not as bad as some of the linguistics memes I’ve seen. Moreover, there might be more going on here than meets the eye, something that makes FRG a bit more interesting (if not exactly funny). Some (including my original interlocutor who brought the meme to my attention, Jezebel commenters, etc.) have suggested that the FRG meme is unintentionally (or perhaps intentionally) heteronormative and/or sexist. Take the following example:
On the “Pandering, Sexist Ryan Gosling” interpretation, what we have hear is something like this: You silly girls might act like you have deep commitments to political agendas informed by nuanced analyses of society, but all you really want is a muscly man to stand by you and protect you. And now we a meme that is a parody of a meme, but which also adopts the same attitude as the original meme and is actually a parody of a superficial reading of itself. At this point we’re too far removed for anything to really count as funny or unfunny.
Now you might be thinking, “OK, so I’ve just read a lot about why this guy doesn’t like the ‘Feminist Ryan Gosling’ meme but what does that have to do with the title of this post?” Well, we’re getting there. See, at first I thought FRG was just some fringe thing that was big among Columbia anthro majors. But first hearing of it from my friend who doesn’t understand memes, I overheard my roommate’s sister or girlfriend talking about FRG and then Ryan Gosling more generally, specifically how hot he is. References were made to his status as something like a shadow-Sexiest Man Alive.
And see, this is where it gets interesting. For one, FRG is something to be aware of, at least if you’re a girl. But more importantly, I was curious about the appeal of Ryan Gosling as a man, not a meme. Because I haven’t seen a single movie that he’s starred in and I don’t really get the big deal. I mean, I kind of do get the big deal, or at least I think I do. Here’s what he’s got going for him:
- He’s hot
- He tends to play sensitive types. Somehow I have intuited this without actually seeing him play a leading role in a single movie. But he’s kind of got that sensitive look, most of which is probably in the eyes.
- Despite his sensitivity, he’s not a pussy. He’s ripped and he’ll seriously fuck you up if you mess with him. But he doesn’t have to fuck you up, because he knows how to diffuse a situation with his sweet words (relevant).
These were my suspicions, which were later confirmed by that original interlocutor who introduce me to FRG. Oddly enough, I think this understanding of Ryan Gosling makes the super-meta interpretation of FRG all the more appealing, although still not clearly funny.
But after having my suspicions confirmed, I was seized with doubt. I was wary of taking this information from a self-proclaimed Ryan Gosling fan. Introspection and self-analysis can be deceptive. I wanted some objectivity to hang onto. And so, I have resolved to watch the following films, one per day, until I can reach some objective conclusions about Ryan Gosling:
- The Believer
- The Notebook
- Half Nelson
- Lars and the Real Girl
- Blue Valentine
- Crazy, Stupid Love
- Drive
- The Ides of March
Crazy Stupid Love isn’t really a “Ryan Gosling movie,” but he is in it and I think it will be a nice change of pace after Blue Valentine. Even if I don’t learn anything more about Ryan Gosling’s appeal, I get to watch some movies I’ve been interested in seeing for a while (3, 4, 5, and 7, in particular).
