Cards on the table: the video linked above is a long one. It's a labyrinthian journey into the rotten core of the internet, and one of the most fascinating and hilarious things I've watched this week.
If you've spent any time on the internet, you're aware of how quickly formerly concrete intellectual properties can become malleable putty in the hands of artists and trolls. Cute mascots and beloved cultural institutions can morph into vessels for humorous social commentary or grotesque fetish material in no time flat. Finding these distortions of cherished characters isn't even dependent on how deep your search spirals into Google's gaping maw. Sometimes they're on the very first page. As a result, Garfield's warped stature on the web isn't unique by any stretch of the imagination, but it's probably more compelling than any other example.
YouTuber Super eye patch wolf explores the history of Garfield and how the orange cat's online fandom became so gleefully demented. If you've got the time to spare, give it a watch.
