The Humor Of The 21st Century: Representing The Present

Over the past 20 years, meme culture has grown and evolved at an unprecedented rate. The explosion of widespread internet and social media adoption has caused memes and their messages to diversify and spread on many scales. It isn’t easy to summarize modern meme culture concisely and accurately with so many different types, but that hasn't stopped a group of intrepid content creators from attempting to do so, creating YouTube compilations that try to capture the essence of modern online humor.

But the question at hand is whether or not these videos genuinely capture what humor in the 21st century really looks like. Let's attempt to analyze and create meaning from these fast-paced, chaotic representations of the modern era.

What Does Humor in the 21st Century Look Like?

First, how do these compilations of 21st-century humor look and sound? In the simplest of terms, they are Western versions of the content found on Reddit's /r/arabfunny. Examples of things found in these compilations include iconic Vines, such as CalebCity's Ayo the Pizza Here, loud dramatic sound effects, bass-boosted meme/rap music and, perhaps most importantly, clips and images of influential events or media.

This sort of iconography is present on both a visual and audio level. Iconic songs like Megalovania, memorable moments in games, such as Black Ops Zombies, or even old memes, like footage of Harambe, are familiar sights. Stitched together with fast-paced and sometimes psychedelic editing, the flashes of information rushing across the screen summarize what makes people laugh in the modern era. It isn’t easy to describe in words without seeing it all for yourself. Regardless, even in this chaos, there are still prominent patterns and trends that permeate most of these compilations.

Where Does It Draw Inspiration From?

The images and sounds edited together are all ground in what many would consider modern meme culture. However, there are a couple of old subcultures that these compilations also draw inspiration from. The first is MLG compilations, which made the rounds on YouTube in the early 2010s. These collections draw from the fast-paced editing style, obnoxiously loud music and ample visual effects to create a product that combines chaos with relevance. Both formats even make frequent use of Dr. Dre's song “The Next Episode”, which remains one of the most recognizable meme songs for the past decade. Both of these eventually would go on to inspire various Montage Parodies that also play a role in the larger scope of modern humor.

Another source of massive inspiration is from Vine. Without question, Vine is one of the most influential platforms to shape modern meme culture, and its legacy is apparent in these videos. Aside from the direct usage of famous Vines, the constant need to switch from scene to scene rapidly is akin to the 6-second format that Vines popularized. The last important source of inspiration stems from YouTube Poops, particularly in its style of randomness and chaotic editing.

Does It Truly Represent 21st-Century Humor?

While the elements of 21st-century themes, imagery and sounds are present in these compilations, the question remains whether or not they are authentic to their intended period. To gain a greater understanding, the components of 21st-century humor must be considered. Zoomers, or Gen-Z, have their humor characterized by absurdist and overly exaggerated terms -- the complete rejection of society. Memes such as Big Chungus, Tide Pod Challenge and the Moyai Emoji have no “story” behind them, but their humor and appeal come from the fact that they make no sense or can be seen as absurd under almost every lens.

These elements of random and uncharacteristic humor translate into the 21st-century compilations and form the backbone of its representation. To answer the main question, yes, these compilations do successfully capture the 21st-century Zoomer ethos that has entrenched itself in modern meme culture. The new question, now, is whether or not the collections account for all of 21st-century humor. The short answer to this is simply, no, but the long answer is that since Zoomer humor is so different yet prevalent in modern meme culture, it often eclipses other types of humor that persist to this day. Both Millennial and Boomer humor, in general, require more buildup and context to make sense of the joke.

A deeper dive into this phenomenon proves that this is no arbitrary divide. According to a 2007 study by Wingyun Mak and Brian Carpenter at Washington University, older adults had a harder time understanding jokes than younger adults. While the study may not have specifically taken into account meme culture, the generational divide in humor (among other things) remains extremely apparent on all ends.

It is no surprise then that in the 21st century, Boomer humor through comics such as Dilbert and Millennial humor through platforms like Reddit coexist with the more flashy and abstract style of Zoomer humor. As a final little caveat, all of this Zoomer, Millennial and Boomer humor analyzed takes place in mostly Western/American society. Many other cultures and communities also likely share a similar divide in humor, among other things, but those have yet to be evaluated on the same level.

The future of humor remains unclear. It has certainly evolved in ways that people many decades ago would have never foreseen. With the advent of the internet, they will likely continue to evolve, especially as new generations come along and develop their own brands of humor. These compilations of 21st-century humor are but a small reminder of how Zoomer humor portrays itself and provides but a window into the world of modern meme culture that continues to eternally reinvent itself.

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