Joke

Carolina Bowlby

“Coronavirus and Canvas Meme”

Internet 

16 May 2020

Informant Data: 

Carolina Bowlby is one of my good friends. She was born in Edina, Minnesota on September 25, 2000. She lived there for the majority of her life before attending Dartmouth College located in Hanover, New Hampshire. She is currently a student at Dartmouth and a member of their women’s ice hockey team. She has Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Vsco social media platforms. She claims that Snapchat is her favorite one to use. Carolina estimated that she spends roughly one hour on social media a day. 

Contextual Data 

Social Context: 

Dartmouth College uses Canvas, which is an online educational tool. Carolina used Instagram to access this item.  She does not remember the account name the item derived from, however, it can be determined that it was a “meme page”. A meme page is an account that provides memes as the majority of the content the page posts. A meme is applied to the folklore genre of jokes.   The meme is a way to express cultural information through a photo and a short statement. One thing about these pages is that the identity of the creator is unknown, thus, no one knows where this item came from. This coronavirus meme stood out to her because she thought it was really funny. It is funny to her because it makes an association between homework/school and the coronavirus. This is also what makes this lore pleasing to her as well. 

Cultural Context:

This meme is culturally applied to students; especially those who use the online platform of Canvas who have been affected by COVID-19. School is either portrayed as a positive or negative thing. Carolina doesn’t believe that only people who hate school find this joke funny. Coronavirus in this context refers to staying quarantined and staying home. The physical feature of the virus looks similar to the Canvas logo. Thus the joke is a sort of an ironic ordeal. The comment on how it “really makes you think” creates this ironic association. In March of 2020, Dartmouth College announced that due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the school would be moved to an online platform. This is upsetting for many college students who would rather be living the college experience than being at home. Globally, people were remaining quarantined to reduce the spread of the virus. Thus, the 2020 pandemic is shown to be a difficult time for many people. Coronavirus memes are a way of dealing with a situation.  This meme displays referential humor, meaning that the joke is humorous by the content. I asked Carolina why she thinks this joke is artistically powerful and persuasive. She tells me that although it is a simple joke, it is persuasive because it compares two things which the 2020 “student culture” have in common. The physical looks of solidarity make it funny and persuasive. In terms of this joke becoming long-lasting tradition varies on who consumes it. Carolina thinks that this joke will eventually die off once the 2020 pandemic goes away. She claims that although the comedic aspect might fade away, this meme will serve as a reminder to those that were affected. 

Item:

Celine Pietraszek 

2635 White Rock Ln 

Colorado Springs, CO 80904

Dartmouth College

Russian 13 

Spring 2020

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

Joke

Georgia Kraus 

“Government Curve Meme”

Internet 

11 May 2020

Informant Data: 

Georgia Kraus is a college student that goes to Dartmouth College. She is a member of the Dartmouth College women’s ice hockey team and one of my good friends. She was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. She was born on March 20, 2001, making her nineteen years old. Georgia shares that she has no religious beliefs. She has five social media platforms: Twitter, Snapchat, Tik Tok, Instagram, and Vsco. She estimates that she spends around two hours on social media platforms per day. 

Contextual Data 

Social Context: 

Georgia states that she acquired this meme from Twitter. The government curve refers to the number of coronavirus cases. The video that is attached to the statement is the main aspect that makes the lore so pleasing. The video is of someone straightening their hair in a funny manner saying “I’m trying to straighten it down, this keeps going like whoop, like no go doop.” Considering that it is a known video with a written joke attached to it, it is considered to be a meme (folklore genre of a joke). A meme is a way of spreading cultural information in a comedic manner. Georgia believes that this way of spreading content is the most prominent in nowaday society. This is because we live in an internet reliant society and the internet is the main source for memes to be located in. It was made by an account that goes by the name of Ben O’ Callaghan. This person is not famous, however, this particular meme has had 79,200 retweets, 221,000 likes, and 2.6 million on the platform. The meme relates to how the government is trying to “flatten the curve.” This interview took place over a FaceTime call.

Cultural Context:

Georgia says that the main group of individuals this item targets are Twitter users; specifically, those who enjoy meme content. It is not limited to a certain age group of users. She thinks that whoever understands it MIGHT find humor in it. Memes are widely used by Generation Z or Millenials. The video that is attached to this specific item has been spread across the culture and has many different jokes attached to them (borrowed video that is passed around). Georgia thinks the video is funny with or without the written caption. In her opinion, memes are funnier if a person has seen many different forms of it. However, she also made a comment on how it is not a funny topic because coronavirus is a serious manner that has affected many lives. In a sense, it helps her cope with the global pandemic. She says that it is comic relief because the meme is reshaping the bad news (the number of coronavirus cases not flattening). She also finds relief because most media platforms make the situation sound scary, and this meme shows humor in it.  This is also why she thinks it is so persuasive. The item is powerful because memes are popular in today’s culture. The time period in which she discovered the joke is the most relevant time for the meme because she is living in it (going through what is being described). She says the meme trends are very situational and become most prominent in a national/global situation. The caption says, “the government trying to flatten the curve.” Georgia says that it is referring to the government trying to lessen the number of coronavirus cases. The attached video contextually means that whatever the government is doing is not working. The video is displayed in a humorous manner. In the future, Georgia thinks this meme will die off, but it will still have meaning. She says that the next generation will most likely not find it funny, however, it will serve as a reminder/reflection for people who lived through the Coronavirus pandemic.

Item: https://twitter.com/benocallaghan/status/1260699181540392960?s=12

Celine Pietraszek 

2635 White Rock Ln 

Colorado Springs, CO 80904

Dartmouth College

Russian 13 

Spring 2020