ASSIGNMENT #5 - "MEMES" and DIFFUSION of INTERNET TRENDS - Juyoung Jeon

- The meme is mainly about Kim Jong Un, the current leader of North Korea, in North Korea's propaganda photos. In those photos, his poses are awkward and look staged. Also, there is a gap between the real North Korea in which people are tortured and mistreated and the KJU's North Korea in which he smiles and seems to care about people. I guess internet find the photos ironical. the irony is the point of 'Kim Jong Un Looking at Things' meme. 

- To look at the popularity and spread of this meme, we have to reference 'Kim Jong Il Looking at Things' meme, which is a range of photos in which North Korea's late former leader Kim Jong Il inspects the nation's major facilities and also looks awkward. 'Kim Jong Il Looking at Things' meme caught on in october 2010 on Tumblr. Its popularity reached its peak in december 2011 following his death. 'Kim Jong Un Looking at Things' memes and its derivatives first started in January 2011 and also caught on in December 2011, after Kim Jong Il's death. 

- As mentioned above, there are many forms of derivatives of the meme. One of the more popular ones is 'Hungry Kim Jong Un'. They are all captioned with funny and derisive phrases, making fun of  Kim Jong Un and North Korean governments' greediness and ignorance as well as the nation's dogmatic foreign policies. Below are examples of 'Hungry Kim Jong Un' meme.