I can’t believe I almost forgot about this one.
Back in the day I was OBSESSED with mckaylaisnotimpressed, a tumblr dedicated to photoshopping gymnast McKayla Maroney’s face onto a variety of pop culture moments, featuring the disappointed smirk she made after coming a few points short of winning gold at the 2012 Olympics. Obama leading the assault on Bin Laden, Rebecca Black singing in her car, and Psy oppa gangam style-ing in an elevator are a few instances that grace its archives, all made better with McKayla’s now infamous look of contempt.
This meme was tremendously impactful to me on a personal level. For the rest of the year, I refused to smile in photos, exclusively making the :-/ face whenever I had my picture taken, much to the bearevement of my parents. I even made the face during my 8th grade graduation, and repeated it when I was handed my diploma at my high school graduation ceremony as a little inside joke with myself. To this day, sometimes I find myself slipping into that old twisted facial expression whenever my reality disappoints me, which, frankly, is often.
But back to the meme: for a brief, shining moment during the August of 2012, people of all nations, races, and creeds were bound together by the shared emotion that McKayla displayed. Her face was not just used to bring an ironic juxtaposition to pop culture moments, but to also express frustrations with first world problems like when a restaurant only has Pepsi and you want Coke, or being greeted by aloof teens when entering Hollister. McKayla is not impressed isn’t just a meme, it’s a universal feeling.
