Learn · Source of Memes · Lesson 3 of 4 · ~4 min
Remix Without Losing the Thread
Change enough to be new. Keep enough to be recognised.
EducationalParodyDawkoins is a parody meme project, not affiliated with Richard Dawkins. No price talk, no promises.
Every remix is a mutation: a copy with something changed. As Copy, Change, Compete showed, variation is how memes adapt. But change the wrong thing and nobody can tell what your remix is a copy of. The lineage breaks.
Strong memes have a few anchor features that stay fixed while everything else changes: a face, a layout, a phrase. That’s copying-fidelity working for you. Keep the anchors; play with the rest.
For Dawkoins the anchor is one face: the frog in a powdered wig. Change the caption, the setting, the outfit, the pose, the joke. Keep the wig and the face recognisable, or it stops being Dawkoins and becomes just another frog. Use the official face shown here rather than a reposted crop.
Remix with care. Credit the format and the creator when you know them. Don’t paste in other people’s logos, characters, or show art: they aren’t yours to borrow, and posts that use them get taken down. And never put words in a real person’s mouth. No made-up quotes from Richard Dawkins or anyone else; parody should be obvious as parody.
Practise spotting the anchor: Where’s Dawkoins? is a free one-minute game.
Keep the anchors, change the rest, credit the source.
Try it
Make three versions of one Dawkoins meme. Each time, change one thing (the caption, the background, or the format) and keep the wigged face. Show them to a friend with no context. Can they tell all three are the same meme? Send your best one to the meme quest.
Quick check
What is an anchor feature?
The part of a meme that stays fixed so remixes stay recognisable.
What is the Dawkoins anchor?
The frog face in a powdered wig.
Name one thing to leave out of a remix.
Other people’s logos, characters, or show art, or made-up quotes from real people.