In a world where everyone is pretending to have a life together, the Queen Never Cry is the internet’s ironic way of telling us to fake it till you make it, but also good luck. Emerging from the webtoon The Ki Sisters scene, this meme takes what is, in essence, a very real human emotion and turns it into a laughing matter. But why does it feel so personal? What is it with the video about a crying baby being scolded that resonates with our very soul? Spoiler alert: It’s not just comedy, it is psychology.
What’s the deal with Queen Never Cry?
If you’re unfamiliar with this meme [hello, and welcome to the internet], it started with the scene from The Ki Sisters in which a mother tells her newborn, “Queen never cry,” and poof, the baby stops crying and looks super content as if she just signed a peace treaty.
The fact that someone was born a few minutes ago, and you are telling them to toughen up, is quite hilarious. But as funny as it is, it also taps into something deeper: the expectation to remain strong even when life is throwing lemons, tomatoes, melons, and everything else at you.
Emotional resilience is a lie (but we try anyway)
Let’s face it: Most of us mastered the art of pretending all is well even while on the inside, we’re tearing our hair out. For whatever reason it may be— whether you are trying to maintain an image during a breakup or claiming perfect wellness after a public slip (brb, moving to a new city now), we have all been there. In the same vein, Queen Never Cry describes the internal conflict that convinces us to mask the internal pain yet wanting to meet ourselves into oblivion.
This meme takes a jab at society’s expectation of showing no emotions, something which many people—particularly the youths—are all too familiar with. It’s more like we have been taught to sweep and bury our failures and the mess we make, even when we are falling apart as a cookie that has been badly baked.
Humor is our coping mechanism
It takes two to tango, Gen Z and Millennials don’t make lemonade, when life gives them lemons, they meme-ify it. Queen Never Cry is nothing more than a glorified inside joke for the absurdity of acting like everything is okay when it is most certainly not.
Humor can be used to handle stress, anxiety, and any unpleasant event in life. Laughing helps to overpower things that otherwise would make people feel helpless. Because if you cannot shed a tear over it, you may as well go viral on TikTok.
It’s funny because it’s true
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The demand for a baby to be strong emotionally is surreal in the same way when people tell you to stay strong during challenging times. Whether from friends, quotes from Pinterest, or our subconscious, the most familiar note has to be “Queens don’t cry.” This meme comes as a relief and bask in the absurdity of how unrealistic that expectation can be.
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