Title: Sneaky Tom

General Information:

• Verbal Art
• 4/27/2019
• English
• USA, Dartmouth College

Informant:

• Luke C. ‘20
• 20 years old
• Grew up in New York City, NY
• Studies Government at Dartmouth College

Contextual Data

Social Context:

• At the time this meme was posted in 2017, the original meme was in its peak popularity.
• Luke said he saw the original image (without VOX Daily) used in other memes and thought it was a clever way to apply it to everyday Dartmouth student life in a way that other students could relate to it.
• Luke said that VOX Daily is one of the most unanimously experiences for students at Dartmouth. It’s one of the few things that everyone can relate to.

Cultural Context:

• The image in this meme comes from the popular children’s show called, Tom & Jerry. It comes from an episode which aired in 1950 called “Jerry and the Lion” where Tom (as shown) sneaks behind the door.
• Dartmouth has a hardcore academics culture where many students find themselves working into the early morning hours. Among students, it is common knowledge that VOX Daily are sent to every inbox at 1:01AM.

Quotes from the interview:

“For me, whenever I’m doing work late at night and have my headphones in and I get the ding at 1:00 AM when VOX Daily comes in and thought, ‘Oh it’s already 1:00 AM how did we get here? I still have so much left to do’.”

“I saw the original image and thought ‘That’s VOX Daily when it sneaks into your inbox at 1 in the morning in the depth of night.’ ”