The most popular words on B station this year are two words

At the end of every year, along with the New Year atmosphere comes the annual year-end summary. Of course, for fans of Bilibili, the 2022 annual bullet screen summary of Bilibili is also indispensable.

For many people, they don’t have to set off firecrackers during the New Year, but the year-end summary is an indispensable ritual.

Some people will recall their unique memories of the past year from the playlist in the year-end summary; some people will face the year-end bills and wonder "where did I get so much money?"; some people will finally find the root of all the evil of weight gain when facing the takeaway list...

Of course, the collective memory exclusive to young people cannot be avoided without the annual barrage of comments from Bilibili.

It is like a final label, leaving a deep mark on every year.

On December 15, Bilibili released the annual barrage exclusively for 2022 - Elegance.

1. “Elegance” is not that simple

If you don't know the jokes like "Elegant, so elegant", it may mean that you are surfing a little slowly.

From the comments on TV dramas to the popular emoticons in chats, the word "elegance" can be seen almost everywhere.

Whether it’s a short video that’s funny yet stylish, or some pranks by college students, in short, “elegance” is everything.

Since April this year, "elegance" has quickly become popular on the Internet by sweeping the screen.

Why is “elegance” so popular this year?

The story begins with this year's new anime "Spy Play House".

The protagonist of this anime is a spy codenamed "Dusk". In order to complete his mission, he needs to send the adopted little girl Anya to the aristocratic school Eden School.

Henry, the principal of Eden College, is an old gentleman who takes elegance as his life principle. He is also a soul figure who embodies the concept of "elegance".

In "Spy Play House", the "elegant" dean

In order to pass the school's assessment, Huang Hun needs to adhere to the standards of elegance at all times, including but not limited to: walking posture and expression when facing a large herd of cattle and sheep rushing through the crowd.

Due to the dean's overly strict requirements for elegance, coupled with his devilish movements and expressions, this scene in the anime quickly became a classic.

"Elegant! Extremely elegant!"

Because this meme is not only funny but also widely applicable, "Elegant! It's so elegant" quickly became popular from the two-dimensional world to the three-dimensional world.

The word "elegance" therefore has another special meaning.

The word elegance was originally used to describe "people or things that are beautiful and elegant."

But in the context of young people, it is often used to praise "someone who can remain calm and composed in any situation because of his strong heart or strong abilities."

It may appear when the UP host holds the suona and plays "Normal no more". "Normal no more" was originally a soft electronic music, but when it is matched with the suona full of rural flavor, a certain aesthetic dislocation is instantly produced.

The sound of suona accompanies the elegance in the barrage, with a hint of amusement, a hint of surprise and a hint of admiration.

Of course, there is also the useless invention of Geng's "homemade piano barbecue cart". Although to outsiders, the scene of using this thing to barbecue is inevitably a bit weird.

Geng himself must know that his work is full of absurdity. But knowing the absurdity, he still maintains confidence and composure, and even has a sense of black humor. Isn't this elegant enough?

Whether it’s a high-energy secondary creative editing, art in daily life, or simply a funny meme…

In a nutshell, everything can be elegant.

2. Elegance, a posture of life

To be fair, the lives of most young people this year are far from the word "elegant".

2022 is an extremely difficult year.

Since the beginning of the year, many college students have been locked in school and taking online classes due to the epidemic.

Life in school is mostly monotonous and boring.

Soon, a trend of "walking paper dogs" swept the campus. Students made various paper dogs and paper dragons out of cardboard and delivery boxes, and walked them around the dormitories and playgrounds without paying attention to others.

Some people describe this behavior as: boring and serious.

The "paper dog" craze among contemporary college students

After this, a new performance art became popular in colleges and universities - late-night group crawling.

On the playgrounds of many schools, students can be seen forming long lines and crawling like animals.

For young people facing graduation, the heaviness of reality is even more overwhelming.

According to data from the beginning of the year, the number of candidates for the postgraduate entrance examination in 2022 reached 4.57 million, while the total number of admissions was only 1.1 million. This means that there are four young people competing for each place, and 3 million people will eventually fail the postgraduate entrance examination.

Giving up on the postgraduate entrance examination and looking for a job does not mean that things will be any easier.

According to Zhaopin.com data from the beginning of the year, after the Spring Festival, the overall number of resumes submitted by graduates increased by 223% year-on-year, while the number of job openings increased by only 21%. Most people must have the same feeling about the job market this year: deserted, especially deserted.

Unable to get on the shore or into the sea, young people gather together for warmth in "crazy literature".

“Crazy Literature” of Contemporary Young People

As the world changes rapidly, people increasingly feel that they are losing control over their lives.

To a certain extent, whether it is walking a paper dog, crawling, or the crazy literature that everyone is playing, it can essentially be regarded as "deconstruction", that is, using some absurd behavior to resist and eliminate the pressure of life.

What I mean is, I'm already like this, how much more can life hit me?

Elegance is another attitude and vision for young people to face real life:

Accept your own tension, and greet the ups and downs of life with calmness and composure.

What is elegance?

Even with prosthetic limbs, he can still walk calmly and confidently;

Not limited by age, even in middle age, one is not afraid to show off one's beauty;

As Mo Yan said in "Not Blown Away by the Wind":

When the strong wind came, grandpa stretched his back as tight as a bow and did not step back.

"Don't Be Blown Away by the Wind": A letter from Mo Yan to his young friends

It is in this historical context and with barrage as a bridge that the "elegant meme" became popular.

It is a declaration of life by young people and also a container for relieving anxiety and stress.

At this point, the "elegance" of the barrage has completely acquired a new identity of its own:

In the past, elegance was usually associated with nobility and was more like a symbol of class distinction.

Now, elegance is no longer a privilege, but a rediscovery of the various shining points in ordinary people, a re-creation of the poetry and interest in daily life, and an unremitting effort to recapture the tiny landing points that highlight the meaning of life in the midst of loss of control and difficulties.

3. Danmu, a barometer of social sentiment in Chinese

In just one year, Youya completed the transformation from her previous life to her present life.

It has undergone multiple meaning transformations and has become a popular term among young people, reflecting their emotional changes.

When they typed the word "elegance" on the screen, the emotions implied behind it also completed a communication.

Behind the barrage culture is a reflection of the spiritual world of young people and current popular culture.

Take last year's annual bullet screen "Broken Defense" as an example. The meaning behind it refers to the irrepressible shock generated after a person's psychological defenses are breached - this definition seems to encompass multiple emotions such as shock, collapse, sadness, and touching.

It can appear in all occasions that resonate with people's emotions: after the Henan flood, when netizens donated money and effort to help rebuild the disaster area; when Grandpa Yuan Longping passed away; when in "Awakening Age", when the ancestors sacrificed themselves for the progress of the country.

The emotions of young people are expressed through barrages, which quickly break through circles and create cultural resonance.

In the past, whether it was word of mouth or pigeon messaging, communication between people was separated by space or time.

The emergence of barrage breaks this barrier. You may not know who is on the other side of the screen, but as long as the text on the screen slowly passes by, you can immediately complete emotional resonance and spiritual communication with the other party.

At the 2020 B station New Year's Eve party, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" was released, and "My youth is back" was all over the screen

In daily life, the basic unit of our communication is often a "sentence", which needs to clearly describe the specific time, place and people.

But in the world of barrage, just a word or a character can quickly gather the context and background and evoke resonance among the group.

There is no need for complicated narrative or intermediary communication.

So when you say "囍", you will immediately understand the imagination that the other party has poured into the video;

When we talk about “my youth is back”, we will immediately think of the movies we watched and the toys we played with in our childhood;

When I mention "broken defense", even my heart and tear glands will tremble...

These barrages that bear the imprint of collective memory can quickly resonate with people, and are also the real reason why the annual barrages can always break through the circle and spread every year.

Danmu is no longer a form of self-entertainment for subculture circles, but has gradually evolved into a highly generalized social emotion. It not only enriches the semantics of traditional Chinese, but also extends the spiritual world of the public in a more convenient way.

In this way, young people transcend time and space, meet in front of a small screen, and as a result, they connect emotionally and resonate spiritually, which eventually converges into a trend.

The annual barrage is a word, a culture, and an energy that can make people smile.

It records the changes of the times and, like "elegance", will never go out of style.

Author: Caozhi Xiaomei; Public account: Caozhi (ID: caozhi163)