Future research should explore the longitudinal effects on children who inadvertently view such mashups, as well as the legal frameworks for “parody” vs. “brand dilution” in children’s media. For now, the Blippi Harlem Shake stands as a perfect, jarring emblem of the internet age: where an excavator-obsessed man in a bow tie meets a 2012 bass drop, and neither is ever the same.

Deconstructing the Gesture: Blippi, the Harlem Shake, and the Memeification of Children’s Entertainment