It’s an internet truth: streaming shows are meant to be memes. Most of the time, these memes are limited to thirst posts or reactions to big twists. But, apparently unintentionally, the fans of 1899 have taken this well-crafted art form to a new level. Just by reacting to this banana thriller, they’ve created a maze of GIFs and memes that, to the uninitiated, is just as bewildering as the show itself.
Created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, 1899 follows a ship full of passengers on their journey from London to New York. Or is it? Until the series unravel its many mysteries and simulations, it’s nearly impossible to tell what’s real and what’s not.
Adding to the burgeoning headache, 1899 revolves around a group of migrants who together speak seven different languages. Do you know what this means? It means people are constantly pouring their guts out at other passengers who have absolutely no idea what they’re saying. The result is hauntingly beautiful linguistic chaos, and Twitter has noticed.
But as always with this show, there’s another level. Two couples inside 1899 – Krester (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen) and Ángel (Miguel Bernardeau) as well as Olek (Maciej Musiał) and Ling Yi (Isabella Wei) – are praised the new Jack and Rose a la titanic. This is, after all, a story about a doomed ship. If you haven’t seen the show, then Olek and Ling Yi’s transport must seem particularly surprising considering they can’t get along at all. He speaks Polish and she speaks Cantonese. And yet the couple has appeared As a love story for eternity.
This is without touch 1899‘s monumentally wild plot. There were Peter Griffin gifs, several IT jokesand odes to a boy and his triangle. This adds to the confusion as Netflix is available worldwide and 1899 conceived as a multicultural series, these takes are not exclusively in English. It’s not uncommon to see a popular joke retweeted in a language you don’t understand – an experience that perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be a passenger on board Kerberos. It’s also a show so complicated and specific that it encourages fans to concoct their own even wilder fan theories that, to outsiders, are even more messy and nonsensical than the actual show:
When you put all these elements together, 1899 must seem like a fevered dream to anyone who has only experienced this show through their timelines. What yes. That’s what it’s like to see this masterpiece. They have no idea what’s happening, what’s going to happen, or who someone really is. But god the people are great and the graphics are next level.
Keep it up, everyone. If the memes continue, maybe Netflix will have a real-world advertising connection for Season 2. This will really mess with your mind.
