Climb on your mom's bed Challenge | Gone wrong

There are two central attributes of Internet memes: creative reproduction of materials and intertextuality. Creative reproduction refers to "parodies, remixes, or mashups," and include notable examples such as "Hitler's Downfall Parodies",[2] and "Nyan Cat", among others. Intertextuality may be demonstrated through memes that combine different cultures; for example, a meme may combine United States politician Mitt Romney's assertion of the phrase "binders full of women" from a 2012 US presidential debate with the Korean pop song "Gangnam Style" by overlaying the politician's quote onto a frame from Psy's music video where paper blows around him. The intertextuality in the example gives new meaning to the paper blowing around Psy; the meme indexes intertextual practices in political and cultural discourses of two nations.[2]

The spread of Internet memes has been described as occurring via two mechanisms: mimicry and remix. Remix occurs when the original meme is altered in some way, while mimicry occurs when the meme is recreated in a different fashion to the original.[3][4] The results in the study of Online Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production, show that the internet directly adds some longevity in a meme's lifespan.[5]

There is no single format that memes must follow. Photographs of people or animals, especially stock photos, can be turned into memes by superimposing text, such as in Overly Attached Girlfriend. Rage comics are a subcategory of memes which depict a series of human emotions and conclude with a satirical punchline;[6] the sources for these memes often come from webcomics. Other memes are purely viral sensations such as in Keyboard Cat.