The Emo Kid Clutching Gun meme refers to a clip from the 2011 Polish film Suicide Room that TikTokers are using to highlight the things in life they hate most. The trend shows a high school student barely containing himself from shooting some other kids captioned with irritants like online slang and complaints about strangers being too loud in public.
Shooting someone for being annoying would be an extreme reaction, but the over-exaggerated response is part of the joke. Please do not bring a gun to school, kids.
Meme basics:
- Meme Creator: TikTok user @chainswhaa
- Meme Type: TikTok caption meme
- First Appearance: July 22, 2024
- Origin Source: Suicide Room
- Used to Convey: Annoyance
- Peak Popularity: Late July / Early August 2024
What is the ‘Emo Kid Clutching Gun’ meme?
This TikTok meme takes a bit of a scene from the Polish film Suicide Room in which a group of bullies follow a young student in dark clothing and eyeliner. The “emo” kid grimaces and pulls a handgun part way out of his hoodie pocket, then calms down and conceals it once more as he walks away.
After TikTok got ahold of the clip, users started posting it with captions talking about things that annoy or sometimes embarrass them to the point that they would joke about wanting to shoot someone over it.
Origin and spread
Suicide Room premiered on February 12, 2011 and depicts a high school student who spirals into depression and suicidal ideation due to harassment from his classmates. The scene appears in a YouTube video posted by Bluriiculdii27 on April 29, 2018.
Its first use as a meme was by TikToker @chainswhaa on July 22, 2024. The video shows the scene with the emo teen walking and considering murder, but covered in popular TikTok spam comments like “teamwork ifb” and “fries in the bag.”
@chainswhaa teamwork get the center piece #whaa #fyp #noway #cooked ♬ son original – Cedric
Imitators popped up the following day, using the same clip and sound. Meanwhile, other users started recreating the scene.
Meme popularity
The original sound from this meme already existed and currently stars in over 35,000 other videos, but many on that list now include the clip from Suicide Room. Others show different but similar scenes from the same film with the main character getting rather upset.
The meme’s viral status hit its highest point around a week after the first video, heading into early August as it spread to Twitter before quickly petering out.
Cultural context
School shootings have been an unfortunate but not inevitable reality for centuries. They became more frequent across the U.S. in the 1900s as access to firearms increased and began to achieve mass shooting status much more often following Columbine.
Those who have studied this issue found that school shooters tend to share certain circumstances depicted in Suicide Room, including parental neglect or indifference and getting bullied by others. A significant number of past shooters also had a history of suicidal ideation.
The problem became so pervasive in the early years of the 21st century, particularly in the U.S., that it’s not uncommon to see young people joking about it. This is likely an attempt to relieve and express the stress of living with this constant threat over their heads while adults tell them that nothing can be done to stop it.
Emo Kid Clutching Gun meme examples
@balling.saint Dis clip got me dying😭 #meme #real #emo #fyp ♬ son original – Cedric
@pinktyler_ #emokidclutching #fyp #parati ♬ son original – Cedric
@pristelliaa Video by me 😇 #emo #school #summer #summerisending #homeboy #emokid #4yp #fyp #homemade ♬ son original – Cedric
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