Shmunguss: A Netflix Phenomenon

By IAN DE MELLO
Staff Writer

Another video has taken the internet by storm recently, and while this is not surprising on its own, the fact that it has to do with a seemingly bizarre alternate-reality world is something to truly behold. By the name itself, some of you already know of the now infamous Shmunguss video, in which a man records his girlfriend scrolling through Netflix and stumbling across the Shmunguss category. All of the movies relate to Shmunguss in some way, with titles like I Married a Shmunguss or The Shmunguss King, and who could forget The Shmunguss Among Us.

When the video was first initially released on March 4th, 2023 on the social media platform TikTok, many speculated whether such a category existed. Eventually, we would indeed find out the video was fake, due to the creators coming out and stating the whole thing was fiction and was for entertainment purposes only. While not a shock to most, I think the video was a testimony to the humor of Gen Z and how its progression is leading to more absurdist humor.

Shmunguss as a word is most likely carefully crafted, considering the word’s similarity to the hit game title Among Us and Chungus, a popular 2017 meme. Both of these words/phrases were a smash hit with the Gen Z crowd, and therefore a combination should reach meteoric heights. And it seems like they were right, seeing how we are still talking about it. It’s a surreal experience to witness this video for the first time and ultimately adds to the meme.

At the end of the day, the meme is the birth child of Gen Z humor and the speculative nature of the internet, which are the main reasons this has been propelled to such encompassing popularity. Seeing how the meme has already etched out a place in internet culture and history, we will most likely see more memes emulate this format and style to varying degrees of success. However, we will never forget the one that started it all.