Normalizing Dystopia Until It Doesn’t Make Sense With The ‘Wow, This Is Just Like 1984’ Meme

Memes would probably not have agreed with George Orwell. Easily manipulated, and with a rapid rate of transmission, they’re a recipe for speeding up the rewriting of history he warned of in his most famous work, 1984. That deepfake of four British lads singing a sea shanty? An indicator of the downfall of civilized society as we know it.

Not only that, but the book has become one of the latest cultural products to receive Twitter’s special brand of mockery. 1984 was once the definitive cautionary tale about the horrors of totalitarianism. Now, it acts as an all-encompassing explanation for any minor inconvenience, however personal or disconnected from its central message.

Wow, This Is Just Like 1984 is a meme that has had a long build-up behind it, established in the latter half of the 2010s. As fake news, gaslighting and surveillance became hot topics in the public eye, this time coincided with a commercial and cultural renaissance for the 71-year-old novel. Current events gave people on both ends of the political spectrum newfound respect for its central message, although it was most popularly linked to the presidency of Donald Trump. Print copies of the book sold out on Amazon just weeks after his inauguration in 2017.

Fast forward to now, and Donald Trump Jr. invoked the book in a tweet decrying the suspension of his father’s Twitter account. Given the context, there was a backlash here waiting to happen — and the criticism that he likely had never read the book inevitably arrived thick and fast. As always though, there was the upside, namely that someone high profile saying something mockable online is a free pass to obvious meme material.

Three main themes emerged as the phenomenon developed, each representing a separate brand of ridiculousness. Some were simple criticisms of extreme government skeptics, referencing "Big Brother" at the slightest sign of interference. Others took it down a fandom route, transplanting its neuroses into their favorite characters. Lastly, there was the self-centered approach, invoking the book whenever something in their personal life went wrong. In the age of the never-ending doomscroll, everything brings us one step closer to the worst-case scenario.

Memes will rarely let a serious message go unquestioned, not least when it is having a big cultural moment. The renewed popularity of 1984 has happened against a backdrop of content normalizing the negative. Nihilism became a dominant theme in many emerging formats, prompting countless think pieces about Gen Z’s predisposition towards worryingly dark humor. At the same time, many intellectual concepts became fair game, with theories like the panopticon or the trolley problem converted into exploitables making light of their central meanings. On top of that, as conspiracy theories like QAnon and Pizzagate gained wider public attention, so did the ironic memes that participated in their ridicule.

1984 is the kind of book that, in abstract, is beloved by many of the politically outspoken older generations. It has some previous history as a meme, but this has primarily come in the form of Facebook shareable picture quotes or references in Boomer friendly We Live In A Society -esque webcomics. Its uptake by a younger, more internet-literate audience is an indictment of its overuse, but it also comes across as tired; so used to being bombarded with the Black Mirror view on life, we’ve stopped taking it seriously.

There comes a point when even the most dedicated misanthrope has had enough of every "news headline meets dystopia" comparison. When there are so many world events out there demanding our attention, irreverence comes as a natural coping mechanism — especially when those we perceive as the wrong kind of people overtake the narrative. These latest developments in Orwellian memes are less a reflection on the work itself, but rather a commentary on our reluctance to engage in critical thinking beyond the obvious cultural ciphers. In this way, it represents a conundrum as old as the internet itself.

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