Title: Sushi Trade Deal Meme
General Information about item:
- English
- Material and Verbal: Joke
- United States
Informant data:
- Melanie Kos is a member of the Dartmouth 2020 class. She was born on October 7, 1997 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She is undecided on her major, but is an active member of the Dartmouth Meme Group.
Contextual Data:
- Social Context:
- This meme and its information were collected during a one on one interview on the second floor of Collis. Melanie described how she made the meme on her computer and how it has spread through the Dartmouth community by way of the Dartmouth Meme page on Facebook as well as through texts and emails. This meme was intended for the Dartmouth community.
- Cultural Context:
- The context of this meme reflects the fact that the Dartmouth Dining Service (DDS) has very overpriced food. The meme specifically talks about sushi from Collis. The meme uses a common internet-wide meme format of president Trump posting a tweet. Since DDS is so overpriced, the meme explains the feeling that students get when they happen to be given an extra piece of sushi.
Item:
Informant’s Comments:
- Melanie talked about how she felt when she got an extra piece of sushi, and how this particular meme was very easy for her to make since she remembered seeing a similar meme on the interment. She explained how she felt like she had made a good deal with Collis, since she paid the amount that she would have usually paid, but she also got an extra piece for free. She then turned the situation into a joke by comparing it to a trade deal between the US and Japan. Even though she turned the situation into a joke, she still wanted to spread the message that DDS is overpriced.
Collectors Comments:
- This meme is pretty funny and fun, since it makes fun of a few things at once. It pokes fun at Trump, the president who feels the need to tweet everything he does, as well as make fun of DDS. I think this is a successful meme, since everyone on campus can relate to it.
Collectors Name: Michael Thurston
Keywords: Dartmouth. DDS. Trump.