Chris Turns Blue

About

Chris Turns Blue or Kid Turns Blue refers to a viral webcam video of a boy screaming and crying due to his computer malfunctioning, with the screen casting blue light onto his face. Posted in 2014 and rediscovered in 2018, the video has since gained significant popularity in edits and GIF captions, with the light cast on the boy's face sometimes shifted to other colors.

Origin

The exact origin of the video is unknown. On November 27th 2014, YouTube^[1] channel Jason fan Epic posted a ten-second webcam clip of a boy looking at the computer screen. In the video, the computer malfunctions (presumably by producing a BSoD) and casts deep blue light onto the boy's face, with the boy proceeding to scream and cry. The video, titled "chris turns blue" is a reupload of a portion of a larger, one and a half minute long video. The clip received over 50,000 views in five years.

According to available evidence,^[2][3][4] the video was posted as a way to poke fun at a person named Chris who was at that time a member of a group of 11 to 14-year-old children sharing a common interest in Halloween decorations (the person in the video is not Chris). When a conflict occurred between Chris and several other members of the group, one person proceeded to create a YouTube account and uploading several videos meant to ridicule Chris.

On January 25th, 2016, YouTube^[5] user KungfutheFireyfangirl VGCP EDCP OWN uploaded a BSoD meme based on the full version of the video that received over 26,600 views in four years (shown below).

Spread

The video did not see further spread online until on July 12th, 2018, the person who uploaded the clip showed it^[2] to the owner of the Instagram page fishpupper, who reuploaded^[6] the clip on that day. The video received over 92,200 views and 17,100 likes on Instagram in two years. On July 14th, 2018, YouTuber^[7] Exhibit of Ear Rape posted an Ear Rape edit of the video, marking the first known derivative meme based on it (shown below).

Warning: loud

Apart from reposts, the clip did not see further spread in memes until on December 28th, 2018, Twitter^[8] user @redshibeok_ posted an "I'm Blue" edit of it which received over 710 retweets, 1,900 views and 18,000 shares in one year (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/zsZmgE6u2X

— redshibeok_ (@redshibeok_) December 28, 2018

Following the post, both the original clip and the "I'm Blue" version saw a significant spread online with reposts on YouTube,^[9][10] Instagram,^[11] iFunny^[17] and other platforms. On January 30th, 2019, YouTuber^[12] jahdean posted a video on the origin of the meme that received over 110,400 views in one year. A March 5th four-second reupload^[13] of the clip received over 400,000 views in one year, while May 14th^[14] and August 28th^[15] reuploads of the full version of the video accumulated over 108,000 and 117,000 views, respectively.

On October 24th, 2019, Instagram^[16] user pampam.mp4 posted the first known edit in which the light cast onto the boy's face was color-shifted. The edit received over 51,500 views and 10,600 likes in six months (shown below). More edits based on the video were posted on the platform in the following months.

In late February 2020, a GIF based on the clip gained significant popularity in GIF Captions on iFunny,^[18][19][20] with multiple examples featuring color-shifted versions of the clip.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References