The meme I will be analyzing is entitled “Evil Kermit,” where Kermit the Frog is seen facing his nemesis who in part tells him to make the clearly wrong or bad decision in whatever situation Kermit put himself in. Evil Kermit is shown in a black cloak covering his eyes facing Kermit as shown below.
This photo comes from the Muppet comedy film Muppets Most Wanted in 2014, where Kermit is confronted with his “look-a-like Constantine dressed in a black cloak” (Know Your Meme). Two years after the movie’s release in 2016, the twitter account @aaannnnyyyyaaaa posted the meme that started it all:
The idea surrounding this tweet is similar to the devil and angel metaphor where there is a good decision and a bad decision. In the context of this tweet, the “devil” would be the Kermit in the black hood, always trying to convince Kermit to make the decision that goes against what Kermit originally wants or believes in.
After this meme was posted in 2016, it gained instant popularity. Naturally, other versions of this meme began to reach the surface. In fact, the next day after this meme was originally posted, “Twitter user @PinkMiruku posted an Evil Kermit who instructs her to skip class, receiving upwards of 12,200 likes and 10,200 retweets over the next eight days (shown below, left). On November 8th, 2016, Twitter user @kenihanas tweeted the picture along with a caption about feeling tempted to spend his saved money (shown below, right)” (Know Your Meme).
This meme has spread so popular and onto multiple social media applications. I have seen examples of this meme of Twitter, Instagram and also Facebook. Because this meme is not that complicated to understand, it reaches a wide audience and can be used for different age cohorts and in different scenarios. It also brings a sense of nostalgia for some because Kermit the Frog is a very popular character from the Muppet Show, a show that many people know from when they were children. To see Kermit struggle with different dilemmas created by social media users creates a sense of unity in that it is collectively funny and sharable.
This post has also morphed to different characters from The Muppets. There is also a strain of memes called “Evil Miss Piggy” where it is the same setup as evil Kermit however, it is Miss Piggy under the black hood facing herself. An example of this is shown below:
This modification of the Evil Kermit tweet was also wildly popular and especially for references regarding specific female situation, for Miss Piggy is a female herself.
I believe the main purpose of this meme is simply comedic. Each meme of Evil Kermit displays a scenario that is light-hearted or comical that most people either think of or face on a daily basis, so it is very relatable. In my own efforts, I tweeted my own meme of Evil Kermit shown below:
Works Cited:
Know Your Meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/evil-kermit
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