The people behind the memes

Constance Mascot

Five years ago, Constance Mascot began creating memes in English on a secret account. Its success convinced her to publish it on her personal page, then write about it in French. Thus, she revealed another side of her personality. The fashion designer had no idea that these memes, which are often parodies of so-called inspirational phrases, would become promotional tools. “It attracts people to my page to see my outfits, because they see my shared memes and then they discover my page.” Constance is one of the rare meme creators in Quebec. Why? “It can be embarrassing to think that you won’t be funny. If I post a meme and it doesn’t look good, I’m going to feel really bad. I think most girls don’t want to take that risk. »

Regular Quebec

As is often the case, Lewis started out making memes for his friends, and then his passion developed. He asserts that “the aspects that affect the page are that I am a gay person and that I am an immigrant.” I love talking about Quebecois culture, especially music, but sometimes I don’t know how much I have the right to say I’m Quebecois. I think I have a somewhat unique perspective in the sense that I wasn’t born into it. It’s a culture I had to discover for myself. “This is a follower Spread shit The 20-year-old believes it’s important to respect the unwritten rules of the genre. “You want to be as original as possible, but we all have the impression that at some point, we have a duty between cynicism and responsibility. It’s a duality.”

fruit

“In 2016, and maybe 2015, there was kind of a resurgence of memes in Quebec with a more sarcastic touch because in the beginning, they were very classy. That sarcastic touch spoke to me a lot,” says Vincent Hood. “In my first posts, I did a parody video Parody to the credits Scott Brothers In Frac, which went viral at the time, with about 150,000 views on Facebook. This was the first success of the page. »Fruter is definitely the most popular meme in Quebec, with a total of over 250,000 subscribers. Vincent posts almost daily. Where do his ideas come from? “Popular culture and nostalgia,” he calls it straight away. I consume a lot of Quebec culture, shows and music. These topics inspire me for content. There is also a bit of politics and current affairs. »

Internet

“They are the ones who really paved the way for all the meme pages in Quebec,” says Vincent Hood of the trio behind Lynternait, whose activities have practically ceased. Thierry Hardy-Lachance joined Anthony Thibault and Devin Caron in 2015, two years after they made their debut. “In the old days, we would put out three posts a day. Sometimes I found it a bit stressful, because you’re forcing yourself to be creative. But it was a great experience. […] We have used our platform two or three times for purposes that can only be described as good. The day after the murders at the Quebec mosque, we saw comments on Facebook groups, such as La Meute, such as: “Good deal! They just deserve this! So, we asked our fans to respond to the hate with complete silliness. They invaded these groups to write trivial comments, such as “I have a pimple on my foreskin, how do I treat it?” For two or three days, the hate message remained completely submerged. »

Skidoo sled

Fabrice Poirier, who lives in Quebec, is originally from Gaspésy. “I have met people who have a very colorful language, who have special expressions, and I was very inspired by them to create the character of a provincial redneck, who curses a lot and speaks in a mobile language.” His Instagram page, which was launched nearly four years ago, is one of the most creative pages in the world. Quebec. “In a meme, if you are quick and are able to find jokes related to current events, you will get the most likes. […] What also helps me stand out is that I find my own photos on free photo streams. People also send me videos and say “Make a meme with this!”. The community helps me create my content. »