Tumblr has a new meme — mamaposting! The trend features images of a bigger creature, or sometimes object, with a matching smaller creature. The image is always captioned “let’s [do action] with mama.”
Captions for mamaposting, while following this specific template, are very diverse. Some posts center around appreciating ‘mama’ as a figure, most mention doing an action or interacting with ‘mama’, and some still change the template slightly to [action] by ‘mama’, such as “lets be consoled by mama,” by kittywasp420.
Already, the meme has “broke containment” and spread to other social media sites, such as Reddit. The trend is so popular that some users have turned off reblogs on their posts — a common Tumblr tactic to keep one’s phone and email from blowing up with notifications.
The trend emerged on my dash at the beginning of May, but mamaposts have been posted as early as April 16. Users continue to happily mampost to this day.
The meme imagery is often comforting, which is likely why Tumblr’s users resonate so much with them. My roommate commented that it feels very 2012 Tumblr — that is, Tumblr at its height of mainstream media impact.
There is a similarity between this trend, its nostalgia, and the resurgence of recession pop — as the United States, politically, is on fire, we return to comforting nostalgia, like pop songs from 2010.
In these … dare I say unprecedented times … we all just need to chill with mama.
Behold, a selection of my favorite mamaposts:
