Bee Movie Memes: What’s All The Buzz?

When Bee Movie debuted in 2007, no one thought much of it. Fast-forward to 2016, where it has made itself an internet phenomenon.
Bee Movie is a movie by Jerry Seinfeld that tells the story of Barry B. Benson, a fresh college graduate that’s making his way into the working bee industry. Along the way, he decides to stray from the path of work that is expected of him, and makes his way into the human world. There, he meets Vanessa, a human he develops a close bond (arguably one of attraction) with. Yes, it’s a human and a bee. A bee and a human. It’s weird, I know. Barry finds out that people are taking honey from bees, and decides to sue the whole human race. When they win the trial, flowers everywhere start dying off. They eventually save humankind and beekind by preventing a plane crash (?) and pollinating the world’s flowers.
Seinfeld’s movie has received negative feedback from reviewers and audiences alike. Sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb consistently put the movie at around 50%. The consensus at Rotten Tomatoes is that “Bee Movie has humorous moments, but it’s awkward premise and tame delivery render it mostly forgettable.”
With the horrendous reviews, it’s no surprise why would the Internet spend so much time celebrating the quality of this movie. In 2015, Seinfeld’s movie became a meme when people sent around the entire Bee Movie script, all 9,478 words of it. The script became a meme in it of itself, making its way onto mugs and shirts (I should know, I own one.) Ever since, a movie that had virtually no popularity with movie reviewers has had unprecedented popularity with the Internet.
In late November 2016, an upsurge of Bee Movie memes flooded the Internet once again. The first video to make it big this year is titled, “The entire bee movie but every time they say bee it gets faster” uploaded by Avoid at All Costs. This video has 13 million views, and every day since, hundreds of new Bee Movie memes are making their way into popularity at groundbreaking levels. Some of my personal favorites include, “The bee movie but it zooms in on random things,” “bee movie but it’s in 10 seconds,” and “Bee Movie Trailer but every “Bee” is replaced with another letter”. These videos gain thousands of views each day, and it’s hard to pinpoint when any other recent meme has had such consistent success.
The Bee Movie may not be universally loved and enjoyed, but the internet has given this movie a bee-autiful place to spread laughter and happiness to all that find humor in these memes.