Zachery Musial
ENG 1020
Luke Thominet
The Socially Awkward Meme Genre: An Analysis
- Introduction
A. Significance of the subject
B. Purpose and plan of the paper
C. Thesis statement: The characteristics of the Socially Awkward meme genre are the feelings of loneliness, male logic that would normally not be admitted, very awkward photos, and analyzing normal scenarios while extracting the awkward moments from those scenarios.
- The argument of Socially Awkward’s characteristics of loneliness and male logic
A. Forever Alone
B. Foul Bachelor Frog
- The argument of Socially Awkward’s characteristics of very awkward photos
A. PTSD Clarinet Boy
B. Vengeance Dad
- The argument of Socially Awkward’s characteristics of analyzing normal scenarios while extracting the awkward moments from those scenarios.
A. Hover Hand
B. Bad Luck Brian
C. Annoying Facebook Girl
D. Uber Frosh/College Freshman
- A comparison of the three viewpoints in defense of thesis
- Conclusion
A. Summary of main points
B. Signal to end
Memes Referenced
II. A) Forever Alone/ II. B) Foul Bachelor Frog
/ III.A) PTSD Clarinet Boy
III.B) Vengeance Dad
/ IV. A) Hover Hand
/ IV.B) Bad Luck Brian
IV. C) Annoying Facebook Girl
/ IV.D) Uber Frosh/ College Freshman
The Socially Awkward Meme Genre: An Analysis
According to Google Trends, over the past two years since January of 2011 there has been a sixty six percent increase in the volume of searches of the word “meme.” What this data reveals is a rising popularity in meme culture. Memes have been able to spread into seemingly every deep crevasse of the Internet. With the influx of so many memes flooding the Internet, genres of these memes have come to be known. This paper will try to resolve unsure ideas of what makes a meme a meme, more specifically, what makes a Socially Awkward meme. This paper will do so by dissecting examples of sub genres within the Socially Awkward genre that supports the key characteristics of that genre. The characteristics of the Socially Awkward meme genre are the feelings of loneliness, male logic that would normally not be admitted, very awkward photos, and analyzing normal scenarios while extracting the awkward moments from those scenarios.
A classic example of Socially Awkward memes is the mini series of rage guy comics entitled “Forever Alone.” Forever Alone captures a key component of what makes a meme Socially Awkward, the feeling of loneliness. Forever Alone depicts an average male placed into scenarios where he must choose between companionship with a women, or he must choose to be alone. During the scenes the man chooses in a matter-of-fact manner the choice to not embrace the company of a woman. The comic always ends with a very sad close-up of the man thinking the words “forever alone.” The feeling of loneliness in the eyes of a young adult male is quite awkward since a man of his age would usually have a girlfriend.
A key component of the Socially Awkward memes is male logic. None can be a better example of male logic than Foul Bachelor Frog. Foul Bachelor Frog uses the logic that grasps many young college males. His logic is simple, do as little work as possible while still accomplishing the task at hand. This logic which nearly all men put use in their lives at least a handful of times can be quite awkward and hard to admit. Take for example Foul Bachelor Frogs reaction to running out of shampoo, “out of shampoo, use soap instead.” This male logic allows him to complete his task at hand, washing his hair, and allows him to not go to the store to purchase a new bottle of shampoo. This logic, if ever brought to light, is quite awkward to admit around people who probably do not the logic you use. This is another classic example of Socially Awkward memes.
A notable quality with Socially Awkward memes is awkward photographs. A
Prime example of awkward photos can be seen in the PTSD Clarinet Boy series of memes. Clarinet Boy’s photograph is a vintage 1970’s photo where two shots would be superimposed onto one another to create a single portrait. The results of a smaller, happier version of Clarinet Boy inside his own, serious looking head portrays the idea that the smaller boy is his conscious. His consciousness then reflects back on life before the war, hence the PTSD. The photo itself is a very awkward child during those crucial “awkward years” of puberty. The photo alone, without caption, is painfully awkward to even look at.
Another amazingly awkward photo that has been turned into a meme is Vengeance Dad. This photo along with PTSD Clarinet Boy is a superimposed 1970’s portrait. This portrait portrays a family and their father. The father is awkwardly positioned away from the family and not in contact with the rest of the family. This separation implies that a traumatic event had unfolded within the family and the father was to blame. The photo itself has the very odd orange color tint that many photos from the 1970’s had. This adds to the awkward feel of the photograph. The father as well is not one of the most handsome fellows on the block either. His glasses are very large and conjure images of the movie Revenge of the Nerds. This awkward photograph gives us a prime example of a Socially Awkward meme.
Many Socially Awkward memes point out the awkward moments in photographs. This brings us to the Hover Hand memes. The Hover Hand occurs when someone, usually a male, is posing in a picture with a neither person usually a much more attractive woman, and he does not actually touch the woman when he places his arm around here. This scenario shows the awkwardness of males around attractive females. Since the man does not feel confident enough to place his hand around the woman’s shoulder or hip he will simply hover his hand around her. This lack of confidence is quiet and awkward situation inside the mind of the unconfident man. By these memes pointing out the hovering hand they are categorized into the Socially Awkward genre.
When trying to put a face to a Socially Awkward person, none do much better than Bad Luck Brian. Bad Luck Brian is placed into seemingly normal scenarios when all the sudden his bad luck catches up to him. Bad Luck Brian points out the awkwardness in failing at most things. This can be seen when Brian “takes (his) SAT, (and) forgot to use (a) #2 pencil.” What this series of memes teaches us is that bad luck, when put into context, can be a quite socially awkward.
The Socially Awkward can also be pointed out when we create images in our head of a young high school girl who constantly updates every detail of her life onto Facebook. This meme has been covered with Annoying Facebook Girl. Facebook Girl’s picture is a beautiful shot of her with her mouth wide open and eyes closed, as though she was about to utter “OMG” at the full capacity that her teenage lungs could handle. The awkwardly angled photo looks to be completely candid and is quite an unflattering shot, so this shows the awkwardness of the meme. What Facebook Girl is able to show us is that posting every detail of your life and updating pointless statuses is quite a socially awkward thing to do when on social media sites.
Lastly, the Uber Frosh/College Freshman meme encompasses the awkwardness of being a college freshman. The Uber Frosh is placed into everyday scenarios which many college students encounter. Such situations as being late to class can be seen in the series, so when a upperclassmen is late to lecture he simply walks, but Uber Frosh is “Late to class; (so he) runs.” Awkward moments of learning and experiencing moments in college are played upon to its full extent with Uber Frosh. He epitomizes what the Socially Awkward meme is able to do, take a normal scenario and draw out the socially awkward moments.
What all these examples of Socially Awkward memes have been able to teach us is that the Socailly Awkward meme genre is characterized by feelings of loneliness, male logic that would normally not be admitted, very awkward photos, and analyzing normal scenarios while extracting the awkward moments from those scenarios. This can be seen in Fover Alone’s feeling of loneliness, Foul Bachelor Frog’s use of male logic, PTSD Clarinet Boy’s and Vengence Dad’s extremely awkward photo, Hover Hand’s awkward body language, Bad Luck Brian’s amazingly awkward failing moments, Annoying Facebook Girl’s awkward repetitive Facebook status updates, and Uber Frosh’s ultra awkward freshman logic. This then has been an analysis on the Socially Awkward meme genre.