Warwick-centric memes take campus by storm

There has been a surge of interest recently in Warwick-centric meme pages on Facebook: from the simply named ‘Warwick Memes’ to ‘Memewick’, and even, in homage to one of the defining features of campus life, ‘Warwick Uni Memes for Koan Shaped Teens’ (WUMFKST), each gaining thousands of likes.

Although shared campus-based humour is nothing new, as seen from the prominence of Yikyak in 2015, its decline has seen memes fill the gap of poking fun at university staples such as the U1, Pop, the SU and the ever-present geese.

Meme pages have become a platform for university rivalry aimed at both Coventry University and lately Birmingham University, with Warwick Memes’ rivalry with ‘Birmemeham’ pitting the Koan against Birmingham’s clock tower.

When asked about their popularity, both WUMFKST and Memewick agree that it is based on the sense of identity it creates through the humour. Memewick commented: “People have always enjoyed in-jokes about the university, it’s just the style of joke has changed”, a sentiment WUMFKST agreed with, stating: “A good Warwick meme should only be funny to Warwick students. That makes the meme personal to the viewer”.

However, Warwick Memes, the biggest page with nearly two and a half thousand likes, takes a more negative note concerning the what the popularity of memes means for our generation. The page stated that memes are “probably what our generation is going to be remembered for”, going on to say that “it saddens me to imagine students in the future taking a module in Pepe”.

While the future popularity of these memes is uncertain, as WUMFKST suggests it is “constantly under pressure to make spicy new memes”, it is clear to see that campus based jokes will continue to be popular for some time to come.