Alien Meme: The History and Evolution of the Meme

Memes are an artful form of cultural expression that use humor, irony, or satire to deliver messages or ideas. Memes can take the form of images, videos, texts or any combination thereof that are shared online and modified by users – one such meme being the iconic alien meme featuring an extraterrestrial with large eyes and small mouth. The alien meme has long been used to comment on topics including conspiracy theories, science fiction films, religion politics etc. In this article we will trace its history and evolution and how its use reflects changing attitudes and beliefs of internet culture users today.

The Origin of Alien Memes

The alien meme is based on an image of a corpse purportedly recovered from an alleged UFO crash site in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 and published first in The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt in 1994. The book asserted that this image was obtained via leak from Project Mogul, a military operation created to spy on Soviet Russia using high-altitude balloons. Imagery created by John Humphreys for British television show Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? in 1995 was later exposed as being created through an elaborate hoax, drawing worldwide controversy and fascination regarding Roswell incident.

The image of an alien corpse quickly became an internet meme, particularly on websites such as 4chan, Reddit and Tumblr. Users began customizing and editing it with various captions, filters and accessories before giving him/her the moniker Ayy Lmao, which derives from an expression used for mocking something absurd or ridiculous; its origin can be found in its name: it stands for laughing my ass off or laughing out loud respectively and used often used to mock something absurd or ridiculous; becoming another way for users to express sarcasm or amusement at various topics including alien abductions by governments covering up, ancient alien sightings among many other topics like alien abductions as well as cover-ups from governments as well as cover-ups from these subjects among many more topics such as alien abductions by governments cover-ups or ancient alien sightings etc.

The Evolution of the Alien Meme

The alien meme has undergone significant development over time as new trends, events, and platforms emerged on the web. Notable variations and adaptations include:

• X-Files Alien: This variation of the alien meme references The X-Files TV show which ran from 1993 to 2002 and followed FBI agents Mulder and Scully who investigated paranormal and extraterrestrial phenomenon. This version often included reference to its famous tagline – “The truth is out there”, while also mocking fans known as X-Philes who enjoyed watching it.
• Giorgio A. Tsoukalos: Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, better known by his TV persona on Ancient Aliens on History Channel. Tsoukalos became popular with audiences through his eccentric hairstyle, tan, facial expressions and frequent use of “aliens” as an explanation for various historical mysteries; hence this variation on alien meme featured his image alongside absurd or humorous statements such as: “I’m not saying it was aliens; however it probably was aliens”.
• Area 51 Raid: This variation of the alien meme was inspired by a viral Facebook event called “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us”, created in July 2019. The event invited people to raid Area 51 – believed by some to house alien technology and evidence – on September 20, 2019 as planned and attracted over two million RSVPs; many memes, jokes and plans emerged for infiltrating Area 51 to free aliens; often depicting possible outcomes such as “Me and my boys after we free them all”, or “How I plan to sneak my alien out”. The meme became widely used depicting scenarios or outcomes such as: “After we saved them all from Area 51”, or “How I plan to sneak my alien out”.
• Among Us Alien: This variation of the alien meme draws its inspiration from characters in the online multiplayer game Among Us, released in 2018. In this game, crewmates must complete tasks on a spaceship while impostor(s) attempt to sabotage and kill them, with impostors seeking to sabotage or even kill the crewmates from within the spaceship itself. Among Us quickly became popular among streamers, celebrities, politicians and politicians playing it online, leading to numerous memes featuring this character such as “When You as an Impostor Kill Someone in Front of Everyone”, or “When You are part of a crewmate and you witness someone vent”. The alien meme often used comments on game mechanics strategies or dynamics related to this phenomenon such as: “When Impostor Kill Someone In Front Of Everyone”, or when crewmate seeing an impostor vent”.

The Future of Alien Memes

The alien meme is one of the most versatile and long-lived internet memes, adaptable to almost every topic, situation or mood imaginable. It represents both our fascination and curiosity with all things alien-related as well as humanity’s tendency to use humor and creativity to cope with life’s challenges and absurdities. Over time it will likely continue to adapt as new platforms, trends and events arise on the internet and as discoveries about our universe unfold – it truly represents cultural phenomenon!