Memes are served funny side up
How a morose cartoon egg yolk became the ideal avatar of our times Calum Marsh
On December 1st, 2013, Sanrio, the popular Japanese toy manufacturer responsible for Hello Kitty, announced the winners of its three-month worldwide competition to find its latest company mascot and canonical character in the Kitty world.
The theme of the contest was anthropomorphic foodstuffs – the company dubbed it the Food Character Election – and the competing candidates included an alpaca hot dog, a puppy riceball and a smiling piece of panda sushi. The winner was an affable fellow called Kirimi- chan: a fillet of salmon with a tiny human body. But it was the runner-up, a melancholy fried egg named Gudetama, who would prove the unlikely victor of our collective hearts.
Gudetama is a miserable glob of golden-yellow yolk profoundly weary of life’s daily rigours. It sighs, moans and can barely seem to keep its eyes open, laying slumped and supine in the white of the egg it uses as a duvet, too apathetic to move. After the contest Sanrio produced a small run of Gudetama merchandise as a kind of second-place prize. Almost overnight the Gudetama products outsold the actual competition winner, and Sanrio swiftly responded to the evident de- mand, rushing out a wildly extensive suite of Gudetama goods – slippers and suitcases, backpacks and mugs. Today you can buy t- shirts, skateboards, pencil cases, tents, socks, desk fans, handbags, desk lamps and Magic 8 Balls adorned with Gudetama’s unhappy face. Gudetama iPhone cases are a dime a dozen in Chinatown. Should the impulse strike you, you can even wipe with Gudetama toilet paper.
A lethargic disconsolate egg is a fitting icon for this era of strife and malaise. As the world seems to fall apart, society disintegrates and the culture is torn irreparably asunder, who doesn’t feel like slithering back beneath blankets for the rest of eternity, content to wallow in despair and whine that nothing is worth doing? It’s hardly surprising that a forlorn breakfast cartoon should be embraced as an inspirational model and millennial hero, given the present climate: his jaded yolkey face is exactly the opposite of Hello Kitty’s irrepressibly innocent kawaii cheer – and therefore an ideal emblem of the current generational character.
We cherish the chance to see our angst reflected back at us in egg form. We identify completely. We are all of us Gudetama.