My Parents vs. Me: Wojak Comics

If there ever was a meme that tried to be social commentary or seemed to have a message, it’s this one: a Wojak Comics format which emerged at the end of 2020, the tail end of coronavirus lockdown, about how older generations had it easy but Millennials and Gen Z are screwed.

But the social commentary goes a little deeper than just “life is harder now.” There’s a few things going on formally and technically here which are worth looking at.

1. The use of binary comparison in Wojak Comics

2. Contextual planes and narrative frames

3. Ambiguity

4. Absence

Binary Comparison in Wojak Comics

Wojak Comics started in the months before the pandemic began in the winter of 2019-2020. This is about ten years into Wojak overall. Wojak Comics featured a series of Wojak characters (Soyjak, Trad Girl, Doomer Girl) combined with Yes Chad. Each meme format is a different situation illustrating various ideas by pit…