Logan Hwang (22026285)
Kim Jong Un – Looking at things
The Kim Jong Un – Looking at Things meme was inspired by an
original blog that posted photos of state propaganda of Kim Jong Il, who is the
father of Kim Jong Un. This Tumblr blog, “Kim Jong Il Looking At Things”, was
launched on October 6th, 2010. Within hours of Kim Jong Il’s death,
announced on December 18th, 2011, by South Korea’s Yonhap News via
North Korean Central News Agency, the Tumblr blog “Kim Jong-un Looking at
Things” was created. Ever since the creation of this blog, online-users have
used the posted photos as templates for delivering jokes.
It is quite obviously shown from the photos of Kim Jong Un
that these pictures gained popularity due to Kim Jong Un’s funny facial
expressions in many of the photos, the existence of (usually older) North
Korean politicians, generals, or others in most of the photos, and the fact
that in all of the photos, Kim Jong Un is seen to be “curiously” looking at things.
A less-obvious reason for popularity, from my opinion, is the irony of the
“great leader of North Korea” who is rather childish and rather spoiled instead
of being know-it-all.
The meme seemed to have gained popularity rather quickly
after the creation of the Tumblr blog, “Kim Jong Un Looking at Things”. The
main reason for such quick acknowledgement was due to the original blog, “Kim
Jong Il Looking at Things”.
The graph above shows the numbers of news headlines related
to Kim Jong Un. The first significant peak point is around the time when Kim
Jong Il passed away, passing on the leader’s position to his son, Kim Jong Un.
References
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