Modern Dadaism:
As I scroll through the endless timeline of Tiktok’s For You Page, an algorithm-based, personally curated page for the user’s viewing pleasure, I found myself laughing at videos that are not typically considered funny. For instance a video by the user, @newmemecat, which consists of a dimly lit shot of a fat cat staring into the barrel of the lens, the camera zooming in slowly, while Michael Jackson’s Thriller plays made me laugh so hard I had to cover my mouth while tears streamed down my cheek. Now if I showed this video to my DND group chat full of late 20-something Millennials, they would respond back in a series of questions like, “what am I looking at” or “whose cat is this?” and even, “Adina, are you okay? This isn’t funny.” And at one point, I would have agreed, but this got me thinking, why do I enjoy such bizarre and absurd videos like these? Then it dawned on me: this is modern-day Dadaism.
For those of you not quite familiar with Dadaism, the Smithsonian Magazine provides a brief history of the movement. And for those of you who prefer a visual-audio version of history, The Little Art Talks on YouTube provides similar context as well in their video, The Nonsensical Art of Dada. According to both the video and magazine, Dada began in neutral Switzerland during World War I at a bar turned literary cafe, Cabaret Voltaire, named after the 18th-century French philosopher and satirist. In the Dada Manifesto (1918) written by a pioneer of the movement, Hugo Ball, he quips that the Cabaret Voltaire, “has the sole purpose to draw attention, across the carries of war and nationalism, to the few independent spirits who live for other ideals.” Those “other ideals” was a critique of the war.
This quote resonated within me; it is a stark similarity to the current political climate of America and of the world. In a country ravaged by socioeconomic inequality, severe racial tension, contrasting political ideologies, domestic terrorism, police brutality, a global pandemic, and a collection of narcissistic men in powerful political positions, those of Gen Z have taken to activism and humor as a dynamic coping mechanism for themselves and whoever resonates with them. To quote Hans Richter, an original Dadaist, “Our provocations… were only a means of arousing the bourgeoisie to rage, and through rage to a shamefaced self-awareness… Dada was a storm that broke over the world of art as the war did over the nations.. it was an artistic revolt against art.” If that quote doesn’t scream Gen Z’s outlook of today’s world, you must be painfully underestimating these kids and their comprehension of what is going on in the world.
Social media sites such as Tiktok, Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram have been dominated by Gen Z and their humor which is on par with that of Dadaism: absurdity, lack of a clear punchline, and a design to be purposefully misunderstood. The Gen Z humor is rooted in a deep sense of sarcasm with several layers of irony. Memes that make little-to-no sense such as a photo of a frog with motion blur applied to it and the caption, “Greg”, would be a hit amongst the kids. Other examples include, but are not limited to:
-Then VS Now: To understand how much memes have evolved over the past ten years, a classic this vs that comparison of a millennial meme of the “success baby” versus an absurdly “deep-fried” photo of a cat that was digitally manipulated by using the panorama feature on a smartphone and finger emojis as feet:
-Generational Comparison: CW: B*llionaire Elon Musk; Another meme comparing the humor between three generations who butt heads quite often online:
-BJÄRK: Another example of a “deep-fried” meme where you edit an image in photoshop and destroying it entirely, past the point of recognition. The original image is a cute dog standing on top of soda cans, a funny image on its own. This is a satirical example of what a Swedish dog might sound like:
These examples simply scratch the surface of the still image memes produced by Gen Z. Correlating contemporary memes and Gen Z humor to an example of a classic Dada art piece would be the poetry of Dadaist, Tristian Tzara. The Little Art Talks provides the original steps to creating a Dada poem.
This type of exquisite corpse poetry can be seen in the Gen Z fascination of the notorious Facebook shirts. These are shirts with niche descriptions of people, often religious, with hyper-specific details. The Know Your Meme website provides a list of “15 Cringy T-Shirts You Wouldn’t Even Want To Wear Around Your House.” However, I will provide examples below because these shirts are too delicious:
-“HEY SNOWFLAKE…”
-“FORKLIFT OPERATOR…” I actually really like this one.
However silly these memes may be, they bring me joy in a world of pain and seemingly endless suffering. Melodramatic, I am aware, but humor is a fantastic coping mechanism as well as a concise approach to comprehending the overly complicated concepts within politics, relationships, generational gaps, trends, and the human psyche. This is the precise reflection that the original Dadaists dealt with 100 years ago. People don’t give enough credit to those of Gen Z. They are often brushed off as kids who think they know it all or are purely performative in their actions, activism, and self-expression. Now, this may be true for a minuscule number of them, but I believe that these kids are our future and I will gladly laugh at a radial blurred photo of a frog before I read another forlorn Boomer comic about someone’s dowdy wife and how miserable they are in their marriage.
Gen Z has revived a post-modern version of Dada and I am here for it. My DND group chat has nicknamed me their, “Resident Gen Z Liaison” which brings me pure gratification to be their bridge between an unintelligible collection of memes to a group of Millennials who would never dare to download TikTok. Moreover, if you ever have the thought run across your mind during the day that apps overshadowed by Gen Z are ruining the internet, just remember they are our future doctors, lawyers, therapists, sex workers, politicians, teachers, and influencers (in a general sense, not specifically the kind that sells you “tea” that gives you diarrhea).
Enjoy absurdity, have humiliation, laugh at that blurry frog because not every joke has to be cloaked in nuance, making you so pensive to the point of writing an entire article about it. Comedy and art are extremely subjective, but give it a chance and listen to Gen Z. They have a lot to say.
