Today I’m loving these Hey Girl Audun Lysbakken photos – Lysbakken heads the socialist party (SV) and I suppose he is rather good looking. Someone has started a series of photos of him based on the Ryan Gosling memes, or more specifically, really, the feminist Ryan Gosling memes. But to be honest, I think these are even better. They have a very clear set of rules:
- Sexy (but not undressed) photo of Audun Lysbakken looking flirtatious
- Start out with “Hey girl”
- Punch line has to be something seductive, sensitive and political
And of course, national elections are coming up in September. So far, the political points appear to be real campaign issues. I’m sure there’ll be some rip-offs, though.
Here’s a Feminist Ryan Gosling photo to compare – and hey, did you know that you can actually buy a whole book of these?
Of course I’ve been chatting about this on Facebook, and my favourite meme expert, Kristine Ask, wrote a great short summary there of the appeal of the feminist Ryan Gosling meme:
Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling is one of my all time favourite memes. It so nicely sums up the fangirl culture found on f.ex. tumblr: Its sexualized (photo of hot guy), its feminist (and done without fear of sexual harassment from Commentary Field Heroes) and it speaks to/for an audience that idolizes knowledge and intellectualism (like gender theory).
I wonder how these Hey Girl Audun Lysbakken pics hit SV’s demographics? I know women are an important group for them, but I’m not sure about the generational demographics. And I don’t know whether these would appeal more to younger or older women. I like em, anyway 🙂
Update: A few hours later, there are new versions everywhere. There are some slightly nasty ones about Erna Solberg, the leader of the conservative party Høyre: Hey boy Erna Solberg. And @olainnset made a Hey man Torstein Dahle photo.
And oh, look at that, “somebody ” (ahem) made an Atakan version! Fancy that. Could probably use some more work for that to really take off – but at least I’m having fun! (And, hey, if you work or study at the University of Bergen, vote Atakan for rector! The deadline is Wednesday April 24 at noon.
