Little Miss Quiz

A new trend is taking over social media. Young people take the mickey out of themselves with children’s book drawings from the 1970s. It’s about unpunctuality as much as personality disorders.

A scent, a melody, an image is all it takes to an expedition into almost forgotten childhood memories. Children’s books like Astrid Lindgren’s ‘Pippi Longstocking’ are firmly anchored in the memories of generations. Currently, another children’s book series that makes many over-40s nostalgic is taking over social media – and it’s not aimed at children.

In the early 1970s, British children’s author Roger Hargreaves began the ‘Mr. Men’ series, and later ‘Little Miss,’ which is still continued by his son Adam Hargreaves and is aimed at preschool-aged children. The characters resemble smileys, like confused blobs of color with eccentric facial expressions, hands, and feet unrelated to human anatomy. They are named after a character or body feature. The small-format booklets tell stories about ‘Mr. Jelly’ and ‘Little Miss Late,’ about the individual and social challenges associated with the characters’ respective characteristics. The book series now number more than 130 titles.

The drawings are currently becoming relevant for Generation Z thanks to platforms like TikTok and Instagram. As in the originals, the colorful blobs, which are sometimes adorned with hair, shoes, or accessories, are named after characteristics. But unlike ‘Little Miss Trouble,’ they have names like ‘Little Miss Repressed Childhood Trauma’ or ‘Little Miss Borderline Personality Disorder.’

As is often the case on the Internet, it’s all about self-promotion, which occasionally rivals the enlightened attitude of the original ‘Mr. Men and Little Miss’ series. After all, mental illnesses are addressed and potentially destigmatized. At the same time, they are to be enjoyed with a wink because ‘Gen Z’ can do one thing above all: not take themselves too seriously. With a sarcastic undertone, young adults share pictures on Instagram or videos on TikTok that underline their insecurities and refer to themselves as ‘Little Miss Acne Scars’ or ‘Little Miss Didn’t Get Enough Attention As A Kid’. In doing so, they offer their peers a means of identification. And the memes seem to have addictive potential because once you slip into their spheres, you want to know if you’ll find yourself in the next quirk they describe.

The hashtag ‘Little Miss’ has been viewed more than 100 million times on TikTok, and Instagram is following suit with more than 400,000 posts. According to the ‘Know Your Meme’ database, which collects viral moments in net culture, the satirical images began on Tumblr back in 2021. They have been circulating on Instagram and TikTok for several weeks – and are already getting on some people’s last nerve, as evidenced by ‘Little Miss if I see one more of these motherfucking Little Miss memes, I’m going to lose it, I swear to God, I’m at my fucking limit.’