And going off this gene correlation, the key term for me in determining whether or not to consider something a meme is mutation, or more accurately, mutability. In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins first coined the term “meme” to describe a culturally transmitted unit - in a sense, what the gene is to genetics, only for culture. In doing said research, I also realized that the internet loves the term “meme” but also has a very loose concept of what it actually refers to, which is all very well and good until you’re trying to put together a ranked list and have to come up with eligibility criteria. I spoke to my FSR colleagues and put out a general call for submissions to the denizens of Twitter, the replies to which were all considered in the shaping of this list. So, putting two and two together, I decided it was high time that we publish a definitive list of the best movie-sourced memes out there on the interwebs. Now, here at Film School Rejects, movies are kind of our thing, and we live on the internet, the land of memes.
They come from everywhere - news stories, stock photos, classical art (here’s looking at you, Joseph Ducreux), and, of course, movies. They are the veritable lifeblood of social media as we know it. This article is part of Movie Memes Week.
