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I’d say virgin-chad is on border between complex and chaotic, as is screaming woman vs cat (they’re the same idea) “One does not simply walk into Mordor” is complicated Yes chad/Nordic gamer is obvious
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Didn’t notice until just now, but most memes with trad sensibilities tend to be in the obvious quadrant. They point to best practices in a sense-categorize-respond mode, and maintain a chaos-oblivious posture.
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Obvious = deny disorder Complicated = try to overcome disorder Complex = subvert attempts at order Chaos = embrace disorder Center = embody disorder
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How it started/how it’s going is complex quadrant Interestingly, memes don’t convey irony well because they have a context-free/global context character. To the extent a meme can be deployed ironically, you have to suggest irony via accompanying context and subtext.
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Extending to other media, all explainers are complicated quadrant. Most of Substack is complicated quadrant. Besides memes, most media tend to have a single quadrant locus. Blog posts sometimes span all 4 though, which is why they can go viral in ways newsletters tend not to.
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Many memes try to traverse all 4 and end in chaos. Expanding brain is best example of this. Small brain = obvious, Galaxy brain = chaos.
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Memes have turned into our primary sense-making medium for a good reason. Most media have QA criteria that force them into one quadrant. Essays and books tend to have a one-quadrant voice that determines their genre classification. Blog posts can escape but it takes real effort.
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