#cats_the_mewvie (2020) - full transcript

[sound of dial-up Internet modem]

[keys typing]

[modem buzzing]

[static]

[cat meows]

[Tiffany] Oh, my God, that's so cute.

[cat purring]

[Pouria] My Instagram, it's all cats.

Every single one.
Cat memes of like little cute cats.

So, when I started the Instagram account,

I was like, "Just to make things clear,
I'm not a crazy cat lady."



[both laughing]

[Tiffany] Make him look up again.

[rattling]

[Pouria] He makes me laugh
even when I'm stressed,

just because of the little things
he does, right?

Even the way his face looks.

[Tiffany] He looked-- Oh, oh, yeah.

I feel like if they have
the ability

to bring so much happiness
to people, why not?

[camera clicking]

[Tiffany] Try dancing in the back a bit.

He looks bored.

He's too used to this!

[laughing]



[Pouria] He's falling asleep!

[Tiffany] Yeah, he's falling asleep!

[Mike] People are obsessed with cats,

and cats on the Internet, specifically.

[Pamela] Cats have captured
our imagination

because we really don't
understand them,

but we want to so badly.

[Pookie] She's the diva.

I am sure she knows she's famous.

[Mike] She's very special.
She's one of a kind.

Now, there's this whole world
of Insta-cats,

and people trying to make
their cats famous.

If someone was upset that we
were dressing up our cat,

-I'd say, "Well--"
-Have you seen her?

[Lynzie] Eleganza!

[giggles]

I'd love to hit 100K.

[Loni] If you have a large following,
you can make a living.

We have clients that do it full-time.

[Hugo] Social media
is like my gallery.

[Adam] We posted a picture,
and it literally just...

[mimics explosion] ...blew up!

[Tiffany] I have around 19,000 followers.

[Lynzie] We have 87,000 followers now.

[Adam] 238,000.

[Joanne] 330,000.

[Mick] One million around the world.

[Mike] 6.3 million.

Over ten million followers strong, easily.

My personal account's got 40!

[laughing]

You could be sitting next
to a co-worker

who you think is totally normal,

and then, find out that
they have seven cats,

one of which has 500,000 followers.

You wouldn't know.

[woman] People really get crazy about it,

almost like they're meeting a celebrity.

[Mike] When we do meet and greets,
there's people crying,

lots of people crying.

[Sarita]
We are bringing the cat community together

to spread the love
for these amazing creatures.

It isn't just about likes,
it isn't just about followers.

[Gwen] I always say he's not
a meme cat, he's a message cat.

[Erika] I don't know what you are,
but I love you.

[man] The Internet's built with cats.

[Amanda] If you have a cat,
pure content gold.

[cat meowing, purring]

[birds chirping]

[cat snuffling]

[Mike] This is my cat, Bub,

and she's very special to me

and to a lot of people, actually.

I'm Mike.

We're really good friends.

[Lil Bub snorting]

She makes funny sounds quite a bit.

She's one of a kind.

One in a trillion, genetically,

and one in a trillion
energetically and spiritually.

She has a rare bone condition
called osteopetrosis.

She's the only cat in recorded history

to have been born with this condition.

Her teeth never grew in.

She has an underdeveloped lower jaw.

She only weighs 3.7 pounds.

Bub is, she's not just
a funny-looking cat.

She's an inspiration,
sort of a beacon of hope.

She has more will and determination

than any living thing in the world.

They predicted she'd only live
a few months,

and she's now seven years old.

[snorting]

And the most famous cat in the world.

[meows]

[Jason] I don't like looking at pictures
of cats or videos of cats,

but they were inundating my life online,

and it became such a persistent
issue that I was like,

"What's going on?"

My name is Jason Eppink.

I'm the curator of digital media

at the Museum of the Moving Image.

I organize events and
exhibitions about art,

play, participation
and vernacular culture

as they relate to the moving image.

So, that's video games, interactive arts,

club cultures, animated GIFs,

and of course, part of that
is Internet cats.

[hair dryer whirring]

[Jason] I organized an exhibition called

"How Cats Took Over the Internet."

I think the central question
started as like,

"What the hell's going on?"

But it evolved into what is it about us,

what is it about humans,

what is it about the sort of
contemporary moment?

[meows]

You might be surprised to think

that the first famous Internet cat
was not a photo of a cat.

[purring]

It was 1998.
Its name was Giko,

and it was a cat built out of Shift JIS,

which is the Japanese form of ASCII.

It was a little cat with, like, carets

and squiggly lines and parentheses,

and people would use Giko
to illustrate their feelings

or pose it.

This is really the first
iteration of a cat meme online.

My name is Amanda Brennan,
and I work at Tumblr.

In my personal Internet time,

I run the blog
"Boys with Beards with Cats."

And it's just photos of boys
with beards and cats. [chuckles]

I'm known online
as the Meme Librarian.

I'm the only meme librarian
that I know of. [laughs]

Many people think of memes
as just an image

or something that they share
on social media,

but the real idea of a meme is the idea,

and the act of the thing
you're participating in.

It's a piece of content, a word, a phrase,

anything that is posted to the Internet,

and is spread from person to person,

and changes along the way.

[Jason] Early Internet was a space
for weird things to happen.

One of the projects that I
highlighted in the exhibition

was Infinite Cat Project.

Are you familiar with it?

Mike Stanfill found a photo
of a cat

looking at a photo of itself
on a monitor.

I'm Mike Stanfill.

Um... I'm a commercial illustrator,

and a champion of justice, too,
by the way.

This is such a clever project.

I have to take you back to 2003
when this began.

I found a picture of a cat
smelling a rose,

and somebody took a picture of a cat

growling at the cat smelling a rose.

So, I took the photo of
the growling cat

and put it on a website,

and people took pictures of
their cats growling at that cat,

and then, I put those pictures
on the Internet.

I'm surprised people
even found the site,

because Google was still sort of
kind of fresh and new back then.

But then, right about late 2004,
it took off.

As of today, there are 1801 cats

all looking at each other into infinity.

You see technology evolve
over the length of that project.

Back then, a 15-inch monitor was hot shit.

Seventeen meant you were rich!

Nineteen meant you worked for NASA!

[mockingly] Ooh, this guy's got money!

I do remember the first
cell phone that showed up,

and it's just a cat,
cell phone on the ground,

cat looking into it
and we're like, "Oh, how cute!"

You know, this is the last one
of these I'll get!

No!

This was at a really sort of
great moment on the Internet,

before it was, like, totally taken over
by capitalism, right?

I also brought
the Infinite Cat Calendar.

This was really sort of utopian
vision and space

where this kind of stuff
could proliferate.

I did this in 2005,

and it was such a big,
fat pain in the keister,

I didn't do another one.

I think it's an unsung hero
of Internet cat humor.

[Stanfill] I just like the fact

that people all around the world
can do this.

I thought I was alone in the cat world,

but, hey, people like kitties.

In the early 2000s,

we started to see a lot of
nameless famous cats.

[Amanda reading]

[Amanda reading]

[Amanda reading]

It was the time of the Internet

where you didn't want anyone
to know who you were.

So, people would share these
photos on forums, on websites,

and a lot of that boiled down
into 4chan.

[Jason] 4chan, as you probably know,

is the cesspool of the Internet.

It's the place where all the brilliant
Internet comes from,

and also all the shit.

On 4chan is where we first
started to see the LOLcat,

which is your cat image
with some Impact font.

And here is where we started
to see LOLspeak.

[Jack] It's a very natural thing
to do, I think,

to, like, to put yourself
into the mind of your pet

and, like, imagine what they're
thinking or saying,

or like what they might sound like
or how they might talk.

And I guess the Internet decided

that cats talk like these deranged babies.

[laughing]

Let me go, human!

[laughing]

My name is Jack Shepherd,

I am also the site's
first beast master,

which is an official title
that I made up for myself

and they let me keep.

I started BuzzFeed's animal
section in 2012,

after having taken a real interest

in cats on the Internet.

It was so funny at the time.

That's what, like, the teen who, like,
doesn't remember the LOLcats

wouldn't be able to get,

is like it was so funny!

And if you look at it now,
it's like, "I don't get it."

Like, they spelled "has" wrong?

Like, cats don't eat cheeseburgers.

But, like, that language is the beginning

of, like, a really, really
interesting and wild era

for how we related to animals
on the Internet.

[Kevin] So, LOLspeak is gearing up

right around the time
that YouTube is launched.

Around the time that YouTube originated,

there were actually two things happening

that were important in technology.

The first was that we were
having this new ability

to distribute things online,

to connect and upload
and share video.

We also had mobile devices

that could record and capture
those videos.

My name's Kevin Allocca,

and I'm the Head of Culture
and Trends at YouTube,

and the author of Videocracy.

I spent eight years studying
trends in video at YouTube,

and trying to understand
why things are popular,

and why we like them.

In the early days of this medium

as people are trying to figure out
what to do with it

and how it works,

it was one of the first times
where you had people

from all over the world having access

to all of the same types of things
in that type of way.

So, naturally, things that
transcend language,

things that transcend cultural mores

are going to rise in popularity

because they're accessible
to more people.

And it was the first time that
we saw that dynamic playing out,

and the sort of unexpected
victors, perhaps, were our pets.

[meows]

[hisses]

[Pamela] When Instagram first launched,

at the time, you would just
sign up for an account,

you would start following your friends,

you'd start following your family.
Basically, people you know.

Then, you'd start discovering
people who did stuff you liked,

and I think that was so game-changing.

My name is Pamela Chen.

I'm a creative director
here at Instagram.

I spend a lot of time on Instagram,

studying Instagram accounts

and learning about interspace
communities on the platform.

In those early days, it was
simply a picture, a caption,

and sometimes the caption was
in a language that was not your own

and yet, you could look
at a profile of a cat account

and say, "I would like to follow this cat,

because every day
I will get a picture of a cat

that will make me happy,

and it will just connect me
to a community of people

who I may never meet,
but I know get me."

Right there in your pocket
was this whole group of people

who liked what you liked,

but you may not know them
in real life.

And that concept in itself
was so special,

and cats were one of those
interests from day one.

Instagram has unlocked a way
for cat owners

to share everything they love
about cats with each other

in a very visual way,

in a way that is very hard
to describe in words,

but once you see it, you're
like, "My cat is just like that,

and I get you, and you get me."

[Amanda] The cat explosion,

I think, happened when people
started getting phones,

and people started getting excited

about posting their own cats,

and everyone wanted to follow

all of the cats at the same time.

If you look at Instagram,

there's the #catsofinstagram,

as well as the corresponding profile,

and tons of people just creating
awesome content.

Yeah, when people ask,
it's a little weird to say

that, yeah, I make money off
posting cats on the Internet.

My name's Eli. I'm one half
of Cats of Instagram.

And I'm Kady, the other half
of Cats of Instagram.

You might think that
Cats of Instagram

is more than just the two of us,

but that's really all it is.

We don't have a communications department.

[Eli] It's us in our pajamas
looking at cat videos.

[Kady] Yup!

Me on the treadmill at the gym
going through submissions.

-[chuckles]
-Maybe in the bathroom.

[both laughing]

[woman] I am so jealous of you guys.

Honestly, I started it in 2011
as just kind of a hobby

back when Instagram
was kind of growing.

It was simply supply and demand.

[Kady] We would get people
that would submit

when they were just making
an account,

and feature them, and we'd see
their accounts grow.

I mean, I still get giddy
when a video goes viral.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

Back in the day, I mean,

there was a few famous cats
who were up-and-coming.

Our success was reliant
on their success,

and we all kind of came up
together, including Pudge,

Nala, Oskar.

[Amanda] We kind of evolved into these
more famous cats,

and then, we started seeing
cat celebrities.

So, this is when Lil Bub entered.

[Mike] The reason I started
a Tumblr blog

was just a friend of mine
was like, "You have to do it.

It'd be so fun, and people want
to see it."

I was like, "Okay, yeah,
for my friends, you know."

And even then, you know, I had
like five followers friends,

and then, they just told their friends,

and so, and then, we had 20 followers,

and I was like, "This is crazy!"

And then, like 3,000
on Instagram.

My personal account's got 40!

[laughing]

I assumed it would end in a few months,

but it's still going.

At this point,
she's received iconic status.

Bub's total combined followers

across her social media platforms
is about 6.3 million.

[raspy breathing]

[meowing]

[meowing]

[hissing]

Hi, my name is Pookie.

[Nala growling]

[male interviewer] What's going on, Nala?

She's mad that Luna is here with her.

Normally, it's just, you know,
she needs a spotlight.

Everyone to just focus on her,
not some other animal.

She's too much.

So, what you gonna do?
You gonna just stay here and complain?

[howling]

-[Pookie] Okay, she left.
-[meowing]

She's the diva.

I am sure she knows she's famous.

[Pookie on video] What did you just do?

So, I adopted her in 2010,

but I didn't start her social
media until 2012.

[hissing]

I started her account
just to share photos

with like my friends and family.

I remember, like, I went
snowboarding with my friend,

and that day,
we hit 500 followers,

and it was like, "Oh, my God."

Like, I imagine like a full room
of 500 people,

and it was like, "Oh, my God,
500 people following Nala!"

When she hit 500,000 followers,

that's when people start wishing,

"I would want to do, like, sponsor ad."

So, Nala got a Guinness World Record

for the most popular cat
on Instagram.

She was in a Forbes article,

top-ten most influential animal.

We were on Steve Harvey's show,
the daytime talk show.

She's on movie with Jennifer Garner
called Nine Lives.

She was named Kids' Choice Award
nominee on Nickelodeon channel.

She's my baby, so I love her,

but I'm happy to get to share
her cuteness with everyone

and make everyone happy.

-Thanks so much.
-Thank you!

[hissing, growling]

[Pookie laughing]

Nala, why?

Are you mad at me?

[meows]

I think we're sort of
in the second generation

of celebrity pets.

[Tiffany] This is Evey,
she's a long-haired calico.

[Pouria] This is Toto.

This is our troublemaker Scottish Fold.

First generation was sort of
a bunch of accidental Internet stars.

And then, entrepreneurial
pet owners took note,

and tried to replicate the successes

with making a lot of effort

that the first generation
of Internet pets didn't.

Can you make her look this way?

[Pouria] Hey, here!

Is this what you're looking for?

Oh, there you go, there you go.

-I'm Tiffany.
-And I'm Pouria.

[Tiffany] When I started the Instagram
account around 2012,

I definitely did not expect
a huge following.

It was more like a hobby.

But today on Instagram,

Evey and Toto have around
19,700 followers.

[Pouria] Yes!

Such a good girl.

In the next year, I think 50,000
followers is a realistic goal,

and then, when they get to 50,000,

I think 100,000 is not that far off.

[male interviewer] Would you call yourself
an influencer?

No, I wouldn't.

I just don't feel like I'm big enough yet.

[laughing]

What has changed is maybe
more a function

of the Internet changing

than it is of cat media changing
in a specific way.

You get these cats that have,
like, massive followings

on, like, Instagram or on YouTube,

but it's become increasingly siloed.

They don't break out from that platform.

I think the last truly,
truly famous cat was Lil Bub.

[Lil Bub snorting]

Now, there's this whole world
of Insta-cats

and people trying to make
their cats famous,

and there's, you know, like, accounts
with this many followers

and this many followers.

You know, a lot of people
message me like,

"How do I make my cat famous?"

And I'm really kind of against all of it.

[male interviewer]
But you're one of them, though.

[clears throat] Sure, but I didn't--
I never sought out to do this.

Currently on Instagram,
we have 18,300 followers,

so we're getting close to that 20.

I'd love to hit 100K,

not for any other reason other
than I just think it looks cool,

and it would make me seem cool.

And now that I've vocalized that,
I don't feel cool! [chuckles]

My name is Erika.

I love you.

And my cat is Fat Cat Hercules.

He's called Fat Cat Hercules

because it's literally exactly
what you think when you see him.

You're just like,
"Damn! That is a fat cat!"

Hercules is a hard-hitting,

fast-talking, foul-mouthed,

smooth with the lady cats,

Internet-tainer on a diet.

I decided to start an Instagram
for Hercules

the same day that we decided
to put him on a diet.

[hissing]

The primary reason was because
I wanted to be

accountable as a pet owner.

[purring]

But it is quite expensive

to be getting this fancy food
from the vet

and to keep him on a diet.

So, I'd love to be able to have
compensation from that

to help offset the cost of his diet
and all the check-ups.

[man] Last time he was 27.9 pounds.

[hissing]

I think to get to that 100K,

what we need is, we need like
a good viral post.

We need something that ends up
on Cats of Instagram.

We need something that could
even be picked up

on a local news channel,

and I think having some sponsorship

and getting behind
with some good brands

would really help us.

[Pouria] I think a repost from
Cats of Instagram

-would be very, very good for us.
-That would be phenomenal.

-Phenomenal, of course.
-Yeah. [chuckles]

[Pouria] They have a huge following.

We get a lot of submissions,

like 2,000 or so a day
just through our website.

There are some themes that we
see repeating similarities with.

Things like cats
with their tongues out.

[meowing]

Cats yawning.

[meowing]

Cats wearing clothes.

See a lot of those.

We see cats with bowties.

[Eli] There's a lot of those, yeah.

[Kady] Outdoor cats.

[Eli] Yeah, that's a big one.

[Kady] Cats laying upside-down.

All those things
tend to be big hitters.

I also have a pirate theme,
which is, you know...

Yeah!

You know, one-eyed cats.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-[laughs]

[Kady] I don't know if they like
being called pirates,

if that's, you know,
a word that they don't like.

We don't try to have a bias
on what we decide to post.

We don't have a bias
where it's cats with this or without.

But we just find them
adorable either way.

[Kady] Yeah.

[Pouria] Use this, "This belly
isn't gonna rub itself."

That one seems like
it's the best choice.

I think one of my favorite
things about working

for Cats of Instagram is
discovering these new stars,

and kind of pushing them
into the light.

[growling]

[Pouria muttering indistinctly]

-Submit.
-Submit!

[Pouria] We're either gonna get them

to post us within the next few days,

or we're just not gonna get anything.

Or tell us to revise our caption.

Yeah! You can get heartbroken,
but it's cool.

[Loni] If you have a large following,
it can be a full-time job.

As long as there's something
about that cat

that stands out and gets
people's attention,

it has the potential
to take off.

My name is Loni Edwards,

and I'm the founder of the first
talent management agency

to focus on pet influencers.

Pet influencer is a pet
on social media,

usually Instagram or Facebook,

that's developed a large following,

and as a result, is able
to turn it into a business.

[purring]

If you want it to be a full-time job,

then you need to be creating
really solid content.

and putting in the effort,
engaging with your audience,

and really making it your job.

It's kind of like any business, right?

You're risking it all,

saying that I'm going to put in
more time,

work with the cats non-stop,

and just see if it's possible
to increase their followings,

and then, of course,
get more money per post.

My background's in law.
I went to Harvard Law School

and worked at a big law firm
before becoming an entrepreneur.

I realized that there was this
whole industry starting to grow

around these pet influencers.

And at the time, when brands
wanted to work with cats,

they would be just combing Instagram

and sending out hundreds
of direct messages,

trying to get these cats' attention,

and the whole process
was really disconnected.

So, I created the agency.

And we quickly signed a bunch
of influencers,

and we just took off from there.

It seems at first blush
to be very unusual

that people would be able to make a living

while making videos of
their pets, right?

But if you sort of unpack that
a little bit,

you'll find that it makes
a lot of sense.

Cats, they make people smile,
they make people laugh.

When brands are partnering
with these cat influencers,

they're tapping into those
feelings of their consumer,

and showing that they agree
and they have those same feelings.

Cats of Instagram
is our biggest client.

They have over nine million followers.

They're probably the biggest
pet account.

The main revenue for us
is still sponsored posts.

That's the bread and butter, absolutely.

The price per post
is a combination of the following

in that engagement.

The smaller influencers
with 20-50,000 followers

are in the hundreds
to around $1,000 per post.

And then, the ones with
millions of followers

are in the 15K range.

[interviewer speaking]

On average, yeah.

If you think of how much work

went into building that following
and nurturing that following,

and all the content that's
created day in and day out,

the value they're providing
to the brand is very fair.

I would say on average,
Pudge makes about 50% of my income,

the other 50% being
Cats of Instagram.

This is my cat, Pudge.

Honestly, the weirdest cat,
I think, ever.

[Pudge groaning]

[Kady on video] Pudge just lays
in the middle of a room like this,

like she's a dog or something.

What are you doing?

I remember when I hit, like,
300,000 followers,

that's when I think it really
started to feel

like she was officially famous.

Today, I noticed she's at over
1.1 million followers.

[yawning]

With Pudge, after becoming famous,

she's now been able
to be in commercials.

She's been in Hollywood films,

works with partners,
food brands, does giveaways.

As far as working with partners
on Instagram and stuff,

I kind of only choose people
that I'll have fun with,

and that I feel like her fans
will appreciate.

That way, the brand sees
the best outcome,

and my followers don't feel
like they're being, like, used.

Oh, yeah, that looks great.

You can't force these things, basically.

When something's genuine,
that's when it does well.

[Marti] When I first started Suki's page,
it was just purely for the fact

that I didn't want my own
photography page

to get taken over by this cat.

So, I think it's quite funny

that her page has now become
a bigger part of my business

than my original photography page!
[laughs]

My name is Marti,

and this is my kitty, Suki.

[meows]

has been active for about a year
and three months now.

And she's at one million followers
as of about a week ago. [laughs]

[camera shutter clicks]

I actually had a cat before Suki,

and she passed away
at 19 years old.

The house started to feel
really lonely really quick,

so I started to do some research
into different cat breeds,

and I found that Bengals
typically have a lot of energy.

They like to go outside,

and I decided that maybe
I'd have a chance

with this type of cat
to be able to actually,

like, take it with me on my trips.

I think something
that's important for me

is always, like, trying to stay relevant,

and branching out
in as many ways as possible

to sort of find some sort of security.

We're working on a Suki merch line.

All of the artwork
that's on the merchandise

that we'll be releasing on her
new website right away

is actually drawn by myself.

All of the designs are made by me.

A big part of the whole Bub thing
is our merchandise.

At this point, there's almost
nothing we haven't done.

So, we have a plush toy,
glow-and-purr plush toy

where you pet Bub
and it's her actual sounds,

-her purrs and meows.
-[meows]

A bobblehead with sound, pillows.

We do Christmas sweaters,
Christmas hats,

every kind of T-shirt,
tank you can imagine,

leggings, giant queen-size blankets,

books, watches, mugs, travel mugs.

And I manage all of this myself.

I do the timeline,
I do the shipping, the inventory,

get into the warehouse.

I do the marketing, the advertising,
the customer service.

I do all of it, and it's insane.

The strategy is to stay relevant
in some sort of way,

to reinvent yourself
that attracts people

back to social media,
to be creative with it.

So many people want to cuddle
with Monty,

and now, we're gonna solve
that problem.

Look.

Look! I made this for you!

So, even when the social media
world collapses,

you have something else.

You know, a viable product
that's no different

than a football player
that buys a car dealership

for after retirement, you know.

It's just money that's well-invested.

My name is Mick Szydlowski,
and this is my cat, Klaus.

[purring]

He's easy to love.

He is definitely a personality.

He's pretty fearless.

I think it might be the product
of his former life as a stray cat,

and that's kind of the charm.

I would say overall,
Klaus has one million fans,

followers around the world.

It's a huge number, yeah, absolutely.

The people that know Oskar
and Klaus on the Internet

know both of them as a duo.

Klaus was kind of the reluctant sidekick

that got pulled into a lot of adventures,

but he has his own charm

and a lot of people came
because of Oskar.

They stayed because of Klaus,
and, you know,

they're still following
his adventures to this day.

We were very lucky to be
on board in the early phase.

Obviously, there are changes
within social media networks

that obviously dictate how hard it is,

you know, or how easy for some people
it is to succeed in this.

[purring]

I followed a lot of very famous
cat accounts,

but they kind of stagnated.

Even though they have
a huge following,

to me, it's not interesting anymore
because I have seen this picture.

I saw the picture the year before
and the year before that.

It gets old.

I wish I knew the formula for it.

I think one thing that tends
to happen on platforms

in general is something
that has been called

the gentrification of the feed.

If you think about any platform
in its infancy,

what you tend to have is just
like a lot of noise.

[woman on video] What are you two doing?
Say hi to Daddy.

[Jack] And then, like, these, like,
amateurs who have done something great

will break through.

There's just like a ton
of happy accidents, like Lil Bub.

Then, as these platforms get
more and more professionalized...

[meowing]

People who, like,
who are doing it to make money

or to go viral, they're doing it
very purposefully.

You have fewer and fewer
of these happy accidents,

and everything becomes more intentional

and more, like, professionalized
and more polished.

[Mick] People really have to be creative,

emulate less of what
the accounts are right now,

and really have a new approach,
you know.

[meows]

[Amanda] I think there will always be
a place

for the average funny cat picture,

and people will always
want to share that,

but if you're thinking about
Internet culture as a whole,

I think we are getting to a place

where people want more refined content,

and people want to see something
that takes effort,

and like, it shows.

They want something beautiful
to encroach their feeds

just as much as they want the silly.

[purring]

[Hugo] I would say Princess Cheeto
is my muse,

and like, some photographers
have supermodel celebrities.

For me, Princess Cheeto is my muse.

[laughing]

My name is Hugo Martinez,

and we're here at WhiteWall, SoHo,

and this is my first Cheeto exhibit.

My images, they were always
meant to be for the Internet.

Social media is like my gallery.

That's the way that I see it.

When you go into my page,

I want you to think that you're going
into a little gallery of Cheeto.

[camera clicking]

And so, every caption is the name
that would be on the wall.

So, this one, um, it's called

"Take Me To Your Litter."

[camera clicking]

Back in, like, when the memes
first started to exist in the Internet,

like, people would actually put
lemons or oranges on the cats,

and it was these helmets, right?

[camera clicking]

I wanted to pay an homage to them.

That's what came out of that,

from being inspired by those photographs
from back in the day.

I totally think Cheeto is pop art.

Hugo is able to really push the boundaries

of what cat content should be,
through his work,

and is just using so much
creativity and playfulness

to exhibit his cat's personalities.

I thought I was posting pictures
of my cat,

but then, other people are like,

"Okay, this is more than that.
This is art."

And it's when other people
call it that,

I was like, "All right, cool,
you call it that?

Well, all right, well, it's art."

I feel like the Internet
has been my school also

because it's like--

Like I said, it started one way,

and then, I've learned so much creating,

and when you're doing it and hands-on,

you get more experience,
and then, all of a sudden,

you have all these pictures,

and then, it's like you look at them,
and it's like, "Whoa!"

Like, they all come together.

There's a style.

I always mention him in interviews
where it's like,

"What's your cat celebrity
that you like to follow?"

Or "What's your favorite
other cat account?"

[Eli] He's a domestic shorthair,
I mean,

which is still an adorable cat,

but he's made it
into this whole thing.

[Kady] Oh, that's a great example

for how you could turn
just an average cat

that you feel like doesn't have
a quirk to set it apart,

and turn it into something that does,

and something that has
this whole look,

a brand, if you will, to follow.

Building a strong brand is one
of the most important things

a cat influencer can do

because that's what makes
that cat kind of stand out.

It makes them recognizable.

People understand what they're getting
when they come to the page.

[Erika] Hercules never set out to have
any particular brand,

but because he's genuinely
authentic as,

I want to say as a person...

[laughing]

His brand has created itself.

People love to see a fat,
chubby cat and a big cat belly,

but there is this constant struggle.

The more weight he loses,

the less on-brand he's going to be.

He's still going to have his charm,

but his je ne sais quoi
is going to be missing.

It's almost like
a self-destructing brand, in a way,

and it worries me a little bit,

but really, for his own health
and wellness,

you have to embrace that.

He's not this untouchable,
you know, celebrity cat.

He's someone that people
can look up to,

who they can, you know,
learn a little bit from,

but who they can also feel
an actual personal connection to,

and that is really part of our brand.

The best way to describe Suki's brand
would be, like, adventure lifestyle.

Suki and I have been on a lot
of adventures!

I think it's really important
to have a defined brand

when you're trying to start
an Instagram page.

I definitely believe that that's what

sort of catapulted Suki's page forward

in terms of gaining that following.

It's just having a very distinct style,

and a very distinct set of images.

Suki gains a lot of followers
on a weekly basis.

It's usually between 7,000 to 15,000,

I would say is her average per week.

We started taking her out
at three months old.

She likes water.

She's definitely fascinated by it.

She'll do a bit of hiking.

I think crossing between
different sort of categories

of interest is really important
for Suki's page,

because she actually doesn't get,
like, a lot of cat features

and stuff like that
in comparison to features

on photography pages,
and features on travel pages.

I like that the cat sort of appeals

to such a variety of interests.

It's difficult for me to figure out
what the perfect post looks like.

My captions are usually between
like one to four words.

For me, it's really more about
the photography and the imagery.

Suki's most popular post to date
was a photo of her

at just a really nice lake

with a mountain
in the background at sunset,

and I managed to catch Suki
in the middle of a blink.

So, she looked like the epitome
of, like, Zen kitty.

That photo got, I think it's at
like 192,000 likes right now,

and maybe 1,500 comments.

I did do a lot of editing in post.

The sunset was a bit bland,
so I made it really pink.

The whole theme of the photo was
like pastel pink cotton candy.

[Hugo] It's like a model.

You know, I got to, like, retouch
the model's face, you know?

And so, I have to make it perfect

when I'm creating the photos.

It's like every little hair and stuff,

like, it has to be precise.

A lot of the time,
I'll post a before picture,

so before I've actually started
the editing process,

and then, right after,
I'll post the shot

where the photo has been
completely edited.

There's a lot of people
who are disappointed

that something isn't 100% how it was
straight out of the camera.

For example, I'll usually
enhance Suki's eyes.

Um, they're kind of naturally
an emerald green color,

and I'll usually pop it over
to the blue side of things.

So, people will comment like,
"That's Photoshop, that's fake!"

I'm still going to continue
showing the process,

because it's good for people to see

how much work really does go
into these images.

[Hugo] I wish I could put a disclosure
on the caption

where it's like, you know,
"This image has been modified."

It's like, "Um, honey, like,
you need to go to school

if you think that this is,
like, on her head."

I don't want to just look
at pretty cats.

If I wanted to look at pretty cats,

I would just stare at Hercules all day.

I want to be entertained.

So, I'm looking for unique,
I'm looking for different,

and that's what I try to create

when I'm creating my own perfect post.

Hercules doesn't actually do much.

[blowing kisses]

Hey, Herc.

You ready for your photoshoot?

So, getting videos of him
being adorable is...

challenging. [chuckles]

[toy squeaking]

I try to model the celebrity cats

in a way where I'm trying to be on-brand,

I'm trying to post with intent.

I'm trying to post quality.

But I think a caption
is equally as important

as the actual photo,

and in some instances,
even more important.

[male interviewer] What do you guys
think of Fat Cat's captions?

It's great.
Captions are always the hardest part.

I'm so bad at captions.

Yeah! It's a struggle.

You spend like an hour
thinking of a six-word sentence.

[Kady] But that can be a good place
to use, like, memes

or, like, current trends.

"I'm down two--" I love this!
[chuckles]

-Yeah, this is really funny.
-Okay,

on a note of saying that
captions can make everything,

I'm already loving the bio.

[Eli] "I'm taking over the world
one Tunatini at a time."

[Kady] It's great, the bio's great.

You know what would be good
if they did, like,

what the meal plan is for the week.

Yeah, oh! Yeah!

That would be cool. Yeah.

Do like a meal prep Monday.

[Eli] Go yeah! There's a
hashtag right there.

Yeah, absolutely.

To really take that to
the next level as far as,

if that's your branding,
like, take that and own it,

and then, you can totally
get a sponsorship

with like a nutrition company
doing that, yeah.

-Oh, yeah.
-Yeah.

[Eli] I love him, though.
Fat Cat Hercules, so cute.

[Erika on video] Hey, what you doing?
Are you pooping?

[meowing]

When you're asking, "Why cats?"

You're asking why cats and not dogs?

There's no one answer. I think
it's a lot of sort of small answers

that sort of add up.

It's not like, "Why do cats
beat out sloths?"

Like, 'cause nobody has sloths
in their home.

It's really a two-animal race.

Why is it that there are 12

emoji Unicode expressions
for cats,

when there are only two for dogs?

[Jason] Dogs are not mysterious to us.

We think we understand dogs
and they're kind of one-note.

Cats are very different.

Cats are independent,
they're hunters.

[Pamela] Cats have captured
our imagination,

because we really don't understand them,

but we want to so badly.

My initial thought is cats are weird.

[Mick] They're quirky.

They're unpredictable and
uncontrollable in a lot of ways.

You kind of have to win over
their affection.

[Marti] Hi, baby!

-[meowing]
-Oh, Suki, come back!

She doesn't like it
when you talk to her!

[hissing]

[woman] Are you happy to see me?

[meowing]

[Sandy] So cranky.

Cats are assholes!

[clattering]

[meowing, hissing]

We've had a little incident.
Nathan, hey.

[meowing]

You've smeared it, too, Nate,
have you?

Cats are always looking down
on you and judging you.

And yet, you love it.

[Kady] They're like, they're like
the worst friend you have...

[chuckles] ...that you're
still friends with.

You don't really know why.

He puts his legs on me like this,

showing love and affection. [babbling]

[cat growling]

Cats try to get your attention,

but once they get your attention,

they don't want it anymore,

and maybe that's a deep metaphor
for life.

There's this tendency to perhaps
anthropomorphize cats in a way

that, like, we don't necessarily see
with other animals.

[Jack] We like to personify them.

We like to attribute human
impulses to them.

They can be this, like,
really good blank slate.

Well, they have
very human-like expressions,

and Izzy truly has actual expressions.

She'll be like...

She can look at you like...

very judging, and also very surprised.

When I displease him

and he looks at me with some
angry look,

and I know by his look that
he thinks to himself that

"If I was a tiger, I would just
eat you right now."

[laughing]

[Pamela] I have two cats, and every time
I glance over at them,

they're doing something.

They have a mission,
and something is demanding

their undivided focus at all times,

and I'm always wondering what that is.

[purring]

I'm fascinated by how little
I will ever know

about what's going through
their minds,

and I can't stop watching.

[Phaedra on video]
Are you just waking up? Yes.

[growling]

Are you the most handsome?

-[growling]
-You are.

[growling]

He has such a human-like quality
about him.

You know, you can ask him a question,

and he will look at you, he will
make eye contact with you,

and he will answer you.

[meowing]

It's going to take
some time, Balam.

I think he'll come round.

I think he'll come round, okay?

-[meowing]
-Is that a deal? Yeah?

My name is Phaedra,

and we live in Guanajuato, Mexico,

and we have four cats,

but the star of the show is Balam.

-[Phaedra] Dark roast?
-[low meowing]

-Good idea?
-[meowing]

Yeah, we love you.

[meowing]

Yeah, you love us, too? Yeah?

Do you want to make me
and Daddy a dark roast?

What do you think?

[meowing]

What I think he wants
is to connect.

He wants to connect with me.

He wants to communicate.

Can I ask you a question?

Oh, wow.

What do you think
is the meaning of life, Balam?

When I speak to Balam,

I feel like I'm interacting
with an intelligent sentient being,

and if we could translate
what he's saying,

he's probably always saying,
"I love you.

I love you, I love you."

Are you the cutest?

[meowing]

There's this theory that we find
things cute that look young,

and the idea is that it doesn't
just have to be human babies.

It could be other animals
that have specific features

like large eyes, small noses,

that we have this innate sort of
maternal, paternal instincts

to care for.

They have very adorable eyes,

and they have tiny little ears,

and they are tiny in itself,
which is also adorable,

and the little paws are so cute.

Just, yeah, I think everything
about them is cute.

He's so cute, look!

And his skin is so smooth,

and the head is smooth,

and we have too much skin,
and he's so sweet.

[Erika] He looks at you with his face
all smooshed up,

and you just think,

"I don't know what you are,
but I love you."

[Jason] There's the emotional response
I think we all sort of associate with it.

But there's more to it, right?

I think in popular culture,
we sort of imagine cuteness

to be this simple,
non-threatening aesthetic

or thing that we encounter,

but there's actually a lot
to investigate.

When we find things cute,

you gather, you want to protect,
you want to consume.

There's a phrase about it,
"It's so cute, I want to eat it."

And that's...

that's actually,
there's something real there.

It just takes one step
to sort of be like,

"Oh, I can sort of mass-market this,

and I can sort of tap into these desires

for promotional deals and for merch,

and these kinds of things."

So, like, pretty quickly,
it gets kind of dark.

My Instagram inbox is like,
non-stop just like,

"Help me promote my cat.
Make my cat famous.

Please post about my cat."

Share for share, share for share,
like, stuff like that.

I'm like, "Uh..."

Something about it makes me
uneasy on a lot of levels.

What we care about
is your cat's welfare,

and what's best for your cat.

It just so happens that what's best
for my cat is what we're doing.

[snorting]

I think Bub became famous
for a reason,

whether it's inspiring people,

raising money for animals.

I started Lil Bub's Big Fund

for special needs pets
with the ASPCA.

At this point,
I think it's four years old

and we've administered
over $300,000

for special needs pets, it's great.

I just worry that some people
will do anything

to get famous,
and that's not to say

that there aren't people
that could do it right.

For every success story,
there's thousands,

tens of thousands of people
trying to do it

and effing it up,

and potentially harming
their cat in the process.

[Eli] There's definitely like
an underbelly.

There's money being exchanged,
for sure.

I think the community does
a good job as a whole.

I'm noticing that, hey,
if someone's blatantly selling out,

they're gonna call him out on it
in the comments,

and eventually, it's gonna be
negative for their brands.

[Kady] Yeah, so if you're trying
to chase the money,

people will see it
and not respond well to it.

[Eli] Absolutely.

[Hannah] I've been a rescuer.

I've been doing policy work,
educational work,

and a couple of years ago,

I started meeting other people
who were like "cat influencers,"

and I was like totally new
to that world,

and I was shocked to find out
that there are people

who are influencers online with cats,

who are not involved in cat welfare.

My name is Hannah Shaw.

I am known as Kitten Lady.

I'm a humane educator
and kitten rescuer,

and I specialize in the needs
of neonatal kittens.

[meowing]

If you are adopting
a special needs cat

because you want to have
a platform where you show people,

"Hey, cats with this diagnosis
are not broken.

They can be adopted."
That's awesome.

If you want to use your platform
to, like, sell corn chips,

that's not my thing.

That's not my thing!

I think it's so tragic
that we can get people

to wear the cat socks,
wear the cat shirt,

put on the cat ears,
attend a convention,

and not actually get involved
in saving their lives.

I just got a call from
an animal control officer

who said that a man walked
into Petco with a tissue box

with a baby kitten in it, and said,

"Can you take this kitten?"
and then ran out!

I love him.

I can't wait to get
all the flea dirt off of you.

[kitten meowing]

My favorite babies to care for
are the really, really tiny ones

because they're the hardest
to care for,

they're the most vulnerable.

When you raise them from that young,

you feel so bonded with them.

I looked at it like, "I'm going
to put out educational tools.

I'm going to use this weird
social platform

to teach people what I know,"

and it just grew and grew.

I reach more than a million people
between all of my platforms.

Hannah and I have been partners
for about two and half years now.

I was very big into, I guess
you could say cat pop culture.

[camera clicking]

She's really inspired me to do
a lot of the work that I do now,

which is heavily rescue, shelter,

adoption awareness, that kind of stuff.

My name is Andrew Marttila,
and I am a cat photographer.

We met because Andrew
is a cat photographer,

and I found out about his work,

and we got together
to do a photoshoot

of two of my kittens
meeting for the first time.

And they are best friends,
and now, we're best friends.

-Aw! Yeah.
-Aw!

[Hannah] People are really interested
in our relationship,

which is funny to me.

People were coming up to us
and saying,

"Oh, we followed both of you
before you knew each other."

The good thing about social media

is that people can see us
doing rescue work.

They can see, you know,
that we're in a relationship

doing what we're doing,

so maybe they can have something
like that in their life.

That's what it's all about.

So, I think if we can leverage
that kind of, like, pop culture element

to get people to do a good thing,
then, that's great.

-Yeah!
-I just love you.

-Oh.
-I take hugs, too. Bring it in.

[laughing]

Homer came into my life as
a two-and-a-half-week-old blind kitten.

I always say he's not a meme cat,
he's a message cat,

and the message is very much
about rescue and compassion.

My name is Gwen Cooper.

I am a cat writer.

I have written five books about cats.

Homer's Odyssey was my first one.

Homer had been found as a stray

with a very advanced eye infection.

I picked him up, and he sort of
crawled up to my neck,

and started purring,

and I believe my exact words were,

"Wrap him up, I'm taking him home."

When I wrote Homer's Odyssey,
famous cats weren't a thing.

That was not a thing.

Now, we are in a very different place.

Homer himself has nearly
a million followers online,

and he is still dwarfed
by some other cats

who have even larger
social media followings.

I am in a unique, bird's eye
sort of position

because I get to see
all of the things

that all of the people
who follow us online are doing,

even when they don't necessarily
see each other,

and I get to know how much goodness
there is in people.

[Michael] Monty was this cat
that no one wanted.

He was sitting in a shelter
for three months.

[Mikala] Many people thought
that he looked ugly.

[Michael] Yeah, but--

[Mikala] He was not like, you know,
a perfect cat, you know?

Oh, you're so beautiful.

Oh, you're so beautiful!

[kissing]

I love you so much!

You're the love of my life.

I am Mikala.

And I'm Michael.

And we live in Denmark.

And we are parents to Monty and Molly!

[Mikala] Monty Happiness
and Molly Happiness!

And they are two beautiful

and very sweet and kind cats

with what we call
feline Down syndrome.

[Mikala] Yeah.

[Michael] Monty Happiness across
all social media

has over a million followers.

[Mikala] The first time we ever saw Monty

was on our local cat shelter's website
here in Denmark.

I was just browsing around
and there he was, like, my boy!

I was crazy in love
the first time I saw him,

because he looked so special!
So different!

So, the next day we went to
the shelter, and we met him,

and his personality, like, oh, wow!

I couldn't believe
what I was seeing.

So, Michael went on to pick up Monty,

and held him in his arms
like a baby with the belly up.

You don't do that with a cat!

Unless you want to be scratched
in your face.

Yeah!

And I remember it
like it was yesterday.

A miracle happened right there
because Monty started to knead

with his paws in the air,
and started to purr,

and looked Michael in the eyes
and slow-blinked to Michael.

And Monty for sure picked
Michael right there.

It is all about, for us,
to tell and show people,

the world that they are perfect
just the way they are.

[Michael] We showed the world
that this chromosome abnormality,

that this appearance of a cat

counts for something kind
and forgiving and nice.

Today, cats like Monty and Molly

will not be sitting in a shelter
for more than a few days...

Nope.

...because people, they know
that this is something special.

So, we are very proud about
being first movers

on changing this view from
something that this you do not get,

to this you should definitely get.

[Mike] Bub sort of gave me an avenue
to really make a huge difference.

[purring]

I always ensure that
there's a charitable aspect

to any of our partnerships,
and it has to be substantial.

In the very beginning, we had
like three different publishers

wanting to do a book with us,
for a lot of money,

and we were like, "Wow, this is great.

The only thing we'd like
to change in the agreement

is that this portion of the proceeds
will benefit this."

And they said, "No, we can't do that."

I said, "Well, then,
we can't do the book."

That's it.

So, we turned down a crazy
huge opportunity

based on principle, because, you know,

why would we--
That's the point of the book.

So, if you're not on board
with the mission,

then, we're not on board.

The first thoughts I had
when I first met Ben

was like, he was so sad!

And he just wanted somebody to love him,

which is why I took his picture,
and I sent it to Adam.

When I looked at my phone,
it was just instant heartbreak.

You couldn't help but feel sorry for him

and just want to take him home, and...

[Sandy] Feed him everything
he could ever want!

My name is Adam.

My name is Sandy,

and this is our cat BenBen.

Ben came from the bad side
of Vancouver,

and he wasn't doing really well.

So, to nurse Ben back to health,

it was going to be
a long-term thing for us.

[Adam] On Reddit, there's a subreddit
called "Before and After,"

and it's basically, you just post
your before-and-after pictures

of your animal that you adopted.

And I used Ben's first picture,

the one where he was super sad,

and then, we posted
an updated picture,

and it literally just...
[mimics explosion] ...blew up.

[Sandy] We started making merch,
and a lot of our social media

thought we were going to turn
BenBen into a cash cow.

Profiting off him
just 'cause he's famous,

it just never sat right with us.

We were like, well,

"why don't we do something positive?"

We only take what we need

to cover the costs of the shirts
and stuff like that.

Outside of that, everything goes
right back to our community.

We make it work, but yeah,
it just seems right to give back

to shelters and pets
who don't actually have a home.

[Gwen] We tend to have a lot of followers

who are very passionate about rescue,

who are very passionate about altruism,

who are very passionate
about making donations

and contributing.

In terms of what the obligations
are for other famous cats,

I think there are a lot of them
who are also very active

in fundraising, and raising
the profile of rescue animals.

I think there are some
who are just more about fun,

and there is a place for fun, certainly,

especially when it comes to cats.

My favorite compliment is,
"You're doing God's work."

[John] We get that a lot, actually.

-[Lynzie] A lot!
-You'd be surprised.

[Lynzie] Much more than I'd expect,
but I'll take it.

-I'm Lynzie.
-I'm John.

[Lynzie] Say hi!

This is an extra special photoshoot today.

Do you want to get dressed up?

We'll try.

We copycat looks from the TV show
RuPaul's Drag Race,

and we take some of our
favorite looks

that the contestants wear.

[Lynzie] Or what will look most
ridiculous on a cat.

Yeah, and we make
a miniature cat version

out of hot glue
and spandex, mostly.

[Lynzie] Yes, Laila! Eleganza.

Eleganza!

If someone was upset that
we were dressing up our cat,

-I'd say, well--
-Have you seen her? [laughing]

I would say you'd have to meet Laila

to know that she's, like,
very chill about it.

[Lynzie] Do you want to turn
and be in the light?

Show the people what
they came to see.

[John] We don't put her
in anything uncomfortable.

We try to make it very stretchy.

We are concerned about her well-being.

Beautiful!

[John laughing]

[Lynzie] She's a natural, really.

[Lynzie] Good girl, yay!

She says, "I'm more of a camera
still-shot girl."

She's never been in a movie before.

[John] This is not supporting us
at this moment.

We're definitely giving
more than...

Yes, giving a lot right now.

...we're getting financially,
but we're getting a lot spiritually.

[camera clicking]

If I could quit my day job for glitter

and a hot glue gun, sign me up.

I don't know what exactly
that job is yet,

but we're looking for it.

[Lynzie] Right now, it's just incredible

to have fans write from
literally all over the world,

commenting and sending us
private messages every day,

saying, "This made my week"

or "I was having a really hard time,
and this got me through."

To have something start as a joke
and now reach 87,000 people

is pretty incredible.

She does like certain looks
more than others.

Not based off of comfort!

I think just style.

Like, this one,
she's very like, "Mmm-hmm."

When we put her in like a trashy
girl outfit, she's like...

And we love doing it so much,
and we laugh

every single time
we're making something,

and it's so nice to have
everyone laugh with us.

All right, you want to take a break?

[meowing]

Take five.

[Mike] Before the Internet,
cats are an introvert's pet,

and people enjoy their pets at home.

It's not like you can take a cat
to a dog park.

They're not a social pet.

[Jessica] Based on my research,
we know that people

who tend to be a little bit more shy,

watch cat videos more often.

My name is Jessica Myrick.

I'm an associate professor
of media studies,

and I conducted a large-scale
online survey

about who watches cat videos,
why they watch them,

and to what effect?

When I ran the study,
I wanted to see if that sort of stereotype

of the, you know, lonely,
secluded cat lady

held up with watching cat videos,

and really, it doesn't.

[meowing]

More specifically, I found that
75% of my respondents

said the last time
that they watched a cat video

or looked at a cat meme,

they either commented on it
or shared it with someone else.

It's not the idea of this loner

that's just online watching cat videos.

[Amanda] The crazy cat lady is a meme,

and very much something
that feels out of touch now.

It's not the stereotype
of the woman in the rollers

and the 18 cats around her.

Your cat person can be anyone
from Mike Bridavsky

to Kady Lone, and all of these
cat people have owned it.

It kind of has democratized
what people think of

as cat content.

You can now stay in your home,

take a video, take a picture,

share it with your friends online

and you develop this community.

I think Jack Shepherd from
BuzzFeed really said it best,

that the Internet is the cat park.

[Jack] The Internet, it is a place

where people can kind of have
that same experience,

like share their identity
of being a cat lover,

share pictures of their cats,

and it becomes like this virtual space

where people can kind of have
the similar experience

to what dog people get to have
out in the world.

[Pamela] The community
of cats online

is like a community in real life.

There's the little business economy,

there's also trend-setters
and kind of stars of the moment.

There's all of these players in it.

The only difference is,
it is a lot more global.

You don't need to speak
the same language,

and you may never meet this cat
in real life,

and yet, you feel like you know them.

[Joanne] It was never my intention
when I got the cats

to make them on Instagram.

But then, suddenly someone
discovered Zoe,

with the heart on her chest, obviously,

and from then on, it was just crazy.

Like, she went viral
across the whole globe.

[Rian] We started taking her
down to the beach

to come for a walk,
get her out and about.

I went in for a swim,
Nathan came in straight after me.

I didn't even know. I just heard
splashing at my feet.

I looked down, and she had
followed me out in the water.

[Melissa] And then,
we showed people at work,

and we showed some of our
friends and family.

[Rian] And then, the account
just started going up,

like thousands a day.

It's a bit surreal, actually.

[Sandra] I want to share this cat
with other people

because he is very special.

They have never seen before
a cat like this.

I first made the account for Shelby

whenever Grumpy Cat became famous,

because I felt like if Grumpy Cat
can be famous,

then so could Shelby.

Hi!

BuzzFeed shared Atchoum,

and Kim Kardashian, you know,
made a comment about it.

The next morning,
we realized we had like,

16,000 people following us
in just one night.

[Kagan] I feel I can share
my cat's cuteness

and his love for humans.

I can share it not only
with my close environment,

I can share this with lots of other people

from very far countries.

This is something I wouldn't
have been able to do it

without the Internet.

One small step for man,

one giant leap for cat-kind.

No, no, no, Serge, no!

I was supposed to take the first step!

[Pamela] What makes a community healthy
isn't just about likes.

It isn't just about followers.

It's about the strength of the connection

between different players
in the community.

[Sarita] Meowfest is a global celebration
of felines.

We are bringing the cat
community together

just to connect,

to spread the love
for these amazing creatures.

We've had people reach out
from all across North America,

Europe, like India,

and we have vendors
from Singapore and Australia,

and so, it's really cool.

[man] Thank you very much.

I think it's important
that people understand

that there's other people
who share the same passions,

and that there's a larger community.

[woman] People say you should write
what you know,

so I like to design what I know,
which is cats.

[man] Why do I love cats?

Um, they just make that
[chuckles] wonderful purring noise.

They're soft, they're friendly,
they're fantastic,

and now, I'm sure everybody
in the room agrees.

That's why we're all here.

They're the perfect pet.

They look after themselves,
they exercise themselves.

I just got to put food
and litter down,

and we have a good relationship.

[Eli] World domination.

[chuckles] It's happening, yeah!

These festivals like Meowfest,

it's kind of what the new thing is.

Every year, the attendance
has grown and grown,

so there's huge gatherings
of people thinking alike

and sharing their experiences
help the community grow as a whole.

These events are a way for people
to get off their screens

and face to face.

[woman] I can't get over how chill he is.

Yeah, not a lot of stress
in his life.

[Eli] So, I think that actual
Internet-to-real-life transition

is kind of where we're at right now.

[Mike] A few times a year
you get to do a meet-and-greet,

how bad is that, huh?

Building that community
in real life, it's, I think,

the next big frontier for cats.

[Kady] You're starting to see
more of the dog parks come out,

I guess, in the cat community.

[Jack] I think that our capacity as
humans for empathy with animals

is the best version of what
we can be.

And so, when people
come together on the Internet

to express that,
I think that's wonderful.

Honestly, building a cat fort
with someone

is one of the most intimate experiences

that two or three humans
can share together.

So, this is Jenkins. Um...

He's been in a few BuzzFeed videos.

I love my cat more than anyone
I've ever met,

and I'm proud of that,

and I like to talk about it

and I think that that's a good thing.

I think that that relationship
can be really important

and rich for people.

I think there's often sort of
a limiting of Internet cats

as, like, we have this amazing technology,

we have this amazing ability to
communicate with anyone in the world.

Why are we wasting so much time
looking at, you know, cats?

Why are these people
not, you know, solving world hunger,

or yada yada yada?

And that is an expression
of an attitude

that I think completely
misunderstands human experience.

[purring]

[Phaedra] Cat love makes you
a better person.

I reckon it's some of the best
medicine that you can get.

It's like a natural antidepressant,

and I think that's what
cats are for people.

They're wonderful.

There are always going to be
those people

who look at it and think it's silly.

I think there are those of us
who know that love is love,

whether it goes on four legs or two,

and that these are real
and meaningful relationships.

[Mikala] I love cats
because I have anxiety,

and I have been suffering
from anxiety and OCD

since I was a little kid,

and the only thing that could
really calm me down

is a cat in my lap.

I met the love of my life,
Mickey, my grey-silver cat

who sadly passed away
and is in heaven now,

protecting me!

I met him when I just
moved away from home,

and I saved him.
He was a street cat,

and I'm always saying that
because I was so down,

you know, I have been
to the mental hospital.

I've been really, really, really low,
and Mickey saved me.

I see life in another way today,

like all life is more precious

than I thought it was,
like, six years ago.

[Kady] Pudge certainly is
my best friend.

I mean, she sleeps underneath
the covers,

you know, spooning with me.

She's really just very human-like.

I got her out of college there,

and I was just out of, like,
this long-term,

emotionally abusive relationship,
and I was just looking for a companion,

and she totally helped me, you know,
get through that time in my life.

[camera clicking]

Pudge doesn't just give me love.

She gives me everything I am today.

I was not a confident person
before I got Pudge,

and then, she becomes famous
and I have to do interviews.

I'm sort of forced to become
more confident

and speak in public.

She means so much to me now,

more than just being this
Internet celebrity.

So, she's really the whole reason
I am who I am.

[purring]

[Michael] It's not about cats.

It's about the happiness
around the cat.

The Internet today is filled
with so much hate,

and I think that if we could
just start sharing more love

and happiness instead of all
those negativity,

that is what it's about.

-[Suki sneezing]
-Oh, gesundheit!

We're injecting little pieces
of sweetness and joy

into an otherwise not-so-joyful
world right now.

[Hugo] When I was unhappy,
I would be on the Internet

and that's what would make me happy.

So, I wanted to create that
for other people.

Creating that moment,
that one second,

now it's like half of a second.

I think the best part
about what we do

is when we're looking through
the comments section

and we see people just sharing
their posts with their friends,

and we don't know anything about
what's going on in their lives,

but just that little bit
of entertainment for them

could be the world of difference.

[Gwen] Now, it's great that we can
share funny pictures

and it's great that we can
raise money for causes,

but I think on a day-to-day level
as a lived experience,

what's really great about it
is that we have each other.

I think the Internet,
it's always been a difficult place

with like really, really good parts

and, like, charming and wonderful parts
that connect people,

and then, really, really a dark side.

Cats have been this kind of avatar
of, like, the good side of the Internet,

like the pure side where people
connect to each other

and share this sort of
empathetic feeling that they have,

and that's a sign of what the Internet
can be of when it's at its best.

[Amanda] I don't think we will
stop having cat content.

I think there will always be
people making it,

people excited to make it
and people excited to see it.

It all goes back to the definition
of a meme.

Things evolve and change
along the way,

and you can't predict it.

It will just keep going and surprising,

and once it clicks,
it's gonna click and change again.

[Lil Bub chirping]

♪ Some people think the Internet
Is a series of tubes ♪

♪ Some people think it's made of wires ♪

♪ And lasers and some hats ♪

♪ Some people think it's stuck together
With a load of glue ♪

♪ But they're all wrong
Because the Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet was born in Japan, 2001 ♪

♪ There were not many cats
So bandwidth was not very high ♪

♪ To get the cats around the net
They had to keep them small ♪

♪ So they compressed kittens ♪

♪ Using the ancient art of bonsai ♪

♪ Although more kittens came online
With each and every day ♪

♪ The connectivity and bandwidth
Of the net weren't great ♪

♪ Because the kitten numbers
Did not grow as you would hope ♪

♪ As God kills a kitten every time
He sees you masturbate ♪

♪ Because the Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The revolution came when
LOLcats harnessed humankind ♪

♪ To create many cats with captions on
That were quite mental ♪

♪ While death rates from a vengeful God
Stayed more or less the same ♪

♪ The growth in Internet kittens
Soon became exponential ♪

♪ For a while it looked as though ♪

♪ Everything was just fine ♪

♪ With more cats in the network
Things grew fast as fast can be

♪ But soon the laws of physics ♪

♪ Started to bend with the strain ♪

♪ As the number of cats tended
Towards infinity ♪

♪ Because the Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet Cat Project
Kittens inspired by kittens ♪

♪ Recursive cats spiraled down
To a singularity ♪

♪ Which birthed a cat-god
Powerful beyond imagination ♪

♪ Called Maru, who appeared
Obsessed with box idiocy ♪

♪ But despite looking like
A fat-cat moron who liked boxes ♪

♪ Maru was in fact manipulating
Both time and space ♪

♪ He summoned forth the Dark One
From beyond the deepest past ♪

♪ The one who would be savior
Of the Internet cat race ♪

♪ Because the Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats ♪

♪ The Internet is made of cats ♪

♪ And that's a fact ♪

[Lil Bub meowing, snorting]