The end of a meme: How Grumpy Cat defined the millennial mood

Grumpy Cat has died, and the only proper reaction for anyone who has followed the meme for the past several years is to be, well, a little grumpy.

The cantankerous cat, whose feline dwarfism produced her meme-able grimace, was 2013’s meme of the year, and she has traveled through the public eye everywhere from the cover of New York magazine to the New York Times best-seller list to a Christmas movie.

It’s no secret that the internet is obsessed with cute cats, but why this grumpy one?

Grumpy Cat became a proxy for dark internet humor, where millennials joked about hating people and feeling like they “just can’t even.” “There are two kinds of people in this world,” says one meme. “And I don’t like them.”

Inspiring nearly 900 pieces of merchandise on the Grumpy Cat shop and several books, from Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book to The Grumpy Guide to Life: Observations from Grumpy Cat, Grumpy Cat became an establishment. In a world of memes that are funny for a few weeks until everyone moves on to the next thing, Grumpy Cat remained as the face of the millennial misanthrope.

Yeah, people suck sometimes, and it took a perennially judgmental cat to remind people that it’s OK to feel that way. “Your face uses more muscles to frown than to smile,” says another meme. “What can I say, I’m addicted to fitness.”

The irony, which Grumpy Cat’s owners point out in their memorial tweet, is that the cat’s grumpiness became a source of levity for millions of fans. Grumpy Cat hit at the heart of viral culture, explaining why millions of people could unite around a picture of a cat: She could become a face for all of our grumpiest thoughts, a simple image that provided a mood with which we can all relate.