Gen Z is dragging millennial culture on Tiktok, from Harry Potter worship to coffee obsession
- Twitter erupted Sunday over screenshots of TikTok comments of Gen Zers dunking on millennials for things like knowing their Hogwarts house.
- The original video, from user @mayalepa, expresses frustration at boomers frequently lumping millennials and Gen Z together.
- This isn't the first time that Gen Z have dunked on millennials, or vice-versa, with the most notable example being the "OK, boomer" meme.
This past weekend, Twitter erupted in discourse over the newest generational divide as screenshots of Gen Z TikTok users dunking on millennials for things like openly professing their Hogwarts house went viral. No longer was it Boomers condemning the oft-maligned millennials for not buying houses or eating too much avocado toast — this time, zoomers (members of Gen Z) clowning millennials broke through to mainstream Twitter.
A tweet from @local__celeb sparked the discourse on Twitter, apparently alerting a slew of millennials to the things that teens were saying about them for the first time. The comments poke fun at millennials, saying things like, "they're the reason forever 21 had shirts that said 'IT'S FINALLY FRY-YAY' and 'rosé all day' for so long" or "just gonna drink my coffee bleh :P," poking fun at Millenial coffee culture.
The original TikTok video is from @mayalepa, who said, "Tired of Boomers bunching Gen Z and millennials together, because I personally don't wanna be associated with people who still think that 'Harry Potter' movies are a personality trait."
The description on @mayalepa's video lists @wholesam as an inspiration; some of @wholesam's videos also poke at millennials, featuring lines like, "All millennials know is go to coffee store, read a book, BuzzFeed, wear jeans with sneakers, take awkward coffee selfie, and be cringe as f-ck." Another video calling for people to "stop bullying millennials!" also features glittery edits of things like "#adulting" and "#coffeebreak."
Once the discourse spread off of TikTok (which, although typically construed as a "Gen Z app," has plenty of users of millennial age and older), it exploded: @local__celeb tweeted the screenshots early in the morning on June 14, and later that day, the term "Gen Z" was trending on Twitter as people shared their thoughts on the "generational war."
Those born between the years 1995-1999 — generally considerd to be the millennial/Gen Z cusp — found themselves at a unique place in the discourse.
This isn't the first time that Gen Z have clowned older generations on TikTok or other social platforms. The most notable example was the "OK, boomer" meme, which famously "[marked] the end of friendly generational relations" and had already become cringe by the time it broke into mainstream consciousness.
Gen Z, however, are frequently subject to online scrutiny, whether it's through well-meaning "the kids are alright" posts from older generations or a consistent spotlight on teens' activities on TikTok. After getting dunked on for things like doing TikTok dances or turning to socialism, it makes sense that Gen Z would dunk on millennials for knowing their Hogwarts house or old pieces of cringe millennial culture like "rawr means I love you in dinosaur."
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