Posted by Michaela James
Paula Deen riding things started after a Whole Foods MarketGrand Tasting Event during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival on Feb. 26, 2011 where Paula was shown sitting on top of Robert Irvine, a host on Food Network, with a glass of wine in her hand.
The meme became popular overnight with photos flooding the internet overnight. Two days after, photos invaded the internet on Feb. 28th and several blogs including the website pauladeenridingthings.com was created by several friends Nick and Robbie that took an interest in the shocking event. This website uses templates of Paula Deen in different positions so that people can cut and paste her to anything they would like her to “ride.” An example of one of the three templates available on pauladeenridingthings.com that encourages followers to create their own and submit in order to be featured on the website.
Some early images include a tyrannosaurus rex, the loc nest monster and of course the cooking stars favorite ingredient: butter. Paula Deens obsession with fried foods and butter sparked the original image as well as her actions at the event, which created a “shock-value” that fueled blogs as well as a website as a sort of satire toward her outlandish cooking style and behavior. Meme's are a way of understanding our culture and our surroundings as well as for obvious entertainment purposes. I found an interesting blog that emerged from this meme. It delves into its cultural value and gives a better understanding on how these images become popular within our culture. The blog explains that these acts of "spreadability" are not only entertaining but serve the purpose of exchanging ideas and social networking. Check it out at: http://judgmentalobserver.wordpress.com/tag/paula-deen-riding-things/
Video mash-ups surfaced showing Paula Deen cooking shows, while incorporating the Paula riding things meme:
The meme was inspired by the Hugh Jackman meme only a few months before. In Dec. 2010, the Hugh Jackman can ride everything meme flooded the internet after Hugh Jackman suffered a black eye after an equipment malfunction on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He was then featured on blogs and news articles where you could “cut and paste” you own picture of Hugh Jackman on to any image.
The popularity of the Paula Deen riding things meme reached its peak in popularity shortly after the event in late February/early March and remained relatively popular until April 2011 (see Google graph below). Rolling Stone magazine even created an alternate cover for its March 2011 issue, which featured Paula Deen riding a rocket. The meme was also mentioned on CBS, New York Post and Buzz Feed and was considered number 8 greatest memes of 2011 according to Time magazine.
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