To be clear, the Minions’s latest triumph is not unearned in artistic terms. It’s about allowing your id to have its moment. Minion behavior is gleefully committing to a bit because the alternative is to succumb to maturity. Minion behavior is channeling your underlying anxiety into creating a group chat in which you post Taylor Swift cybersecurity memes until someone responds “what is this?” and then you leave. Minion behavior is watching the YouTube video that plays the entirety of Bee Movie but speeds it up every time the word bee is uttered-and then sending said video to everyone you have ever known. To wit: Minion behavior is typing “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” while remaining completely, stoically silent. They are enjoying the thrill of participating in Minion behavior-as in, exuding the essence of the corner of the internet that shitposts in response to the chaotic, nihilistic nature of our reality. Read: Marcel the Shell is the hero the world needsīut, okay, if we must overthink Minions, overthink them this way: The people going to see Minions: The Rise of Gru are not actually watching Minions: The Rise of Gru. If you sneer at them, you are railing against harmless mayhem. Minions can be applied to anything: a “joke” about late-stage capitalism, a pun on Shen Yun, a GIF set capturing Tom and Greg’s relationship on the HBO drama Succession. The point is to not overthink Minions, but rather embrace them as the perfect malleable cultural objects they are. (If niche fandoms held that much power, Morbius would have done a lot better.) The sentient emoji known as Minions boast a uniquely wide appeal, having developed a second life online that took them from aggravating screen presences to amusing encapsulations of internet humor. For one thing, Gen Z’s do-it-for-the-memes energy contributed to The Rise of Gru’s success, but did not cause it. How are there so many devoted Minions stans? It’s bananas! (Sorry.)Ĭ’mon, I thought while reading these assessments. The overall tone is one of bafflement: This was an “ unusually large showing among teenagers for an animated movie,” The Hollywood Reporter observed. Variety interviewed Minions fans who dressed up in suits for screenings because of a TikTok trend, calling such #gentleminions “largely innocuous albeit startling.” The Washington Post deemed the costume fad “somewhat bizarre.” Theaters began banning well-outfitted viewers from showings, reportedly in response to fans who got too rowdy. Read: Minions: an amiable origin story in need of a worthwhile villainĪnd yet, the Minions’ success has been met with confusion-and maybe even a hint of panic. “They’re endearing and silly and can kind of get away with anything … a stroke of genius, certainly in terms of marketing.” Take it from Steve Carell, who plays Gru, the Minions’ boss: “They are the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers,” he said in an interview. ![]() And adults can enjoy the vocal performances of a stacked cast, including Alan Arkin, Julie Andrews, Michelle Yeoh, and Taraji P. Teenagers are nostalgic for them the Minions began their dominance 12 years ago, with the release of Despicable Me. Children can’t get enough of the Minions, which are essentially toddlers themselves, needy and nonsensical in their babbling but sweet and vulnerable. They’re agents of chaos, and their latest film, Minions: The Rise of Gru, just broke the box-office record for a debut over the Fourth of July weekend.īecause of course it did. They’ve had their images stitched onto every piece of merchandise possible- sanctioned or not-and probably make up the bulk of those memes your one relative won’t stop posting on Facebook. The banana-yellow, denim-clad, booger-shaped thingamabobs are so popular that they’ve overtaken the film franchise in which they originated. Minions! You know them, even if you don’t want to.
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