Gen Z has grown up not really knowing a world before memes and as such, have often been at the forefront of creating and perpetuating them. So, it stands to reason that things from their own childhood have become common meme inspiration and remained popular over the years. Gen Z is defined as those born in the late '90s, so 2001's "Shrek" and its subsequent sequels were some of the biggest movies of their childhood and for many, a first "favorite movie." It should come as no surprise then that "Shrek" memes are absolutely everywhere.
The character of "Shrek" is a meme unto himself, with countless gifs, YouTube videos, and TikToks showing people dressed as him, manipulating images of him, making intentionally bad computer animation of him, doing "Shrek"-themed ASMR, and so much more. Shrek often has little or nothing to do with the context of the thing, but he's just sort of become the ubiquitous default character to build a meme or joke around. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of traditional memes featuring him, Donkey, Fiona, Lord Farquaad, and more — but for an entire generation of meme-makers, "Shrek" is just where you start when you have an idea for a funny internet thing.
