The article explores the "Italian brain rot" meme trend on TikTok, characterized by absurd AI-generated characters combining animals, humans, and inanimate objects, often with Italian-sounding names or cultural references. The term "brain rot" itself, Oxford's 2024 word of the year, refers to the negative effect of consuming excessive trivial online content.
The trend emerged in January with characters like Tralalero Tralala (a shark with feet) and Bombardiro Crocodillo (a bomber plane with a crocodile head). The use of "brain rot" ironically acknowledges the meme's inherent absurdity and its place within the broader online landscape of AI-generated content.
A particularly popular character is Ballerina Cappuccina, a ballerina with a cappuccino cup for a head, created by Susanu Sava-Tudor in Romania. This character showcases the trend's less focused connection to actual Italian culture and more on a cinematic mythos of Italy, embodying the absurd humor that defines the phenomenon.
The article connects the trend to a wider discussion of the proliferation of AI-generated content and its impact on online culture. It highlights the ironic self-awareness within the trend, where creators acknowledge the content's frivolous nature while simultaneously contributing to its growth.
The first thing you need to know about Italian brain rot is that it isn’t strictly Italian.
The second thing you need to know is that any discussion of what it means will most likely make you seem very uncool (you’re just supposed to get it) and will probably involve a lot of head scratching.
You have been warned.
A little etymology, to start. Last year, the Oxford University Press designated “brain rot” the word of the year. The phrase refers to the deteriorating effect of scrolling through swathes of “trivial or unchallenging” content online. It can also be used to describe the content itself; in other words, the term refers to both the cause and the effect of intellectual deterioration.
The Italian brain rot subgenre emerged in January, when absurd characters generated by artificial intelligence started to show up in TikTok feeds. The characters melded animals or humans with inanimate objects, and many were tagged with the hashtag #italianbrainrot, which now has over 3 billion views. The memes have some vague Italian-ness to them — either their names sound Italian or they touch on stereotypical (or reductive, depending on who you ask) Italian cultural markers, like coffee, and are often accompanied by A.I.-generated audio of what sounds like a heavily accented Italian man’s narration but, when translated, is often nonsensical.
That the memes are tagged brain rot is a cheeky acknowledgment that the content is “ridiculous” and “mumbo jumbo,” said Yotam Ophir, an associate professor of communication at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. It is also, he added, a recognition of the ridiculous universe being created by and for those who would be considered extremely online, with a nod to the broader proliferation of “A.I. junk” or slop.
First, there was a shark with feet wearing Nike sneakers, called Tralalero Tralala (the TikTok account associated with the first iteration of that character has been deleted). Then came Bombardiro Crocodillo, a military bomber plane with a crocodile head.
Among the most recent, and most popular, entries into the cast of characters is Ballerina Cappuccina — a ballerina with a cappuccino cup head, created in March by Susanu Sava-Tudor, a 24-year-old in Romania. The entire trend, Mr. Sava-Tudor said in an email, is a “form of absurd humor” that is “less about real Italy and more about the cinematic myth of Italy.” So far, the original Ballerina Cappuccina video, in which Mr. Sava-Tudor spelled the character’s name Balerinna Cappucinna, has racked up more than 45 million views on TikTok and 3.8 million likes.
Skip the extension — just come straight here.
We’ve built a fast, permanent tool you can bookmark and use anytime.
Go To Paywall Unblock Tool