Bob Ross Memes

All of you guys probably remember Bob Ross, the man we all watched on TV when we were younger, and fell in love with. He painted on “The Joy of Painting”, a show with 30 minute follow-along videos full of joy and a sense of unity. He also sometimes brought along squirrels onto the show.

Bob Ross sadly passed away but, he became very well-known for his iconic smiling pose, catchphrases, like “We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents”,  and a vibrant, pure personality this generation calls “wholesome”.

What I found interesting is that this generation also treasures Bob Ross as much as we do, using him as a positivity booster and something precious that must be kept safe and shielded from the darkness of the world. This is something that has not changed through time and something similar along the generations that we parents and our kids can both relate to and understand. This is also a unifying theme through many Bob Ross memes.

However, what I found that varied from our generation to our kids’ generation was that many of these Bob Ross memes take his iconic quotes and use them to humorize unfortunate and dark, yet relatable scenarios, for example:

Road rage and getting cut off is something that Gen Z kids (and us parents as well) are familiar with (even the ones that can’t drive yet!). Often at times, though we wish to not admit it, we hope bad upon those who cut us off and wish for Karma to give them what they deserve. In this meme, the use of “happy little accidents” is used in a darker sense, conveying that the driver got into an accident. Not only that, but the picture of Bob Ross’ face, in a way, mocks the audience. Bob Ross’ pure smile isn’t used in a pure way anymore.

Many times, these Bob Ross memes are also used for self-deprecation, which is actually quite shocking, for example:

This dark theme of self-deprecation and putting oneself down is not only seen in many more Bob Ross memes, but also throughout almost all kinds of memes. The humor of Gen Z kids has drastically changed compared to what we parents found humorous, with many teens finding that self-deprication and depression to be a relatable theme, and something their generation and society can joke around with. 

As a parent myself, this worries me quite a bit. To know that these Gen Z kids have created an international community where all people of this generation can bond and be included, sewn together by their common familiarity of self-deprication and very dark jokes are worrying. In the Gen Z culture, it is almost okay to say “I want to die” without giving it another thought. 

A piece of parenting advice I could share with you all is to pay attention to the memes your kids are looking at! There memes might just become a mirror to what they feel, and as a parent, you could be able to help them with the negative feelings they have.

~ Arianna