Whether or not the meme prompt is attached, when three characters appear on your social media feed, you probably know what it’s referring to.
I’ve had a bit of a social media dry season this week, but whenever I checked in, the familiar blue box of “Describe Yourself in 3 Fictional Characters” would appear. The prompt consistently made me laugh or emote is some positive way. Whether your friends and peers are posting ones completely true to them, or to another person, or something completely sarcastic, the sense of playfulness emanates.
The trend, called the same as one would assume, first emerged in 2014 on DeviantArt, before returning to the forum trails on Reddit in January 2016. It then found home on Twitter in April, before surging just recently in mid-September on Twitter once again.
Now the meme isn’t only traceable on Twitter, but distinctly on Facebook and Instagram, it being the fantastic mix of nostalgia and hashtag-worthy content that phone-addicts love. It also is being used by celebrities, and again, as a way of parody. Sarah Michelle Gellar, most notably of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame, even applied it as a motivational nod to friend and fellow actress Shannon Doherty, who is currently fighting cancer.
What I find distinctly cool about this new trend, beyond how ridiculously funny some of the things my friends post are, is how telling it is of what people like, as well as how it's been introducing me to new pieces of media. My friends are posting TV and film characters, as well as ones from anime, comics, games, and beyond. In turn, I've been able to introduce some new characters and stories to my friends as I force them to agonize over with me my own choices of the characters that are "just so totally me."
And honestly, I kind of am agonizing over it. I've harassed a handful of friends, them ranging from roommates, besties, college-mates, and those I've grown up with with compiled lists of characters as I slowly slash some off the list, only to realize there's another to add on top of it. It's super fun, because again, it gave me a reason to share awesome things like The Heathers and Joss Whedon's The Runaways with people, but also, it's one of those things that some can take super lightheartedly and I take quite seriously.
I'm a very nerdy person, and part of me wants to get it super right, and that part of me jumps from five potential ones to three am I sures? to another six! The other part of me wants to be snarky and throw down Squidward, the Grinch screaming, and Tina curling on the floor and be done with it.
But here I sit, two of my three determined, and forcing my friends to look up Youtube videos to determine how Veronica Sawyer I actually am, whilst I find it much similar to help my best friend figure out exactly how much he is the love child of Carl from Up and Chandler Bing.
At least I know, thanks to the Twitterverse, I'm not alone.
Im trying to do that describe yourself with 3 fictional characters but ITS HARDER THAN I THOUGHT
— BIRTHDAY BOY OKUYASU (@metswee) September">https://twitter.com/metswee/status/776906027157499... 16, 2016
Describe yourself in 3 fictional characters
Me: *forgets every fictional character in existence*
— Francis 🐌 (@Sulidaesy) September">https://twitter.com/Sulidaesy/status/7770243523531... 17, 2016
Now if you excuse me, I need to contemplate how many parts Hermione and how many parts Veronica I am.
