Pepe the Frog was once co-opted by white supremacy activists on 4chan image-sharing platform. A new documentary, Feels Good Man (also known as Pepe the Frog), directed by Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini explores its journey from its humble origins to being used as an anti-Semitism symbol.
This film follows cartoonist Matt Furie as he fights to reclaim his creation after it went viral for all the wrong reasons, while also showing how communities use memes without regard for their creators or how far their influence may spread. Pepe’s journey from innocent comic-book character to hate symbol serves as a warning against how memes may have lives of their own.
This film is not the first to examine Pepe’s rise and fall, but it provides an interesting new angle on his meme status. Shot both in the US and Mexico City, its producers interviewed over 100 individuals – including Furie himself who at one time held the highest online popularity ranking.
Furie created his frog character in his Boy’s Club series, but its popularity skyrocketed when his images began appearing online forums like 4chan and Reddit. People would collect Rare Pepes by looking out for stickers with specific facial expressions or body types which could then be traded physically; much like virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Rare Pepes came to symbolize community values just like Bitcoin does today.
Unfortunately, Pepe was used as a symbol by Neo-Nazis and other right-wing groups online to represent Adolf Hitler, members of the Ku Klux Klan and other hateful figures – eventually earning him inclusion by the Anti-Defamation League amongst its list of hate symbols such as swastikas and crosses.
Furie attempted to take back control of his creation through an anti-white supremacy campaign known as “Peaceful or Nice”. To combat its darker uses online, Furie bombarded the internet with depictions of Peaceful Frog that stressed peace over violence – only for Furie eventually to give in and kill off Peaceful Frog in one page comic strip for Free Comic Book Day as one last attempt at redemption.
Though Furie may have suffered setbacks with Pepe’s return, the internet remains an effective force of democracy. Although he tried to maintain control of his beloved icon through gatekeeping measures, this failed and there’s now a sense that normies will reclaim Pepe, while edgelords will find creative new uses for him during demonstrations – evidenced by Hong Kong-specific details like bloody eye patches or yellow hard hats on display during demonstrations in Hong Kong pop-up shop featuring placid Pepe!
“No one responded in any aggressive way,” Tompros noted, not even in response to an intense barrage of death threats that descended upon them. Although their anger could not change anything.