At this point, we can probably all agree the once beloved newspaper comic strip Garfield — about a charmingly lazy, lasagna-loving orange cat who torments uptight human master Jon Arbuckle with his antics — has transformed from a genuinely chuckle-inducing cartoon character to an internet meme that many across the globe admire with ironic cynicism.
This meme rebirth can be observed with the popularity of the sarcastically-enjoyed but awful and derivative videogame Garfield Kart, the frightening subgenre of horror Garfield comics as featured on subreddit r/imsorryjon, and the much-maligned duology of Garfield films starring Bill Murray, who famously only agreed to do the movies because he mistakenly thought the art house filmmaker duo the Coen brothers were somehow involved.
Now the latest Garfield meme trend hitting the internet may be the most skin-crawling fad we’ve seen since the off-putting Bowsette, a reimagining of the reptilian Mario villain Bowser as a sexy seductress.
The trend in question is called Gothfield, and it imagines Garfield as a thick, sexy goth chick, of all things.
There is perhaps no better representation of “Rule 34” on the internet, as people portraying an obese cat gorging on lasagna is a combination of ideas we never thought would be remixed into something trying to be hot.
Many had a similarly horrified reaction as this writer at the new trend.
But even we’ll admit, the mashup of Gothfield and the macabre Gorefield, of r/imsorryjon fame, definitely seems like an intriguing one, if we’re being honest.
And hey, when you put the depictions of Gothfield side-by-side with the original comic, wouldn’t you know? It’s actually funny again. Move aside, Jim Davis.
This all apparently stems from an obscure bit of minutia about the character from perhaps one of his comic collections wherein the character was described, jokingly, as having “Went through a brief Goth phase as a teenager.” A Twitter user’s photo of the tidbit gained considerable traction online Saturday.
What do you think about this new Garfield meme? Leave it in the comments below.