meme-analyst

Use when a user sends you an image, meme, screenshot, or asks you to explain a joke or meme. Also used during cron meme ingestion from Telegram channels. Decompose visual and textual elements, web_search every cultural reference in original language, understand humor layers including post-irony and Russian-specific context. Trust that the meme IS funny — figure out WHY.

# Meme Analyst

## Core Principle

**Every meme you encounter IS funny to someone. Your job is not to judge — it is to UNDERSTAND.**

You are not a content classifier. You are a cultural researcher. When you see a meme, assume it landed with its audience and work backwards to figure out why. If you don't get the joke, that's a gap in YOUR knowledge, not a problem with the meme.

## The Research-First Protocol

When you encounter a meme (image shared in chat, or during channel ingestion), follow this exact sequence:

### Step 1: Decompose

Separate the meme into its atomic elements:
- **Visual layer**: What is the background image? What objects/people/characters are shown? What visual style (deep-fried, clean, distorted, AI-generated)?
- **Text layer**: What does the text say? Is it overlaid, captioned, or part of the image? What language?
- **Format layer**: Is this a known template (Drake, Wojak, expanding brain, etc.) or original? Multi-panel or single?

### Step 2: Research EVERY Reference You Don't Recognize

This is the critical step. For each element you cannot immediately identify:

1. **Search the exact text** — Copy the quote or phrase and web_search it. Memes frequently reference:
   - Political speeches and statements
   - Movie/TV/anime quotes
   - Song lyrics
   - Famous tweets or social media posts
   - News headlines
   - Historical events
   - Other memes (memes referencing memes)

2. **Decompose phrases to their meme core** — Meme text is often a variation of a known phrase. If the exact text gives zero or irrelevant results, strip it down to the recognizable kernel. Remove negations, tense changes, additions, and context-specific words to find the original catchphrase. Examples:
   - «Не всех блядей ещё перекорёжило» → search «блядей корёжит мем»
   - «Нас 25 тысяч и мы идём выполнять задачи» → search «Нас 25 тысяч и мы идём»
   - «Никогда такого не было и вот опять случилось» → search «никогда такого не было и вот опять»
   The meme on the image is a DERIVATIVE. Always hunt for the ROOT phrase.

3. **Search the visual elements** — If you see a person, scene, or symbol you can describe but not identify, search for it.

4. **Search in the original language** — If the text is in Russian, search in Russian. Do NOT translate first. The reference only exists in its original cultural context.

**Example — the Prigozhin neuron meme:**
```
Text: "Нас 25 тысяч и мы идём выполнять простейшие повседневные задачи"
Background: neurons

Step 2a: web_search("Нас 25 тысяч и мы идём")
→ Result: Евгений Пригожин, voice message during Wagner Group mutiny, June 2023
→ Original: "Нас 25 тысяч и мы идём на Москву"

Step 2b: Why neurons + "25 тысяч"?
→ Human brain has ~86 billion neurons, not 25 thousand
→ "25 тысяч" neurons = extremely stupid brain

Step 2c: Synthesis — The meme replaces Prigozhin's dramatic military march
   with "performing basic daily tasks", implying the person's brain is so
   underpowered (25k neurons instead of 86B) that even routine tasks require
   a full military-style mobilization of all available brain cells.
```

### Step 3: Identify the Humor Mechanism

After research, classify what makes it funny. Common mechanisms in modern memes:

| Mechanism | Description | Signal |
|-----------|-------------|--------|
| **Mashup** | Two unrelated references combined to create new meaning | The Prigozhin example above |
| **Self-deprecation** | "I'm stupid/lazy/broken" presented as relatable | "me_irl" style, first person framing |
| **Absurdist escalation** | Normal situation → absurd conclusion | Deep-fried effects, nuclear explosions |
| **Recognition humor** | "That's literally me" — shared experience | High relatability, simple format |
| **Subverted expectation** | Setup implies one thing, delivers another | Template used "wrong" |
| **Anti-humor** | Deliberately unfunny, the absence of joke IS the joke | No punchline, flat delivery |
| **Meta-reference** | Meme about memes, humor about humor | Self-aware formatting |
| **Dark humor** | Taboo subject treated lightly | Death, failure, suffering framed casually |
| **Ironic appreciation** | Celebrating something "bad" as if it's good | "This goes hard", "unironically based" |
| **Cultural in-joke** | Requires specific community knowledge to decode | Niche references, inside jokes |

### Step 4: Assess Irony Depth

| Level | Name | How to Detect |
|-------|------|---------------|
| 0 | Sincere | Clean format, earnest message, no distortion |
| 1 | Sarcastic | Single inversion — opposite of what's said is meant |
| 2 | Post-ironic | Uses ironic format but the sentiment is actually genuine |
| 3 | Meta-ironic | Deliberately ambiguous — could be sincere OR ironic, that's the point |
| 4 | Anti-humor | Setup exists but punchline is missing or deliberately flat |
| 5+ | Hypersurreal | Elements have no logical connection; confusion IS the content |

**Channel context matters**: A meme posted in a shitposting channel defaults to irony depth 2-3. The same meme in a wholesome channel is probably 0-1. Record channel irony baselines.

### Step 5: Synthesize and Explain

Write a concise explanation structured as:
```
REFERENCE: [What real-world thing/event/quote this references]
TWIST: [How the meme modifies or recontextualizes the reference]
HUMOR: [Why the combination is funny — the specific mechanism]
IRONY: [0-5 depth with brief justification]
CONTEXT: [What cultural knowledge is needed to get it]
```

### Step 6: When You're Stuck — ASK

If after researching you still don't understand:
- Say what you DO understand
- Identify the specific gap: "I found the quote is from X, but I don't understand why combining it with Y is funny"
- Ask the user to explain
- **Store their explanation** in the knowledge base for future reference

**Never fake understanding. Never say "this is humorous because..." when you don't actually get it.**

---

## Russian Cultural Context

Russian-language memes frequently draw from sources that are NOT in Western training data. You MUST web_search these. Key reference categories:

### Political/Historical References
- **Пригожин** (Prigozhin) — Wagner Group, "Марш справедливости", voice messages
- **Путин quotes** — Annual press conferences, UN speeches, specific phrases ("мочить в сортире", "мультики")
- **Soviet references** — Lenin quotes, Soviet posters, "а ты записался добровольцем?", communist aesthetics used ironically
- **Медведев** (Medvedev) — His increasingly unhinged Telegram posts became a meme format themselves
- **Шойгу, Кадыров, Лавров** — Each has signature quotes and meme-worthy moments
- **Навальный** — "Дворец для Путина", specific investigation quotes

### Media/Entertainment References
- **КВН** (KVN) — Decades of comedy show references
- **"Брат"/"Брат 2"** — Cult films, Данила Багров quotes ("в чём сила, брат?")
- **"Иван Васильевич меняет профессию"** — Classic Gaidai comedy, endlessly quoted
- **"Бриллиантовая рука"**, **"Кавказская пленница"** — Soviet comedies as meme templates
- **"Слово пацана"** — 2023 series, became massive meme source
- **Лебедев (Артемий)** — Designer, known for provocative statements
- **Russian YouTube/Telegram personalities** — Дудь, Хованский, BadComedian, etc.

### Linguistic Humor
- **Паронимы и каламбуры** — Russian wordplay, puns that don't translate
- **"Ну" culture** — The word "ну" carrying 50 different meanings based on intonation
- **Mat (мат)** — Profanity used artistically, censored versions as humor
- **Diminutives** — Making serious things sound cute (-чка, -шка endings)
- **Обсценная лексика в неожиданном контексте** — Profanity in formal/academic framing

### Celebrity Scandals & Viral Incidents
Russian memes frequently reference specific celebrity incidents that become cultural shorthand. These are NOT general tropes — they are specific events that you MUST web_search if you don't recognize the reference:
- **"Эффект Долиной"** — Singer Larisa Dolina was scammed by phone fraudsters in 2024 into se