The Real Reason We Love Our Internet Son, Gavin.
This little boy went from being known by a few people on vine to quickly going viral for his dramatic facial expressions and personality. Before you knew it you found yourself scrolling through a rabbit hole of Gavin’s “Best vines” and later on sharing the screenshots and jokes with your friends. But what exactly did Gavin do to be loved so quickly and by so many? Why did the internet take so much pleasure in this new addition to the list of memes?
First, let me briefly examine with you the history of memes. Memes have been around forever, the first definition of a “meme” was defined as “a package that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission or a unit of imitation”. The OG memes took the forms of movie quotes, catchphrases, and jokes. Over time the main thing that has changed surrounding memes is how fast they are shared among groups of people, and how rapidly they grow.
Now, let's look at where Gavin came from. He first made appearances in his uncle Nick Mastodon vines, who was one of the first people to gain vast popularity on vine. He would often post videos of his 2 (and later on 3-year-old) nephew for no particular reason, other than the fact that he was there at the right time.
From all these vines and more, the foundation for his stardom was set.
In today's day and age, Gavin is what we call an Internet Meme; he is a cultural symbol that is virtually spread by those of us on the internet because it resonates with us.
But the question still remains, how did he garnish the popularity that he has today? I mean, it is not the first time we have seen a kid being cute or funny on the internet (for example my all-time favourite “Charlie bit my finger” kid, or this little cutie).
But see, those were just “one-hit wonder” kids. Yeah, yeah, SURE, they are cute or whatever, but Gavin still completely outlasted them all, and became so much more than viral video, he became apart of online culture. When people began sharing his facial expressions matched up with relatable captions, everything changed. See if we get technical, a vine video by itself is not a meme until it has been shared enough times and reached a mass audience who can all identify it; whether it be from a quote, a screenshot or any other form of reference. The Gavin meme took the form of pictures, videos, and many edits. When people see these and they understand the reference it gives them a feeling of being in the loop. When they see everyone else laughing at the same joke, of course, people are going to be more inclined to share the joke. The more people share it, the more times you see the content on your timeline until finally you share it too and find your own reason for relating to the joke (because we love to feed our big fat egos while reassuring ourselves that we have the BEST humour!).
Now that we understand why Gavin is classified as a meme, I am going to go ahead and break down why Gavin as a meme worked so perfectly. We must keep in mind that memes are not a science, they are an art, and like all art, they should come naturally and not be forced; people see right through the fake. On the internet, most people are drawn towards funny content that targets their emotions (the cute kid’s expressions) and is rooted in some form of truth (the captions).
So to answer the question, we love Gavin because of how natural the whole concept is, he is just a kid being himself. Little kids are full of surprises but they are also super bad actors, and it's clear when a child has been put up to do something. (It is also disrespectful trying to pass off scripted videos as being authentically funny, shame on you!!!! ) You can’t simply sit down and formulate a joke, scenario, or phrase on paper and expect it to transcend the same way when you tell a kid to do it. No matter how funny it is or relatable the joke is if you try to capture a fake moment that is supposed to communicate as having happened in “real-time”, chances are it is not going to be funny and instead look lame.
Again, we loved all the content because every vine was his genuine reaction. His uncle explained that when he noticed people were enjoying Gavin’s facial expressions, he began to find different silly situations to put Gavin in, in order to capture his authentic face afterwards, and from there the rest all happened very organically. By not trying to be funny and instead just filming Gavin being himself, people felt the authenticity and it just made whatever situation Gavin was in even funnier. We also love Gavin because of how versatile of a meme he became. There were so many vines of Gavin making different faces, meaning there was so much content people could screenshot and in the end this also played a factor in Gavin’s success because now there truly is a reaction picture for everything.
But more than just providing us with quality content, his family made sure to take advantage of his cuteness. His mom and Nick constantly post pictures and updates of Gavin’s life and the internet loves it because he triggers happy emotions. At first, they used their own twitters, but now there is a whole page just for Gavin! This whole situation has opened a whole new realm of opportunities for this kid, it is insane. This tactic of keeping us in the loop also helped leverage success as a result of it keeping Gavin fresh in our minds (and hearts) not by giving us more videos but simply sharing bits of his life with us which feels special. Their regular postings ensured survival past the usual life span of a meme, 1–30 days. (seriously, last year people made meme calendars because every week there was a new meme trending and old ones being forgotten).
In the end, the simple reason that Gavin resonated with so many to this day (he started appearing in vines in 2013) was not because his faces were perfectly calculated to show what they thought people wanted to see, or followed a module on “how to meme yourself .” In fact, it’s the complete opposite. It’s a result of how effortlessly his popularity came to be. Gavin and his family experienced success and were able to capitalize on Gavin by staying humble and real. Gavin is just one example of the power of the internet. The users are what turns something/someone into a meme not the content of the meme itself. So remember kids, we don’t love Gavin because he is a meme, Gavin is a meme because we love him.
@ Andreamejiia
