Ge ing real using Hargreaves’ Mr Men and Li le Miss characters

If you’re on social media, you’ve probably noticed that Mr Men and Little Miss characters are everywhere right now.

Far from the simple and cute characters of the original books, these 2022 reboots are being used to highlight darker, more toxic sides of people’s personalities and attitudes – although always with humour.

On social networks, trauma has become one of the driving forces of online humour.

Making fun of one’s own toxic traits or about difficult situations from the past is an endless source of content, especially when it comes to making memes.

And all of this is reflected in the trend involving the Mr. Men and Little Miss books and characters.

The books were launched in 1971 and 1981 respectively by British author Roger Hargreaves, and were all themed on particular character traits, such as Mr Nosy, Little Miss Brave, etc.

But they were always politically correct. Now, the characters have veered away from political correctness.

From toxic traits and insecurities to illness and emotional trauma, users have seized on this meme to share intimate aspects of their own lives and poke fun at their situation: “Little Miss cries herself to sleep every night”; “Little Miss house is a mess because she’s depressed”, “Little Miss stressed and sad thinking about her future every night”.

This kind of behaviour is often seen on social networks, where showing oneself in a more authentic light – complete with flaws – is becoming increasingly common.

And it works. On Twitter, some posts have scored over 60 000 “Likes”.

TikTok now even has a filter allowing users to discover which “Little Miss Rave Girl” they are. Almost 5 000 videos have already been posted.

User @littlem1ssss has launched Twitter and Instagram accounts to collect and create new memes on this theme. More than 96 000 users follow the Twitter account; more than 24 000 on Instagram.

The movie Little Miss Sunshine has also celebrated the 16th anniversary of its release.

– AFP