Module 5: Beloved Bad Luck Brian
meme — noun \ˈmēm\
an idea, behaviour, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture <Memes (discrete units of knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life. Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes. — Richard Dawkins> Source: Merriam-Webster
Memes are a part of Internet culture. It’s almost impossible to use the Internet and not see or interact with a meme. I remember having to explain to my mom what a meme was a couple of years ago, and it was not an easy task. Ultimately, a meme is a piece of media that is remixed by users, and spread around the Internet.
While there are hundreds and thousands of memes online, Bad Luck Brian is one of the most notorious, as it was shared on Reddit in 2012, and was one of the pioneers of the modern meme world. Bad Luck Brian’s real name is Kyle Craven, and he resides in Ohio. In 2012, his friend Ian Davies posted Kyle’s high school yearbook photo on Reddit and it went viral (Corcoran, 2015).
In an interview with the Washington Post, Kyle stated “picture days were always fun days for me” (Contrera, 2015). He went to his local thrift store to buy a plaid sweater vest, and went to the school gym to line up for his photo. He rubbed his face to make it red, squinted his eyes, puffed out his jaw and took what he thought was a “pure genius photo” (Contrera, 2015).
Kyle’s principal did not find his school photo funny. When the photos were released, she came up to him and said, “Picture retake day is tomorrow. You are expected to be there” (Contrera, 2015).
For five years, Bad Luck Brian has been shared, remixed, and shared again all over the Internet. Below are some popular Bad Luck Brian memes.
Over the last five years, Kyle has been asked to let people use his picture for advertisements in Germany, Chile, Poland and Puerto Rico, and has even been in advertising campaigns for Volkswagen (Contrera, 2015). Between licensing deals and merchandise, he estimates he’s made between $15,000 and $20,000 off Bad Luck Brian so far (Corcoran, 2015).
It does not seem like Bad Luck Brian is going away anytime soon. While some memes have a short lifespan, Kyle’s face doesn’t seem like it will disappear from the Internet anytime soon.
References
Contrera, Jessica. 2015. Being Bad Luck Brian: When the meme that made you famous starts to fade away. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/being-bad-luck-brian-when-the-meme-that-made-you-famous-starts-to-fade-away/2015/01/05/07cbf6ac-907c-11e4-a412-4b735edc7175_story.html?utm_term=.39dec326dd03
Corcoran, Kieran. 2015. Whatever happened to ‘Bad Luck Brian’? Man whose yearbook photo became ubiquitous meme reveals how fame scored him dates and $20,000 in cash… but then his luck changed. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2899278/How-face-Bad-Luck-Brian-actually-church-builder-called-Kyle-20-000-goofy-yearbook-photo-seen-luck-run-out.html#ixzz4ZXjPJULe