Although, more than forty years on, most people associate memes with the notion of Internet memes, it is helpful to return to Dawkins’ original definition to understand the theory of memetics and its differences from other theories of cultural evolution. The word ‘meme’ was coined in Richard Dawkins’ 1976 book The Selfish Gene. The possibility of a third replicator, technological memes or tremes, is briefly considered. Overimitation in children as compared with other great apes may be important in providing memetic advantage. ![]() Imitation is observed in song birds, cetaceans and great apes but animal cultures may arise through forms of social learning other than true imitation and are not memetic. For memetics, memes are selfish replicators that evolve for their own benefit, while other theories of cultural evolution look to biological advantage, providing very different accounts of the origins of the large human brain and language. Reasons for rejecting these criticisms are discussed. Criticisms of memetics include claims that they do not exist, that the analogy with genes is false, that the units cannot be specified, that there is no clear equivalent of the germ line in biology, and that the sources of variation are intelligently designed rather than random. Genes are the first replicator memes the second replicator that emerged when human ancestors became capable of imitating sounds and actions. ![]() The core definition of a meme is ‘that which is imitated’. The concept of memes is derived from the principles of universal Darwinism that whenever information is copied with variation and selection, that information is a replicator and inevitably evolves. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, (2nd ed.). Stark: It’s not pus, it’s an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device. ![]() What results is a game of human “Operation,” now with a dash of profanity. One of the most hilarious examples of the electric chemistry between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts is the scene in which Tony summons Potts to help replace the palladium core buried beneath his very real and not at all prosthetic chest. Warning: Spoilers and (obviously) further profanity ahead. Let’s go film by film in chronological release order. So as a thought experiment-let’s call it What F…?-I’ve painstakingly selected the ideal moment in each MCU movie for a character to use that one-time F-bomb allowance to spice up the proceedings with a well-timed swear word. But despite those semi-close calls, the Mouse has never let us hear the full, uncensored force of a satisfying “fuck” in any MCU entry.įans are getting so impatient for the first “fuck” to fly that they’re imagining one in Moon Knight that probably doesn’t exist. And then there are the times when an MCU movie creator has thought about trying to work blue but opted not to push the envelope. There’s the time Baby Groot said “Welcome to the freakin’ Guardians of the Galaxy,” only he didn’t use frickin’. There are several instances of a cut-off “Oh shi-” or a “What the fu-” in MCU films ranging from The Incredible Hulk to Spider-Man: Far From Home. Granted, they’ve flirted with “fuck.” There are bleeped F-bombs in an Iron Man deleted scene and in Iron Man 2. It’s also a get-out-of-R-free pass that the MCU and Disney have refused to cash in (though Fox’s X-Men movies never hesitated to). The PG-13 F-bomb is a time-honored tradition, a single-shot pistol of profanity used to punctuate the serious, the ridiculous, and everything in between. It’s a phenomenon missing from every MCU entry: the infamous PG-13-sanctioned, single-use F-bomb. Deadpool 3 seems set to snap that streak, but there’s one piece of adult-oriented content that Disney could include in any MCU movie without triggering an R rating, suppressing its performance at the box office, or totally trashing the Mouse House’s family-friendly rep. ![]() Some speculated that the MCU’s latest installment, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, would be the one to break the parental-rating barrier, but when the verdict was announced, the Motion Picture Association handed down the same answer as always: PG-13. For more than a decade, Disney has dashed their hopes. Almost since the second Tony Stark finished saying “I am Iron Man,” Marvel fans have wondered when or if they would see an R-rated release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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