Millennial Thinks She Has Revelation About Gen Z Humor—Not Everyone Agrees

Newsweek

2 days ago

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A millennial has caught ire from Gen Z as she shared a video theorizing on the generation's "referential humor."
Brenna Pérez, 34, originally from Spain and now living in New York, is a filmmaker and content creator who regularly shares her thoughts and theories to her TikTok account, @perezbrenna.
In a recent video which has caused a stir online, Pérez spoke about Gen Z's "propensity to find everything cringe" and how it can lead to online bullying—while suggesting Gen Z's choice of humor heavily relies on referencing other media.
"I made a video on it simply because I thought it was an interesting idea, and I just like posting about interesting ideas," Pérez told Newsweek.
"I'd been thinking about Gen Z 'bullying' for a while, because that has been talked about for a while, and between that comment kind of bouncing around in my head for a while and the two examples of Gen Z interactions and bullying I encountered while scrolling through the feed, it just started clicking."
Millennials are defined as those born between 1981 and 1996, with Gen Z born between 1997 and 2012. In 2024, millennials were the largest generation group in the United States, making up 21.81 percent of the population, followed by Gen Z at 20.81 percent, according to Statista.
In her video, Pérez referenced a theory she had come across online which claimed that what Gen Z finds funny is "referential humor" while other generations prefer a "well-crafted joke" that can be understood on its own.
Pérez then described seeing a video of two girls acting "silly," where many of the comments were asking what the "original" was—even as others tried to explain that this video wasn't referencing anything, and was itself original.
Brenna Pérez explains her theory on Gen Z humor.
Brenna Pérez explains her theory on Gen Z humor.
TikTok @perezbrenna
She said that, to her, it represented how when Gen Z act "silly" in videos, "the assumption is often that they're making fun of an original, that someone did something cringey that they're now making fun of."
"Getting a joke gives our brains a flood of happy neurotransmitters, as well as being in on a joke," she said, comparing it to how sitcoms have laugh tracks.
But she warned this referential humor has the potential to breed a "bullying dynamic," as people "laugh at something together," often by "making fun of the easiest of targets."
She clarified this can affect anyone on the internet, but suggested Gen Z has "less experience with other forms and access to humor."
Pérez's video got a lot of attention online, racking up more than 144,000 likes and 1.1 million views, but not everyone took her theory well, with one writing: "I love the implication that millennial humor is high brow well crafted material."
"I don't think any other generation has ever been this hyper-analyzed," another complained.
And as another put it: "Intellectualizing why you don't get the younger generation is actually so cringe."
But she did receive some support, as one user called her theory "spot on," and another said: "Also referential humor is foundationally exclusive. You either had access to the thing you're laughing about or not. In this type of humor [it's] easy to create an in group and out group."
Speaking about the massive response to her video, Pérez told Newsweek she expected "some Gen Z to be unhappy, because I do feel like they're often a lot more reactionary online, but maybe not nearly as angry as some of them were.
"A lot seemed to think that I was saying that Gen Z doesn't understand smart humor, or only likes references, which isn't what I said at all. That said, a lot of Gen Z also agreed with my points and took to the comments to add their own two cents."
Pérez suggests Gen Z humor contains a lot of references to something that did not begin as intended to be a joke.
Pérez suggests Gen Z humor contains a lot of references to something that did not begin as intended to be a joke.
TikTok @perezbrenna
Theorizing further, Pérez wondered if Gen Z being "reactionary" actually "stems from the same sort of online behavior," as "one bad move on the internet can suddenly snowball and make someone the butt of a joke, or a villain, so they're hypervigilant about any sort of perceived criticism."
"I didn't intend it as such, really, I don't think one humor is better than the other—millennials love referential humor, too, it's just a different type of reference usually," she said.
"Millennials, in my opinion, are usually referencing things that were initially written as a joke, or intended to be funny," she suggested, while a lot of Gen Z humor follows a "viral trend style."
She gave the example of "a normal person somewhere does something that catches attention, and all of a sudden it's being mimicked over and over again. Or dissected and critiqued to death.
"I think this can create beautiful shared jokes, but can also easily devolve into bullying depending on the approach and target."
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