# The Creation Of Adam Parodies > The Creation of Adam Parodies is a photoshopped meme from 1982 where Michelangelo's iconic outstretched hands and spark of creation are repurposed for pop culture figures and absurd objects. The Creation of Adam Parodies are photoshopped, redrawn, and live-action remakes of Michelangelo's iconic Sistine Chapel fresco, replacing God, Adam, or both with pop culture figures, products, or absurd objects. One of the internet's longest-running visual meme formats, these parodies trace back to at least the 1982 E.T. movie poster and exploded across forums, blogs, and social media through the 2010s[3]. The format's power lies in its instant recognizability: two outstretched hands, fingers almost touching, the spark of creation repurposed to bestow anything from a sandwich to a cell phone[2]. ## Origin Michelangelo painted the original fresco in the Sistine Chapel between 1511 and 1512, commissioned as part of a larger ceiling depicting scenes from the Book of Genesis[3]. The painting shows the Biblical God giving life to the first man, Adam, through an outstretched finger. The earliest known parody appeared in 1982 on a promotional poster for Steven Spielberg's *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial*, replacing the divine touch with E.T.'s glowing finger reaching toward the film's protagonist Elliott[3]. This established the template that would fuel decades of remixes: keep the pose, swap the players. The meme's internet life kicked off in August 2005, when Swedish graphic designer Niklas Jansson posted a version replacing God with the Flying Spaghetti Monster[3]. Jansson later described the painting process as taking about 3-5 hours, noting he should have spent longer on it[1]. He went on to rework the image multiple times, increasing the resolution from 500 pixels to 5,000 pixels in 2008 and creating a full high-resolution version in 2015 that he released into the public domain[1]. - **Platform:** Print advertising (E.T. poster), DeviantArt / Reddit / Tumblr (internet spread) - **Creator:** Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (original painting), various (parodies). Notable early internet contributors: Niklas Jansson (Flying Spaghetti Monster version), TsaoShin (Creation of Mario) - **Date:** 1982 (earliest known parody), 2005+ (internet spread) ## Overview The original *Creation of Adam* was painted between 1511 and 1512 as one of nine frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Vatican City[3]. It depicts a bearded God figure floating in the air, reaching out with his right hand to touch the fingertip of a nude Adam[3]. That single gesture, two index fingers nearly meeting across a gap, became one of the most recognizable compositions in Western art. The parody format works because the pose is so simple. Replace God with a corporate mascot, swap Adam for a cartoon character, stick a beer can between the fingertips, and the joke lands instantly. People don't need to know art history to get it. The composition has been recreated in photoshops, oil paintings, cosplay photographs, tattoos, paperclip sculptures, and embroidered jean patches[5]. TV Tropes catalogued the format under "Sistine Steal," noting that the recognizable two-figure arrangement makes it perfect for allusion and parody across comic books, webcomics, political cartoons, and animated shows[2]. ## How It Spread On June 18, 2010, DeviantArt user TsaoShin uploaded "The Creation of Mario," depicting Nintendo's Mario reaching toward game designer Shigeru Miyamoto in the God position, surrounded by Nintendo characters including Princess Peach, Zelda, Samus, and others[4]. TsaoShin described it as a joke between friends that turned into a full illustration[4]. The meme hit Reddit on September 14, 2011, when a photoshopped version featuring Yao Ming's face was posted to r/funny, pulling in over 950 upvotes[3]. Three months later, on December 14, 2011, someone launched a dedicated "Parodies of the Creation of Adam" Tumblr blog collecting notable edits[3]. The format picked up steam through 2012-2013. On February 18, 2012, the arts site ShockBlast published a compilation of exploitable photoshops built around a cutout of the God figure[3]. On May 11, 2013, TV Tropes created its "Sistine Steal" page, documenting parodies across every form of media from anime to advertising[2]. The TV Tropes entry catalogued dozens of examples, including a Samsung billboard swapping the hands for cell phones, a Quizno's commercial with God handing Adam a sandwich, and a *Death Note* anime opening where an apple passes between the protagonist and a god figure[2]. Reddit kept the format alive through 2014. On July 25, Redditor jdk posted a gallery of people physically recreating the painting, which earned over 2,900 upvotes[3]. On October 4, a GIF version appeared on r/gifs showing God removing meat from Adam's chest to create a woman dancing in a bikini, gaining over 1,700 upvotes[3]. ## How to Use The basic format involves replacing one or both figures in the composition: 1. Start with the original painting or a simplified version showing the two reaching hands 2. Replace God with whatever is "creating" or "bestowing" something (a brand, a character, a concept) 3. Replace Adam with the recipient (a consumer, a fan, a creation) 4. Optionally, place an object between the fingertips (a product, a meme, food) ## Cultural Impact The format crossed far beyond internet humor into advertising, academia, and AI discourse. Brands exploited the composition for decades, from President's Choice Cola airbrushing a can into God's hand to Samsung replacing the skin with cell phones[2]. Even *The Simpsons* got in on it, with C. Montgomery Burns losing his copy of the painting in a Coca-Cola commercial[2]. The parody format proved especially fertile in anime and manga. *Death Note* used it symbolically in its opening credits, passing an apple (a reference to original sin) between Light Yagami and the Shinigami[2]. *Record of Ragnarok* went further, staging the scene with the actual Biblical Adam while Michelangelo himself sits in the audience reacting to the image[2]. *Revolutionary Girl Utena* used the reaching-hands motif between Utena and Anthy in a key emotional scene, only to subvert it when their fingers slip apart[2]. In 2020, researcher Beth Singler published an academic study collecting 79 examples of what she termed the "AI Creation Meme," a specific variant where a human hand reaches toward a robotic or digital hand[5]. Singler found that the AI hands came in two forms: jointed white robotic hands or fluid metallic hands reminiscent of the T-1000 from *Terminator 2*[5]. Nearly all the human hands were male and Caucasian, raising questions about representation and privilege in how we visualize the creation of artificial intelligence[5]. The color blue dominated these images, associated with "seriousness and trustworthiness" and celestial themes[5]. These AI Creation Memes appeared most often in business, fintech, and technology publications, spaces typically considered secular but borrowing heavily from religious visual language[5]. ## Fun Facts - Niklas Jansson's original FSM painting was only 500 pixels high because the reference photo of the Sistine Chapel was so small. He later upscaled it to 5,000 pixels and started designing wooden teapot-shaped spaceships crewed by "Diligent Noodlings" in the FSM universe[1]. - TsaoShin acknowledged that several character attributions in "The Creation of Mario" are inaccurate (not all characters were created by Miyamoto) but chose to include Nintendo's most recognizable cast for visual impact[4]. - The *Record of Ragnarok* manga placed Michelangelo himself in the audience watching the Creation of Adam pose happen live with the actual Biblical Adam[2]. - In *Doonesbury*, when J.J. paints the ceiling of the S.S. Trump Princess, Trump complains she put his face on Adam instead of God[2]. - Beth Singler's 2020 academic study found that the "spark of life" motif added between fingers in AI versions draws from Luigi Galvani's 18th-century experiments animating dead frogs with electricity[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is the Creation of Adam Parodies meme? It's a long-running internet meme format based on photoshopping, redrawing, or physically recreating Michelangelo's 1511-1512 Sistine Chapel fresco, typically replacing God, Adam, or both with pop culture characters, products, or jokes[3]. ### Where did the Creation of Adam Parodies come from? The earliest known parody was the 1982 E.T. movie poster. The format moved online in 2005 when Niklas Jansson posted a Flying Spaghetti Monster version, then spread widely through DeviantArt, Reddit, and Tumblr in the early 2010s[3][1]. ### What does the Creation of Adam meme mean? The meme plays on the contrast between the sacred original and whatever replaces it. The divine act of creation gets repurposed to "create" or "bestow" something mundane, absurd, or culturally specific[2]. ### How do you use the Creation of Adam meme? Replace one or both figures in the composition with your chosen subjects, or place an object between the outstretched fingertips. Many versions focus on just the hands and forearms for simplicity[5]. ### Is the Creation of Adam Parodies meme still popular? The format is a classic that keeps reappearing. As of 2020, academic researchers were still studying new variants, and the AI Creation Meme sub-genre saw heavy use in tech and business media[5]. ### Who painted the original Creation of Adam? Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni painted it between 1511 and 1512 as part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Vatican City[3]. ### What is the AI Creation Meme? A specific variant where a human hand reaches toward a robotic or digital hand, widely used in technology and business publications. Beth Singler studied 79 examples in a 2020 academic paper[5]. ### Why is the Creation of Adam so easy to parody? The two-figure composition with outstretched fingers is instantly recognizable even in simplified form. TV Tropes notes that this "recognizable arrangement of two figures" makes it ideal for allusion across media[2]. ### What was the Flying Spaghetti Monster version? Swedish designer Niklas Jansson created it in August 2005, replacing God with the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He later released it into the public domain[1]. ### What is the Creation of Mario? A 2010 DeviantArt illustration by TsaoShin showing Shigeru Miyamoto as God creating Mario, surrounded by Nintendo characters including Peach, Zelda, and Samus[4]. ## References 1. [FSM]() 2. [ShockBlast - inspire yourself.]() 3. [Sistine Steal - TV Tropes]() 4. [The Creation of Adam Parodies - Know Your Meme]() 5. [List of Internet phenomena]() 6. [The Creation of Mario by TsaoShin on DeviantArt]() 7. [The AI Creation Meme - Better Images of AI Blog]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/the-creation-of-adam-parodies Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library