What Is The Origin Of The 'We'Re All Going To Die' Meme?

There's a pretty well-worn 'we're all going to die' meme floating around the internet right now, and despite it looking incredibly old, it's actually from pretty recently. The earliest days of this meme (roughly 2015) saw it applied to absurd scenes where a character from a cartoon or children's book looks on blankly as their world collapses around them. The real roots of the meme came from the climate change debates however, with people sarcastically shrugging off threat after existential threat with the only sentiment they seemed to express: 'we're all going to die'.

The memes tone is heavily inspired by the so-called “dark humor” found in a number of pop culture phenomena from TV shows like Rick and Morty to BoJack Horseman, where characters constantly undercut serious moments with unflinching and ultimately fatalistic one-liners. That the memes phrase has been able to be so readily applied to a whole host of increasingly-abnormal situations (mildly-ominous to outright-catastrophic) and still retain its profound, relatable and/or ridiculous edge to become a kind of acronym for those moments wherein our collective lives appear to be slowly careening towards a catastrophic train-wreck, and which we can all breath a sigh of relief at by “laughing off” said falling-apart is perhaps the greatest cultural wonder of the past decade.

This meme has been repurposed for countless situations where people face impossible foes, poll numbers tank, or even lovingly destroy a home with a new furry family member. It is a manifestation of the internet’s love to take the darkest corner of human nature and share it with everyone in order to highlight the imperfections of life. Rather than an actual harbinger of doom, the meme has become a sort of communal recognition of a particular moment or feeling – a collective “yeah, this is happening” that gets conveyed via the simple phrase and in many cases by sending a skull emoji or writing “mood” in a status update.

I think these memes are kind of overwrought, but that’s probably the point. They can stifle discussion of a plot twist’s problems, though, especially if the reason a character can’t escape is kind of obvious. Instead of explaining why the character can’t escape or why the plot twist is bad, the discussion devolves into people posting the reaction image over and over again. It’s a sort of conversational dead end.

I think maybe I’m just a grump though, because I do see the catharsis of sharing that meme, but after 10 identical posts, it’s just not very fulfilling. Instead, I wish someone would elaborate on why they think the whole crew is a goner and back up their claims with some analysis and/or prediction. The meme is a low-effort version of what fans typically do in these situations, and while it’s fine in moderation, it’s quickly becoming the default reaction to anything suspenseful or tense instead of actually investing in the story.

For comparison’s sake, the joke is paraphrased from earlier, pre-internet forms of the same. ‘We’re doomed’ is a standard comic trope used to huge effect in Dad’s Army and Red Dwarf, for two examples, and this is the most up-to-date, visual form of that ancient jest. The way it’s framed — a character or a cartoon telling the viewer that they’re all doomed — is current and self-aware in a way that is distinctly meta. It breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging the audience’s perspective in the scene.

This meta quality is especially relevant in fandom and that is why the image can be used this way. The audience is left in the company of the characters to watch the train crash. The image of the characters’ doom is also the audience’s emotional doom, and that shared fate creates a sense of community in the moment. Hence why it is so enjoyable to use and see it being used by others.