AboutWhat does the meme depict?

The 'Tom and Spike Sword Fight' meme is derived from an episode of the animated series Tom and Jerry. The meme features Tom the cat and Spike the dog engaged in a sword fight. This image typically appears as the first panel in the meme. The second panel often shows Jerry the mouse either lifting sunglasses with a smug smile or displaying an uncomfortable confused expression, known as Polish Jerry. This exploitably object labeling template allows users to represent different parties or ideologies in conflict using the characters.

OriginWho did it first?

The meme originated from the 1954 Tom and Jerry short titled 'Pet Peeve', which can be watched here. More information about this episode is available on Tom and Jerry Wiki. In the episode, the pet owners are conflicted about whether to keep Tom or Spike due to rising food costs. A deal is proposed by the husband that whichever pet catches the house mouse, Jerry, can stay. While Tom manages to catch Jerry initially, a fight over who gets to present Jerry to their owners leads to a sword fight scene between Tom and Spike.^[1]