This past week has generated fear, anxiety and panic, but it’s also created some unique memes. COVID-19 should be taken seriously, and you can click on this article to find some resources on what action to take to, but sometimes laughter is the best medicine.
Emily Margolis, 20, is a UF senior advertising major and the social media manager of @BlackSheep_UF, a popular UF meme account with 14,300 followers. The account has featured numerous coronavirus memes recently.
While there are some who feel coronavirus is no joking matter, Margolis feels it’s natural to make light of a serious topic.
“Someone told me jokes The Black Sheep UF posted about going out were insensitive and that we shouldn’t be posting things like that,” Margolis said. “I see their point and I am all for social distancing, but I think there is a big difference between joking about sliding on the floor of Fat Daddy’s versus actually going out to bars right now.”
Fariba “Raisa” Rezwan, a 22-year-old biochemistry and psychology senior, shares that sentiment. Rezwan recently posted an original meme on the popular Facebook group “Swampy UF Memes for Top 10 Public Teens.” The meme right now has received 2,300 likes and 269 comments, Rezwan’s most popular post to date.
“The comments on those memes have a greater impact because you can see that a meme does not just impact you but that you can relate to other people,” Rezwan said.
Rezwan also shared that one of her close friends, a sophomore, expressed how sad she was that they were never going to see each other during college again because of COVID-19 forcing campus to close.
“It was quite an emotional moment reading that,” Rezwan said. “And it just made me think about Toy Story 3 because the movie itself is about college and saying your goodbyes.”
But while in quarantine or social distancing, here are some of the types of memes that have come out of coronavirus for your escapism:
Twitter has produced a lot of coronavirus content, most likely due to many more people staying home.
Dating Memes (and Realities):
Allergy Season Memes:
Celebrities as Disinfectants Meme Threads:
Capitalism Memes:
Quarantine Memes:
Age on TikTok skews more towards schooled-aged people, so most of its memes pertain to high school or college students.
A lot of UF students are also taking to TikTok to meme-ify their emotions. Gators football player, Clifford Taylor IV, is one of them.
“It [memes] can give us some laughter we need in a time like this, but on the flip side it can often distract us from the real impact of this virus,” Taylor, a 20-year-old graphic design and digital arts and sciences third year said. “I just pray every day that one day this horrible virus will go away.”
Taylor also encouraged people to stay inside.
Online School Memes:
Repurposing Popular Media:
How Life Feels Different Now:
For quality memes, apply to join “Swampy UF Memes for Top 10 Public Teens” or the newly-made “Zoom Memes for Self Quaranteens”
Memes are constantly evolving, and with more people at home with time on their hands, memes may evolve faster than usual.
“I saw a post earlier reminding us that the bubonic plague led to the Renaissance, and I think COVID-19 might lead to some of the best all-time memes,” Margolis said.
