A Dramatic Look

As auspicious days in online video go, June 21, 2007, is a pretty odd one. The Paul Potts phenomenon had just died down, and for lack of any other pop culture happening, the world of viral video was at a complete standstill. It’s unclear if that slow news day is the only reason why a five-second clip of a rodent looking over its shoulder shot to the top of the YouTube charts. But it certainly didn’t hurt.

When the Dramatic Prairie Dog burst onto the scene, part of its appeal had to do with its randomness — no one quite knew where it came from. And even today, the origins of the video are a little hard to detangle. The original clip, from an appearance by J-pop group MiniMoni on the Japanese TV show Hello! Morning, shows that capturing the prairie dog move was pretty much a camera fluke.

But then CuteOverload reader Lizzie H captured the five-second look and transformed it into an animated GIF. In the comments for that post, reader Liz comments that, “[I]t reminds me of those hideous soaps where the offended party turns suddenly and the music rises ‘DADADA DAHHHHH.’” The next day, this idea got some follow-through thanks to SleepingPlanet.com, which posted it to YouTube.

Ten million views later, at least one hundred spinoffs now exist online.

Drama Prairie Dog, Zoolander:

Dramatic Look, James Bond Style:

Darthmatic Chipmunk:

Dramatic Chipmunk Thriller/Michael Jackson edition:

And, like every good Internet meme, it even has its very own T-shirt.

The fascinating thing about the Dramatic Prairie Dog is that, while technically all of the elements comprising the video are copyrighted material, the resulting mashup and its spinoffs stand out as distinct works of…well, perhaps not art. But certainly something original, born from a large and engaged online community. The Internet offers creators more ability than ever to be the sole authors of their work. But some of the most fascinating stuff doesn’t really have an author.