Is this a pigeon? - Regina Manyara

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Is this a Pigeon - Meme Analysis


One of my favourite memes is the “Is this a Pigeon” meme, originally featuring a character from a Japanese anime, pointing to a butterfly and asking if it is a pigeon. 


The shot used in the meme originated from the 1991 “The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird”, in which the android character Yutaro Katori incorrectly labels different parts of nature in an attempt to show how much he has learned about earth. The shot was first posted on Tumblr by the user Indizi dell'avvenuta catastrofe on December 6th 2011 and from there it gained popularity, appearing on different websites such as, AnimeUltima.tv, Smosh and Buzzfeed. 


But it was in 2018 when it reappeared that its current form gained popularity. The shot became more situational, appearing in different variation depending on the topic it is being used for. The first of these variations was posted on April 26th 2018 by Twitter user romiosini, who changed the butterfly to “any makeup look without red lipstick” and the pigeon to “bare face”, with Yutaro Katori being labelled as all men. Illustrating how men have a tendency to think that bare face is just any look without makeup. From that the meme has become a great way of depicting a person or groups confusion or wrong opinion about a certain topic. Ironic since the origins of this meme is usually understood incorrectly. People think that it is the product of mistranslation but is actually what is said in the show. 





In Jack Bratich’s “Occupy all the Dispositifs: Memes, Media Ecologies, and Emergent Bodies Politic", he looks at Paolo Virno’s explanation of the structure of a joke, giving it more than aesthetic qualities, but contextual factors as well among other things. The structure of a joke can be turned into something which “undermines and contradicts the prevalent belief-system of a community” (Bratich, 2014), which is exactly what can be done with the “Is this a Pigeon meme”. Because of the format of the meme, it works best in “calling out” someone’s incorrect beliefs. Be it politically or culturally, the meme is good at illustrating some of the inconsistent beliefs in our society. 


-Regina Manyara


Work Cited

Bratich, J. (2014). Occupy All the Dispositifs: Memes, Media Ecologies, and Emergent Bodies Politic. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 11(1), p. 65 doi:10.1080/14791420.2013.827351

Miluk. (2015). Is This a Pigeon?. Know Your Meme. Retrieved 10 October 2020, from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/is-this-a-pigeon.










Comments

  1. RosanaOctober 14, 2020 at 11:10 PM

    Wonderful entry Regina. I love how well these memes humorously capture the structure of feeling of a generation! This meme (which I didn't know, thanks for sharing!), makes me think of how much meaning a simple mutation of a trope or a random image, can encapsulate. It also makes me think of how important knowing the original context is, so that the re-configuration of that context can be humorous.

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