The different types of Tier meme
Like me, you probably stumbled a few times on a meme which you did not understand. You asked yourself What is this? how can someone find that funny? etc...
It makes us think about the philosophical problematic; Can an artwork need to be understood to be appreciated?
In the case of memes, unfortunately, yes. If you don't understand a meme, you won't find it funny and so, you can not appreciate it.
So, the question is why don't we understand some meme?
We are all smart enough to understand a mere joke so we should understand all memes, which are basically illustrated jokes.
The answer is simple, we sometimes don't have the reference.
In the meme universe, this what we called Tier. The higher the Tier, the hardest it is to understand the meme.
Through this article, we will try to see together all the Tier memes that are existing.
Tier 1 memes:
Those are the most common meme on the internet.
They are the most popular since everyone can relate and understands them. You don’t need any internet culture to get the joke.
They are usually created with white blank space above the picture in which the text is written.
The sentence most of the time start by “when you… :”
The picture should be expressive with a caption to be sure everyone understands it.
a meme we can all relate to
Tier 2 memes:
Those memes are a bit special. They look a lot like Tier 1 memes but the humour is different, so I believe they deserve a Tier of their own.
Basically, they depict a regular situation with an absurd caption.
Tier 3 meme:
Those memes have the same build than tier 1 meme (a caption above the picture within a white space).
But this time, while the caption is something that anyone can relate or understand, the picture is a reference to some pop culture, a movie scene for example.
Although it can be understood by anyone, you need to have the reference to truly appreciate the meme.
(Note that Tier 1 memes can also have a picture from a movie but the meme is not based on that)
A Thanos meme from the Avenger movie
Tier 4 meme:
Now, things are getting a bit more complicated. Tier 4 memes are a combination of at least 2 references. To understand them, you need to be on the internet a while. You might also need to read them a few times.
They are not the most popular meme since not everyone can understand them.
Furthermore, they do not talk about relatable situation like Tier 1 and 3 memes, so the humour is completely different.
The action of understanding the meme is funny.
This is what we called crossover memes.
If you did not understand those memes, this is totally normal, don't worry.
If you did, It means you're weird, welcome to the club.
Tier 5 meme:
The strangest part of this meme universe.
There are different type of tier 5 meme such as Surreal, Ironic, Dank or Deep-fried memes.
Looking at them, you feel a little disoriented and even if you think it's funny, you're not sure what you're laughing at.
Don't feel bad if you don't quite get it: A concise definition of those memes does not exist, they are 100% absurd.
As you can see, the meme universe is quite complicated. Note that those tier ranking are not official, this just me trying to make things clear from my point of view.
Also, I'm interested to know which Tier meme you currently understand and find the most fun!
Alexandre