By Angelica Beneke
Staff Writer
This meme is brought to you by the Vintage Meme Collection.
This week’s meme is a throwback to the “That’s a nice ___ you got there. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to it” meme that’s trying to make a resurgence. The photo (which has really fuzzy quality) includes the fire alarm. It has a floating head to the left that looks like it’s up to no good and above it, in bold white letters, there’s a message that says, “Nice fire alarm Hofstra.” At the bottom it says, “It would be a shame if someone were to set it off at 2am.” Once again, there’s no original poster’s caption – it’s just the image.
I’ve seen this meme trying to make a resurgence, particularly on the NFL Memes Facebook page, so I’m glad memes devoted to the struggles of higher education are slowly embracing this comeback. I like vintage memes, even the Meme That Shall Not Be Named Because Apparently Meme Journalism Ruined It.
(Even though mainstream journalism covering memes and meme journalism aren’t the same thing at all, but whatever, my dudes.)
I digress, though. Let’s get to the analysis.
First, the lack of a caption from the OP. I have definitely analyzed a meme where another OP didn’t include a caption and decided that meant they were a meme, so I’m going to say this is also the case here. But, unlike the last meme I analyzed where this was the case, the lack of caption fits well here, considering this is a throwback to the day where we used to let memes speak for themselves.
Nowadays, we have to add our 40 cents to every single meme we create. Sometimes it’s necessary, but most times, it really isn’t. It’s like when you Google Translate every single word of a sentence in another language you’re not used to. It just doesn’t work well.
Good judgment, OP! Best of luck in the process of becoming a full-time memer.
Next, the floating cartoon head that’s clearly up to no good by the fire alarm – so that’s what’s causing all the fire alarms when it’s not people burning popcorn or smoking!
But, in all seriousness – as serious as one can be talking about memes – it just occurred to me that maybe the floating head represents not just the mysterious forces causing the fire alarm to go off at ungodly hours of the night/morning. It could also symbolize the powers preventing someone from sleeping at night.
Like the fear of a fire alarm going off at two in the morning!
Speaking of 2 a.m., I would assume this is the time that the fire alarm went off for poor OP. Unlike the last fire alarm meme, I’m more inclined to believe that it did go off at this time. As someone who survived The Great Fire Alarm Deluge at Nassau-Suffolk during the 2015-16 year where most of the 30-some alarms happened at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., I have no doubts the fire alarm went off at that time.
What the heck are people doing at 2 a.m. that would set off fire alarms, is my question. I’m half-dead at that hour.
Last but not least, the picture quality. It’s incredibly fuzzy and I think that’s an interesting facet of this meme. I remember when I was forcibly woken up at 2 a.m. by a fire alarm. It would take so many minutes for my vision to get its act together. So, the fuzzy quality might represent other people’s fuzzy vision when involuntarily woken up.
Also, I can’t tell which building it is that’s in the picture, but considering most fire alarms I’ve heard about this year happened in the towers by the Student Center, I’m guessing one of those.
This was a pretty good meme. Fire drill memes are always fun to analyze and I especially appreciate the lack of caption. 420/10 blaze it.