Blog 21

20 JULY 2022

In 2021, language app Duolingo soared to the #1 education app in the App Store, backed by it’s success with Gen Z on TikTok(1). It’s popularity with younger generations, in particular, has been it’s mascots ability to capture the essence of Gen Z chaos and humor (2). It is by no means the first or last of it’s kind, but it is a good example of brands successfully relating to Gen Z. Born between 1996 to 2010, Gen Z is conscious of brand values and drawn to authenticity (3). Oftentimes, “keeping it real” can be translated to brand transparency, but having a brand personality that meshes well with Gen Z is also important, and this is often built through authentic engagement(4). In order to figure out how to relate to this generation, it's helpful to understand what makes them laugh.

If you traced how humor evolved up to the current generation of young adults, the images probably started from minions with text and 2011 Instagram filters (Boomers) to any image with bold block text in white (Gen X) to people being depressed (Millennials) to a bunch of random static noises and pixels (Gen Z).

Each generation comes with it’s own experiences, trauma, and desire to differentiate from the previous generation; but it’s long been established that Gen Z humor is in a class of its own. Just a pretext, every generation comes with its set of in-betweens so for the purposes of this piece, the Gen Z I refer to will be along the average of those born in 2000 to 2008. However, the generational cohorts are simply a rough classification, so people considered late millennials or early gen alpha may also be active participants in the culture. This kind of humor is most associated with Gen Z, hence it’s name.

Context

It’s important understand Gen Z humor because memes are how Gen Z communicates (5), and they’re pretty good at sniffing out fakes. A lot of the humor is rooted in absurdism, which is defined as the conflict between the natural human need to find lifes’ meaning and the reality of nature, which is in itself meaningless and chaotic (absurd)(6). If millennials react to generational trauma by being nihilistic, depressed, and sarcastic; Gen Z reacts by being chaotic, depressed, and outlandish. This by no means signifies that they take serious subjects lightly; on the contrary, Gen Z is a generation proven to care more than most.

This bizareness is a response to how information overload is psychologically processed; in essence, humor as a defense mechanism. But why? Unsurprisingly, the generation also labelled as the “iGeneration” grew up with more access to information than anyone could ever need or want. This meant early-on exposure to wars, crime, and all the unhelpful depressing bits of life. So it’s not so much of not taking things seriously, rather it’s not being able to.

Why is it so strange?

Short Lifespan

Part of why Gen Z humor is so strange is due to a joke’s short lifespan (7). Due to the velocity at which Gen Z consumes media, a meme in its pure, unadulterated form can only be enjoyed for a week at most. The reason why memes get so weird is because of its various reincarnations in attempts (it is unclear whose) to reinvent them. It’s like this: a group of friends make a joke and it's funny. Except, it doesn’t stay funny, so you grasp at straws and somehow the joke gets stretched further and further away from its original meaning. Now, the joke isn’t even what’s funny anymore; rather, its the number of people participating in “keeping it alive”. We can see this through its many reiterations, where it gets to the point of being so unrecognizable, yet recognizable only to those who have “been there” for it. In other words, it’s like a huge inside joke.

Meta-Irony

The way memes are constructed format around the use of irony. By definition, irony is a message or event that holds two levels of meaning: how it appears and its true meaning (8). There are different types of irony (dramatic, verbal, and situational (9)), and then there are different layers to that. The more complex the form of irony, the more layers it has. The main focus of this is to talk about the layers of irony Gen Z utilizes in their humor, and not so much of the type they use as there isn’t a specific one. Boomers tend to utilize no or one layer of irony. The irony often incorporated into Boomer memes is usually sarcasm, which is a one-layer irony. Obviously, sarcasm is still funny, but it’s past its peak with the younger generations at this point.

Now, to the more complex part: 2 layers and onwards. 2-layer irony is where most Millennial and Gen Z humor start. Millennials usually employ post-irony, which can be defined as the return to sincerity from irony. This is rooted in self-awareness of the fact that the thing examined is “cringe” but is still appreciated for its absurdity. The cringey item can therefore be authentically enjoyed and reveled in while still being acknowledged for how “bad” it is (10). The “Twilight Renaissance” is a good example of post-ironic enjoyment exemplified in the rise of “guilty pleasures”. It’s rise to popularity in 2020 and its subsequent release on Netflix in 2021 was due to equal part nostalgia and ironic consumption (11).

Gen Z takes post-irony a step further with the use of meta-irony. If post-irony returns to sincerity, meta-irony combines both irony and sincerity into an unrecognizable combination that makes you guess at what it’s actually being sincere about. The point of meta-irony is shrouding the actual point in so much pointlessness it appears meaningless (12). The reason behind this? Some argue it’s to provoke thought, while others say it’s just an extensive form of gatekeeping and the ambiguity presents a “cop-out” opportunity (considering the state of cancel culture). At the end of the day, there’s no clear reason, which is the point.

As I was writing this piece, I realized I hadn’t thought of my own generation as being so complex. Sure, humans are complex creatures but the whole time, all I could think about was “is Gen Z humor truly this complicated?”. Maybe it is, but also isn’t. It’s important to note that most Gen Zers probably aren’t actively applying meta-irony to the humor they use. Most are still young and a lot of Gen Z humor on the Internet is a result of messing around. Majority of what’s funny is just what’s weird and unexpected, which can basically be found in every generation. What brings Gen Z memes to the next level is probably access and the ability to use editing technology to make the wackiest things imaginable.

The approach of jokes in a meta-ironic way might indicate a preference for subtlety in how they want to be communicated to. In young adults especially, there’s a simultaneous need to belong (13) and gatekeep (to stay unique enough), which is why inside jokes work so well. Combining that subtlety and use of keywords takes a good understanding of the culture to achieve. If there’s anything more hated, it’s the incorrect use of lingo in shallow attempts to connect with Gen Zers. It can seem like a monumental task if you aren’t an active participant in the culture, but at the end of the day, it’s also really not that deep.

References:

Gahan, B. (2021, December 13). How Duolingo Created a Formula for Success on TikTok. Sprout Social. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/duolingo-tiktok-success/
Butler, S. (2021, November 18). Duolingo's mascot becomes a TikTok icon with hilarious viral videos and sassy replies. Indy100. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.indy100.com/viral/duolingo-mascot-viral-tiktok-icon-b1960050
Thomas, M. (2021, December 7). 5 Gen Z Marketing Strategies To Implement in 2022. Later. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://later.com/blog/gen-z-marketing/
Abidin, C., & Zeng, M. J. (2021, August 19). 'OK Boomer': how a TikTok meme traces the rise of Gen Z political consciousness. The Conversation. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/ok-boomer-how-a-tiktok-meme-traces-the-rise-of-gen-z-political-consciousness-165811
Medium. (2021, February). Absurdism vs Nihilism — Explanations and Differences of Both Philosophies. Thinking Deeply with Ben. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://thinkingdeeply.medium.com/absurdism-vs-nihilism-explanations-and-differences-of-both-philosophies-cf571efe75e9
Veix, J. (2018, June 23). Working towards a complete theory of meme relativity. The Outline. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://theoutline.com/post/5035/greenwich-meme-time
The Chicago School of Media Theory. (n.d.). irony | The Chicago School of Media Theory. Humanities Division: Lucian. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/irony/
Dunham, B. (2021, December 5). 3 Types of Irony Storytellers Should Know (Definition and Examples). StudioBinder. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/3-different-types-of-irony/
McWhinney, A. (2019, August 17). Post-irony, memes, and media consumption | by Andrew McWhinney. Medium. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://medium.com/@ajmcwhinney/post-irony-memes-media-consumption-93f3ce5759db
https://www.papermag.com/twilight-memes-renaissance-2654725436.html?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7
JrEG. (2020, January 30). Post-Irony, Meta-Irony, and Post-Truth Satire. YouTube. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsuSveDAlpI
Study.com. (n.d.). What is Anti-Intellectualism? Study.com. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-anti-intellectualism.html
Raising Children Network. (2021, November 3). Peer pressure & peer influence: teens. Raising Children Network. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://raisingchildren.net.au/teens/behaviour/peers-friends-trends/peer-influence

Upacking
Gen Z
Humor

meme 18

A meme of the late Prince Phillip, heavily filtered and edited with a beauty app. There is no purpose to the meme, other than it being funny because the original photo was one where he looked pretty sickly.

meme 19

Another meaningless, but hilarious meme of the notoriously and (for legal purposes) allegedly evil Mark Zuckeberg at court. The meme is edited to make it seem like Mark is sitting in a way to make his butt look bigger for the masses.

meme 21

Just like in every other generation, the prevalence of [insert body part/bodily excretion] jokes still applies.

meme 18

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meme comparison 1

Fun fact: this specific subset of Gen Z memes is actually called Surreal Memes, as in referencing Surrealism- the art movement. Also, this meme format of humor comparison is likely from a Milennial or Gen X creator.

meme comparison 2

A good example of Gen X meme (top) vs. Gen Z meme (bottom).

meme 3

Note the heaviness of the topic in contrast with the strange background. This meme was made with the Whisper App, which was created for sharing secrets anonymously. It has since been used for quick and easy meme creation.

meme comparison 1

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gen z lingo 4

Example of Gen Z lingo. Note that the seriousness is adapted to casual, humorous phrases and words.

meme 5

The context of this meme actually originated from discussions on how misogyny affects the way families value daughters over sons, which then sparked more conversations (and subsequent jokes) over familial trauma. Here, the joke is in it’s very reiterated form and resembles more closely the trend of comparing which is worse: the music artists referenced depict the option of either a very mentally-ill, gay daughter or pretentious loner emo son.

meme 7

A popular meme within the Gen Z LGBT community known as the “homophobic dog”. It was used to portray common microaggressive phrases aimed at LGBT people. It’s popularity has since died down when the dog was actually discovered to ironically be owned by two gay men. It’s name is Whitney Chewston, so the fact was pretty quickly discovered.

gen z lingo 4

Example of Gen Z lingo. Note that the seriousness is adapted to casual, humorous phrases and words.

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