Joke
Hannah Bilka
Quarantine Tik Tok Meme
Internet
18 May 2020
Informant Data
This informant was raised in Dallas, Texas, and lived there for the majority of her life. She was born on March 24, 2001; making her 19 years old. She is a college student that attends Boston College. Her intended graduation year is 2023. Hannah was raised Roman Catholic and still practices in those religious beliefs. She loves the meme culture. Her favorite social media application is TikTok. She also has Instagram, Twitter, Vsco, and Snapchat as other social media platforms. Hannah thinks that she spends two hours a day on social media applications.
Contextual Data
Social Context:
This item was retrieved from TikTok: a new and popular social media platform. It was made by someone with an account name @caitcanoe. This certain item spread quickly and reached 13.6 million views. The video received 3.2 million likes. Hannah said that this item targets “our generation.” By “our generation,” she is referring to generation z. This is because a majority of people that use TikTok belong to generation Z. However, it also targets people who know the restaurant Hooters, and also knows what quartine is referring to. It was made on March 30, when everyone was forced to quarantine due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Most countries (specifically the United States) applied the “stay at home order” for the citizens. In the US, someone was only allowed to go outside the house if it was essential. The video is captioned with “the fam dressed up as men for Derek’s hooter night,” and “Derek has been making themed dinners throughout quarantine.” To Hannah, it is funny because Hooters is not particularly a family dining area. This meme is different because it is only in a video format. However, it still refers to a relatable scenario of remaining quarantined during the coronavirus.
Cultural Context:
Hannah says that this item is seen through TikTok, but other social media platforms might have a copy of the video. This lore makes Hannah feel happy, and it is funny to her because it is relatable in the sense of quarantine. She thinks Hooters is a place where the majority of men go. She also thinks it is creative because she is sick of quarantine and always is always trying to keep herself occupied. She also thinks this item is persuasive because it brings out a creative side. Quarantine forces people to stay at home, and she says most people are tired and bored. However, this lore brings people ideas of what to do during the quarantine. This video shows the makers creating a family-themed dinner to make it seem that they went out to a restaurant to eat. Hannah says that this particular meme is funny because the makers chose Hooters restaurant. The restaurant company is predominantly known for representing sex appeal and young women. This also is a part of the name Hooters to reference “hooter girls”. Overall, this video meme can spark a creative outlook while remaining quarantined. Hannah says that the future of this item will remain as a humorous symbol for people that had gone through the coronavirus pandemic. Once everything goes back to normal, people will be able to go out to restaurants. However, this item will symbolize a time when people had to create their own restaurants at home.
Item: https://vm.tiktok.com/KVfc7N/
Celine Pietraszek
2635 White Rock Ln
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2020