Life After Becoming a Viral Meme成为爆火模因之后的人生

Ah， memes. They make us laugh， get us thinking and hold up a mirror to society. But what becomes of the people behind our favourite faces on the internet？

哈，模因！它们让我们欢笑，引发我们思考，反映社会现实。这一张张互联网上我们喜闻乐见的面孔，它们的原型如今怎么样了呢？

Imagine walking down the street and running into a stranger wearing a T-shirt with your face on it. How would you feel if you found out you were the butt of a family’s in-joke for a decade？ What about if you saw someone dressed up as you for Halloween？ Becoming a meme is an unusual experience. Here， we speak to three regular people who became meme-famous and lived to tell the tale.

设想一下：你走在街上，看到有个陌生人的T恤上印着你的脸。要是知道自己承包了某个人家十年的笑料，你会作何感想？那要是有人在万圣夜打扮成你的样子呢？成为模因是一种特殊的经历。我们采访了三位因成为模因而人尽皆知的普通人，听她们讲述自己的故事。

Maggie Goldenberger： aka Ermahgerd1 Girl

玛吉·戈登伯格：又名“天了噜女孩”

I was about 11 years old， playing dress-up at my friend’s house and taking Polaroid photos. I pulled an outfit together from her dress-up box and she put my hair in pigtails and had me put my [dental] retainer in. She gathered some Goosebumps books2 and told me to give the most excited expression possible. That’s how the photo came about.

我当时大概11岁，在朋友家玩装扮游戏，用拍立得照相。我从朋友的装扮宝箱里随便凑了套衣服穿上，她还给我扎起辫子，让我戴上牙套，又找来几本《鸡皮疙瘩》。她让我尽可能挤出最兴奋的表情，于是就有了那张照片。

I was backpacking in India [in 2012， at age 23] when I got a message from a friend [about the photo]. It was before smart phones， so I was at an internet café when I found out a guy from high school had posted my photo not knowing it was me.

我在印度背包旅行期间（2012年，23岁），突然收到一个朋友的短信（告诉了我照片的事情）。那时还没有智能手机，于是我跑到网吧，发现是一个高中同学在不知道那是我的情况下把照片发到了网上。

Originally， my friend had put the photo on her MySpace3 profile， but we were very naive and didn’t realise our MySpace photo albums were all public. That’s how ‘Ermahgerd Girl’ was born.

起初是我朋友把那张照片上传到自己的聚友网个人主页，但我们那时都太天真，没想到聚友网相册都是公开的。“天了噜女孩”就这样诞生了。

I thought the whole thing was very bizarre， and I still do. I’ve seen Ermahgerd cross-stitch patterns， hand-drawn artwork and birthday cards. A new friend had dressed up as me at Halloween almost 10 years ago， which was a funny discovery. The best perk of meme-fame is when I meet someone who has loved the meme and they’re truly excited to meet me.

我当时就觉得整件事情很离奇，现在我仍这样认为。我见过“天了噜女孩”图案的十字绣、手绘插画和生日贺卡。还有一个有趣的发现：有个新朋友大约十年前曾在万圣夜打扮成我的样子。成为模因名人最大的好处就是会遇到喜欢我这个模因的人，而且他们见到我真的会非常兴奋。

I think the hardest part has been the invasion of privacy. My brother’s friend posted a lot of personal information and photos of me in Reddit forums to prove it was really me， and that turned me off from coming forward. But once I stepped back away from it and kind of released my attachment of my personal life being associated with the meme， it all felt much better.

我觉得最难以忍受的是隐私被侵犯。我弟弟的朋友把我的大量个人信息和照片发到“红迪网”来证明“天了噜女孩”确实是我，这让我不敢也不想认领这个模因。不过，自从我不再在意这个模因，将其从私人生活中稍稍剥离，我就感觉好多了。

I can’t believe the meme is still around after more than 10 years; at the time it came out， I thought for sure it’d be gone in a week. Since that first year， it has had zero effect on my everyday life. I’m currently a nurse living in Phoenix， Arizona， and I spend most of my free time with my partner and our dog.

我不敢相信，这十多年前的模因现在还有人到处发。刚开始，我确信它火不过一周。诞生一年后，这个模因对我的日常生活就没有任何影响了。我现在是一名护士，住在亚利桑那州凤凰城，大部分空闲时间都和恋人还有我们的狗待在一起。

Silvia Bottini： aka First World Problems4 Woman

西尔维娅·博蒂尼：又名“第一世界问题女人”

I didn’t even know what a meme was！ It was 2011 when the webmaster who built my [acting portfolio] website contacted me and excitedly told me， ‘You’re a meme.’ Even when he explained what it was to me， I didn’t really get it， and I certainly didn’t under-stand the impact of it.

我当时连模因是什么都不知道！那是2011年，帮我建立（演艺经历）个人主页的网站管理员和我取得联系，兴奋地告诉我：“你成模因啦！”即使他向我解释了模因是什么，我还是不懂，而且我根本不明白会有什么影响。

The photo from the meme had been taken a few years earlier by my ex-boyfriend， who was a photographer. We were living in China and I was modelling for him—for free—doing stock photographs. That day， we were shooting in a temple， and I was posing for the photos. Then my ex asked me to cry. I did. I’m a trained actress so I knew how to pull out my emotions and tears. That’s how the picture happened.

成为模因的那张照片是几年前我前男友拍的，他是一位摄影师。我们当时住在中国，他为多家图库网站供图，我给他当模特——还是免费模特。那天，我们在一个寺庙里面拍摄，我在镜头前拗造型。我前任让我哭，我照做了。我是训练有素的演员，知道如何调动自己的情绪和眼泪，于是就有了那张照片。

When it went viral， I was disappointed because I’d signed a release form with the stock image agencies， which said they would protect my image. They didn’t， and people were saying whatever they wanted on my face. I had no control over how my image was being used—and I still don’t.

照片在网上疯传后，我很失望，因为我和几家图库公司签订了授权书，他们承诺会保护我的肖像，却没能说到做到。人们为我这张脸配上任何他们想说的话。当时的我没法控制照片的用途——现在的我也一样。

There are many versions of the meme， and one really offended me. I was really upset by it， so much so when I found it on Facebook， I messaged the person who posted it asking them to please take it down because it wasn’t respectful. I didn’t get a response. The internet is a wasteland; once something is out there， anybody can use it.

这个模因有很多版本，有一个真的冒犯到我了。我很生气，在“脸书”上看到那张图片后就马上私信发布者，要求对方把图片删掉，因为那张图片不尊重我。我没有收到回复。互联网是一片未开化之地，什么东西一旦上了网，谁都可以用。

I don’t get recognised from the meme because it’s a very dramatic image of me， and [in real life] I smile all the time. When people do find out about it， they are usually shocked， then excited. For a ‘non-famous’ person， I’m extremely famous. Millions of people know my face， pretty much everyone who owns a computer or phone has seen my image.