The End of the World

The End of the World is a Flash animation imagining the world’s countries destroying one another; first uploaded under the title “End of Ze World,” it is credited on Albino Blacksheep to Fluid. Know Your Meme identifies Fluid as Jason Windsor, who was a teenager when he made the original in 2003 and later created its sequel. Know Your Meme also calls the creator “James Windsor” in its account of a Mic interview twelve years after the video’s posting; the interview and later reporting identify him as Jason Windsor.

The End of the World grew from a late-night conversation in 2003, in the post-9/11 period and amid the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Windsor recalled talking with friends about world events and nuclear weapons; a later account places them on a Tracy, California, playground, where he used bark to draw Earth and missiles as they expressed frustration with the state of the world and the rush to invade Iraq. The resulting 1.5-minute Flash animation satirized the prospect of people destroying themselves. Windsor said he initially wanted to make his friends laugh by imagining the end of the world as a result of human stupidity.

Know Your Meme reports that the earliest located public upload of the animation was on Albino Blacksheep on October 30, 2003, credited to user Fluid. That is the reported date for this version, not proof of absolute priority.

The original animation was cinematic and funny while remaining topical enough to move beyond online sharing into real-world conversations. Its joke of a president hugging nuclear weapons at a desk also became an iconic political image for a new generation of internet-native activists and voters.

Not long after the United States invaded Iraq, the animation reached sites including Albino Blacksheep and eBaum’s World, but accounts differ on how it got there. Windsor said he sent it privately to friends, never posted it himself, and did not know exactly how it reached Albino Blacksheep and eBaum's World. A separate account says a friend connected to the hacker scene uploaded it, after which it appeared on Ebaum’s World and Black Sheep a few months later. Windsor estimated that less than a year passed before the animation’s popularity rose sharply.

The animation became one of the first-ever viral videos, according to later reporting, and Know Your Meme says it was popular on Funnyjunk, where it stayed atop the trending-video chart for several weeks, as well as on eBaum's World. Those early sites predated its later YouTube circulation: Know Your Meme reports an upload to YouTube shortly after the site’s creation and more than 16 million views in twelve years, while a later account describes a version on Youtube with nearly 17 million views. The observed copy is titled “End Of Ze World” and attributed to birdman; it is a reupload, not evidence of Windsor’s original upload. One account also recalls the video as among the first things many early internet users shared with others.

The animation’s script circulated separately from the video: Know Your Meme reports that it was posted to Roosterteeth in 2005.

Know Your Meme reports that, in the mid-2000s, several lines from the animation were added to Urban Dictionary, carrying its catchphrases into another online reference site.

Twelve years after the video was posted, Know Your Meme says its creator, James Windsor, revealed himself in a Mic interview; the interview identifies him as Jason Windsor. Windsor said the animation helped kickstart his animation and filmmaking career and helped him get one of his first freelance jobs in 2004, making Nike spots with Wieden+Kennedy. He described the early connection with Wieden as significant, but said later gigs sought the same animation style while he wanted to make different, more design-focused work.

Windsor said he did not know exactly how his name became associated with the animation. He recalled that the person from Wieden who tracked him down somehow linked the work to his personal portfolio site, while someone else put up endoftheworld.net with a notice attributing the video to Jason Windsor and asking for information about him.

Windsor said he earned nothing from “The End of the World” itself. He estimated that related professional work over several years brought in about $25,000, including voiceover work that paid residual checks and required him to join the Voice Actors Guild.

Fifteen years after the original, Windsor decided to make a sequel despite receiving little credit for his earlier work. He said making fun of real threats to human survival prompted him to return to the subject, and that hostility in public schools particularly pushed him toward making it. He especially thanked his wife for giving him time to work on the sequel.

Although Jason Windsor had previously been reluctant to make a sequel, watching 2017 unfold prompted him to create End of Ze World… Probably for Real This Time as a way to process his fear, anger, and frustration. The false Hawaii missile alert happened after he had finished animating the new End of Ze World, so that event was not part of the sequel’s production.

Know Your Meme reports that Windsor uploaded the sequel on January 20, 2018, as a follow-up to “End of Ze World.” The 2018 reporting referred to it as “End of the World (Probably for Real This Time),” while its reported opening title was “END OF ZE WORLD ...PROBABLY FOR REAL THIS TIME.”

The four-minute sequel updates the premise for the Trump administration and Kim Jong-Un while moving through deportation, discrimination, and Nazis. Where the original relied on visual allusions, such as George W. Bush cuddling nuclear weapons, the sequel directly names global warming and Trump.

The sequel gives other nations more prominence than the original’s caricatures: Russia and France take on new roles, alongside immigrants affected by DACA and people from countries America is no longer comfortable associating with.

The four-minute sequel stays close to the original’s theme and voice while making only slight updates. At the same time, Windsor’s developed animation and storytelling skills let him interject much more into the new work than he could in the original.

Know Your Meme reports that the sequel received coverage from the internet-focused outlets Select All, The Verge, and Gizmodo, extending the End of Ze World story into contemporary online news coverage.

Jason Windsor recorded the original voiceover himself, then made crude Flash drawings to accompany it. He and his friends had joked about the “vaguely Slavic” accent used by a character in Rounders, and Windsor carried that accent into the animation. His mother worked with computers for the school system, and from age 16 he worked for her and became familiar with Adobe software, including Flash, After Effects, and Illustrate.

In the sequel, End of Ze World… Probably for Real This Time, the opening resembles the original for exactly two seconds before shifting to a collage of contemporary imagery: missiles, oil pumpjacks, a Nazi flag, a hurricane, and protest signs. The abrupt visual change replaces the original’s familiar opening with a dense set of images tied to the sequel’s updated subject matter.

The sequel includes a call to action urging viewers to contact their political representatives. Windsor said he wanted the film to stand on its own rather than deliver an overly pushy message, so the call sits within a work he hoped would nudge viewers without becoming heavy-handed.