About

Elders React To refers to a series of image macros parodying the popular YouTube reaction videos by The Fine Brothers. The series generally features a woman crying, while the image in the right quadrant of the screen subverts the image's caption, "Elders React To Saddest Anime Deaths."

Origin

YouTube team The Fine Brothers have been posting reaction videos since October 2010, in which they filmed children reacting to viral videos. Nearly two years later, they expanded the series with the first installment of "Elders React." The concept would be videos featuring senior citizens responding to popular modern trends.

Among the earliest iteration of a parody meme of Elders React was shared by the Facebook account sadmemeskillme. On September 16th, 2016, the account posted a screenshot of Bill from "Elders React to Twerking,"^[9] replacing what Bill was watching with an image of the Jimmy Neutron character Carl Wheezer having sex with a croissant. The caption reads "ELDERS REACT TO CARL WHEEZER FUCKING A CWOSONT." The post (shown below, left) received more than 1,900 reaction and 420 shares in less than a year.^[7]

About a month later, the Facebook account Reasonably Priced Used Car Memes,^[8] posted a variation, replacing Carl Wheezer with a reasonably priced used car. The post (shown below, right) received more than 1,000 reactions and 600 shares.

Spread

On February 25th, 2016, The Fine Brothers published "ELDERS REACT TO DAVID BOWIE." In the video, older people watch the music video for David Bowie final music video "Lazerus."^[1] The video has been viewed more than 4.5 million times as of June 2017.

At about two minutes into the video, a woman named Alex begins to cry and wipes her left eye with a tissue (shown below). This moment would become the template for the meme.

On March 13th, 2017, Redditor daffy-dick posted in the /r/me_irl^[2] a screenshot from the video photoshopped to replace the David Bowie video with a clip from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Ripped Pants." Additionally, the caption has also been altered to read, "ELDERS REACT TO SADDEST ANIME DEATH." The post (shown below) received more than 18,600 points (91% upvoted) and 110 comments.

Three days later, the Facebook account Fresh Animu Memes posted the image, garnering more than 1,100 reactions and 580 shares.^[3]

Over the following weeks, variations of this format of the meme, featuring "saddest anime deaths" appeared throughout social media and meme communities. On March 20th, Eric's Creamy Memes posted a variation featuring an image from the TV show Family Guy. The image (shown below) received more than 3,100 reactions and 800 shares.^[6]

On June 20th, Redditor Genialx posted the original image in the subreddit /r/MemeEconomy, giving the meme a "Buy" rating. The thread, entitled "I don't know what to call this, but I feel like it's a solid investment," received more than 670 points (98% upvoted) in 24 hours.^[5]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References