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One Does Not Simply — Meme Museum — Oldweb Diary

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One Does Not Simply — viral internet meme from 2011, early 2010s

2011early-2010sClassicViralImage Macro

2011

Year born

596

Views

Likes

One Does Not Simply

Origin Story

From the 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, where Boromir (played by Sean Bean) says 'One does not simply walk into Mordor.' The still image became an image macro template around 2011-2012 on Reddit and 9GAG, used to describe any deceptively difficult task. It remains one of the most durable meme formats, still used widely today.

Era: early-2010s

Memes went fully mainstream. Vine launched and died. Instagram filtered everything. Every major brand tried to 'do memes'. Content spread in seconds globally and the irony era of internet humor began.

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Grumpy Cat — viral internet meme from 2012, early 2010s

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Gangnam Style — viral internet meme from 2012, early 2010s

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