It was inevitable, really, that one of the streamers would eventually make a movie out of a meme. So when Netflix announced Florida Man earlier this year, there were a lot of eye rolls. “We’ve all seen the memes,” the company announced on Twitter, “But it’s time to dig deeper. WAY deeper.”
Is there really that much further to dig into a viral craze that essentially just involves googling a date and the phrase “Florida Man” to see what madness pops up? Apparently so, according to showrunner, Donald Todd, who asked in a recent press release: “[People] laugh at the mug shots and the headlines but what’s the story behind the meme?”
But the truth is, it doesn't really answer that question. This is not a documentary or an origin story, but instead tells the action-packed story of a struggling ex-cop (Edgar Ramírez) forced to return to his home state of Florida to find a Philly mobster's runaway girlfriend.
But let's ignore that, and instead focus on the 'Florida Man' phenomenon – or punchline – which has actually been popping up for over a decade. How did it start? And will it ever end?
When did the Florida Man meme begin?
Down in the doldrums of the internet, some users had noted the high frequency of weird local news stories about men from Florida doing something odd, that usually had the phrase ‘Florida Man…’ in the headline.
Subreddits followed, and Tumblrs, and in 2013, a now-defunct Twitter account called @_FloridaMan collated all these lurid stories and, pretending they were all the actions of one man, dubbed Florida Man as the “world’s worst superhero.” The account racked up 342,000 followers and in early 2019, the Florida Man challenge went global: type your birthday into Google, followed by Florida Man, and see what japes the menfolk of the Sunshine State were up to. (“Florida Man Eats Police Car!” “Florida Man Dressed as Fred Flintstone Pulled Over for Speeding!” “Florida Man Breaks Into Restaurant, Strips Naked, Eats Noodles and Plays Bongos!”).
But as the jokes on these particular Floridians flew around the world, some people began to question who we were actually laughing at, as the humour was very punch-down. In a piece entitled Who Is Florida Man?, the Columbia Journalism Review makes a very valid point: “The stories tend to stand as exemplars of the mythical hyper-weirdness of the Sunshine State, but more often simply document the travails of the drug-addicted, mentally ill, and homeless.”
Just like auto-tuning the news - another mid-noughties online trend that feels highly problematic on reflection - one man’s punchline was another man’s horrific trauma, emblazoned across the internet forever.
But why was it Florida in particular that was zoned in on? Partly because of the state’s issue with lack of funding or care for people with mental health issues, but also because it’s one of the states with the most transparent public record laws, and FOI requests being quickly complied with and responded to by police departments.
Miami New Times said: “Since 1909, Florida has had a proud tradition that all government business is public business and therefore should be available to the public. That means all records, including photos and videos, produced by a public agency are easily accessible with a few narrow and obvious exceptions…So perhaps the next time you read a weird-Florida-news story, don't ask why Florida is so weird; ask why you're not hearing about the weirdness in other states. It might have something to do with their lack of open government.”
Florida Man trend collapses in on itself
In July 2019, the @_FloridaMan account was shut down, with its creator, Frank Campion, telling The Washington Post that he felt the tone had shifted to become too mean-spirited: “How much do I want to be a party to essentially making fun of people on the worst day of their lives, even if they have done something wrong?’ Like, who gave the Internet the right to add to someone’s punishment?”
After the account closed, the meme moved on, but this time it was punching up, as then-President Donald Trump earned the nickname Florida Man for wanting to move his main residence to Mar-A-Lago. Announcing his plans to run again in 2024, the New York Post headlined the front page story: “Florida Man Makes Announcement”. A fitting subject to end this rolling joke on… until, Florida Man, the meme-named series with nothing to do with the meme hits our screens.
Florida Man is streaming on Netflix now
