Okay, for those who may not know, there's long been a bit of rivalry between Marvel and DC Comics fans similar to long-running battles–staged and otherwise–between Coke and Pepsi, Ford and Chevy, Beatles and Stones, etc. The DC and Marvel rivalry dates back to the early 1960s, when they became the only survivors of the original 1940s era comics publishers.
In the 1970s, DC Comics was purchased by Warner Brothers, which secured their place in the pop culture landscape for decades to come. And in 2018, after a few near-death experiences, Marvel–after producing a solid string of successful superhero movies–was purchased by Disney.
Immediately after the aforementioned merger (I'm talkin' before the ink on the signatures could dry), adult Disney freaks started flyin' around on their #@$%ing Bedknobs and Broomsticks, pondering on Facebook and Twitter if Marvel's Shuri, royal daughter of Wakanda, was now "a Disney Princess!"
Back in 2012, when Disney purchased Lucasfilm and Star Wars, these fanatics did the same damned thing over Princess Leia. And, um...why does every fictional female Disney character now need be a goddamned Disney Princess? (See: Branding Gone Wild™)
Anywho, fortunately, I didn't let my contrarian outlook on the matter prevent me from havin' a lil' fun with Disney Princess mania.
Mera, the red-headed royal consort of Aquaman in the blockbuster film (played by Amber Heard), and in comics is a character that's owned, registered®, trademarked™ and © copyrighted by DC Comics. But folks who aren't complete comic book geeks always seem to get which comic book characters belong to which comic book company, Marvel or DC, confoozled; hence my meme. But it backfired a bit.
Right before bed last night, I dropped the meme in three different geek groups on Facebook. When I woke up hours later, I noticed that a shocking number of people had given my "anonymously created" meme a over a thousand 👍and ❤️ emojis. And it seemed that *most* were done under the mistaken notion that Mera's actually a legit addition to the irksome "Is she a Disney Princess?" conversation.
Whoops!
Even as I type this about 24 hours later, emojis are popping up two-at-a-time on the left side of the screen. It's insane.
The meme has also gotten a bunch of the desired reactions, too, though. These range from 😡 emojis and comments oozing with anguished nerd dismay to tickled amusement at the seemingly-intentional-but-maybe-not-intentional faux pas. That's the kind of stuff I was hoping for.
Good times.
