Half a century ago, Roger Hargreaves, a British author and illustrator, published his series of Mr. Men, where he would draw a picture of a character and label it “Mr. _____.” Now, these books have come back, bringing much laughter and humor.
It all started back in 1971 when Adam Hargreaves, Roger’s eldest son, asked, “What does a tickle look like?” Roger turned this question into one of his new characters, Mr. Tickle, which was one of many other vivid characters Hargreaves had drawn.
Later, Hargreaves would add Little Miss to his collection, a female version of his collection. He began publishing these books, adding to his already 3 million sold with Mr. Men.
Well, how does this relate to us? Recently, an Instagram user, “LittleMissNotesApp”, has drawn much attention and gained almost 2 million followers. This user takes Hargreaves carefully drawn pictures, adds a different title for it, then posts it online for others to relate to. For example, some titles were called “Mr. Vape Cloud” or “Little Miss Aggressive Drunk.”
A 21-year-old Brooklyn woman who runs the account “Juulpuppy” also creates unique-but-relatable titles for her audience. She says, “We get to see cute imaginary versions of ourselves and laugh together at the messy nature of our flawed personalities, which I think is very genuine and sweet.”
In Queens, New York, a writer, by the name of Max Knoblauch, seemed to have done the same thing back in 2014. Knoblauch had put modern captions to Hargreaves’ pictures as well for an article on Mashable.
Many companies and businesses dove into the trend, posting pictures related to their products.
Jamie Cohen of CUNY Queens College is interested in this but has a somewhat different view of the trend. “I do think the corporate trajectory of this meme takes away from its initial pureness,” he says, “I’ve seen so many ads using the format, and many companies and organizations that have caused so much harm to humanity try to jump in on the trend. It has definitely dulled my enthusiasm on the whole trend…It’s a double-edged sword, creating something that can be shaped to fit any identity,”
It all started back in 1971 when Adam Hargreaves, Roger’s eldest son, asked, “What does a tickle look like?” Roger turned this question into one of his new characters, Mr. Tickle, which was one of many other vivid characters Hargreaves had drawn.
Later, Hargreaves would add Little Miss to his collection, a female version of his collection. He began publishing these books, adding to his already 3 million sold with Mr. Men.
Well, how does this relate to us? Recently, an Instagram user, “LittleMissNotesApp”, has drawn much attention and gained almost 2 million followers. This user takes Hargreaves carefully drawn pictures, adds a different title for it, then posts it online for others to relate to. For example, some titles were called “Mr. Vape Cloud” or “Little Miss Aggressive Drunk.”
A 21-year-old Brooklyn woman who runs the account “Juulpuppy” also creates unique-but-relatable titles for her audience. She says, “We get to see cute imaginary versions of ourselves and laugh together at the messy nature of our flawed personalities, which I think is very genuine and sweet.”
In Queens, New York, a writer, by the name of Max Knoblauch, seemed to have done the same thing back in 2014. Knoblauch had put modern captions to Hargreaves’ pictures as well for an article on Mashable.
Many companies and businesses dove into the trend, posting pictures related to their products.
Jamie Cohen of CUNY Queens College is interested in this but has a somewhat different view of the trend. “I do think the corporate trajectory of this meme takes away from its initial pureness,” he says, “I’ve seen so many ads using the format, and many companies and organizations that have caused so much harm to humanity try to jump in on the trend. It has definitely dulled my enthusiasm on the whole trend…It’s a double-edged sword, creating something that can be shaped to fit any identity,”
