Is putting a caption on the cat photo itself actually ruining the meme?

I've been in this sub for like 4 months now and I keep seeing these super funny cat pics where the text is slapped right on top of the cat's face, covering the best part. I mean, I get it, it's easier to read, but the whole joke dies when you can't see the cat's expression during the setup line. Last week someone posted a genuinely hilarious grumpy cat doing the double chin thing and the punchline was just floating over its eyes. My buddy Tim thinks text boxes below the image are outdated and that overlays are the only way modern memes work. We got into it over pizza on Tuesday and now I'm curious which side this place leans toward. Do you prefer the caption baked into the photo, or do you keep it in the title or a separate line underneath? Has anyone else deleted a meme they made because the text blocked the cat's reaction? Maybe it's just me but I'd rather crop the photo than hide a good face.

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the_lucas24d ago

Flip the argument and the text becomes the whole joke. That grumpy cat photo with the punchline over its eyes? The text forces you to fill in the blank, and your brain does the work. That's why overlays work for modern memes, the reaction is implied, not shown. Tim's got a point, captions below feel like you're reading a newspaper article, and nobody wants that energy in their feed. I've kept memes with text blocking faces because the timing of the words matters more than the cat's exact expression.

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