Meaning
What does The Beach That Makes You Old mean?
The Beach That Makes You Old is a popular meme series, revolving around the 2021 movie of M. Night Shyamalan, titled “Old”.
The thriller presents viewers with the concept of a coastline, where people age quicker. The uncanny concept inspired discussions and later memes online, swarming the internet with references to “The Beach That Makes You Old”, both in the form of image macro memes, YouTube parodies and social media posts.
Origin
What's the origin of The Beach That Makes You Old?
“The Beach That Makes You Old” was first conceived by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters in their visual novel, published in 2010 under the title “Sandcastle.”
The plot of M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old” was loosely based on the book, telling the story of a group of tourists, who stranded on a beach that makes them age rapidly. It premiered on July 23rd, 2021.
The first memes about “The Beach That Makes You Old” started popping up on Twitter a few days before the premiere of “Old”, on July 19th, 2021. The earliest tweet, shared by @JEBermanator joked about the narrative choice of the director.
A few days later, image macro memes also began appearing on the platform, marking the birth of the meme format, which can be attributed to @zachsilberberg.
Spread & Usage
How did The Beach That Makes You Old spread?
In July 2021, Twitter was swarmed by memes and jokes about “The Beach That Makes You Old”, including a paraphrase of the Shrek song “All-Star” by Smash Mouth.
Despite this, the true virality of the meme wasn’t yet attained until 2023.
On February 20th, 2023, a video was uploaded to YouTube by Zach Silberberg, titled “Joe Rogan Went To The Beach That Makes You Old (feat. Ben Shapiro)”, depicting a made-up conversation between the two people about “The Beach That Makes You Old”.
Three days later the video was shared on TikTok by @aiartificialartist, marking the beginning of the trend on the platform. In the following months, countless videos used the original sound of the video, while others recreated the conversation themselves, or made different parodies about “The Beach That Makes You Old.”
The meme reacted its peak in April 2023, and has been declining since, although some newer versions can be encountered both on TikTok and YouTube.
External resources
- KnowYourMeme – The Beach That Makes You Old