Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Bruce Jenner Meme

Lately, there has been much speculation circling around Bruce Jenner and his recent decision to have a sex change therefore transitioning into a woman. I've found one meme out of many in which pokes fun Bruce Jenner’s sexual transitioning situation of and a recent deadly car crash in which the past Olympic gold medalist was involved in. Here shown in the meme at the bottom right, is a picture of Jenner and the caption saying, “It wasn’t my fault my truck has tranny issues.”


For those of you who may not know, the term "tranny" can be used for short for the word "transmission" which is an automotive part to a vehicle. You can also use the term "tranny" as short for the word "transsexual" which is used to describe someone who acts and identifies with the opposite sex. Several weeks after the media had always been making speculations about Jenner’s up and coming sex change, he was involved in a car accident. Jenner is being investigated as being the one who caused the accident which killed one person and injured multiple others. This awful car wreck immediately led people without any hesitation to make jokes about his sexual identity including one in which mentions that ever since he became a woman, he now drives like one. 

Within this meme, people are making fun of the fact that now that Bruce Jenner is transitioning into a woman. People are poking fun at that it had something to do with his car transmission while jokingly (or not) at the fact that he is a transsexual. A person can take this meme one of two ways depending on how they want to look at it. They can take this meme as thinking it is actually talking Bruce Jenner’s automotive transmission and that’s the blame for the car crash. Or they can take this meme and think of it as making a joke about Bruce Jenner’s sex change and understand it is a joke about the car accident.


I think most younger people may not know the meaning behind the term "tranny" therefore that specific audience may not understand the joke very well. Also, young people may not even know who Bruce Jenner is which therefore they don't really care to understand the meaning behind this meme. I think an older more mature audience is more likely to understand the humor within this specific meme. People in their late teens up to those even older than Jenner himself would likely understand the humor behind this meme if they are aware of his current sexual situation. 

An adult audience is probably the most effective audience for understanding this meme due to its mature content. Many older adults don't exactly pay attention to everything the media says therefore they may not even know about Jenner's sexual transition but they more than likely know that he is an Olympic gold medalist. Finding out about this issue and the joke behind it would probably shock them. I would say that younger adults are probably the most effective because they are more intact with the media, social media, and the memes that circulate around such situations.