Interview by Beatriz Silva
Photography by Jack Love
What was the person running the Memes of LSE Instagram account going to look like? I had no idea. Before we met, I had saved his contact on my phone as “memes of LSE dude”. Unlike in previous interviews, I had never seen Boris before, and I didn’t know anything about him except that he is a second-year Finance student, which I found out after shamelessly stalking his meme page. This could either go really well or really badly. And still, everyone on the editorial board was intrigued to learn more about the student who had accepted to reveal his identity through The Beaver.
For some reason, I had assumed that the person running the page would be rather presumptuous and perhaps a bit entitled. So when Boris came into the Media Centre with a warm smile on his face, I was genuinely taken aback. There he was, standing in front of me, excited to get started and to talk about one of his great passions: memes! Before we delve into my conversation with Boris, and on the off chance that you have never heard of the Memes of LSE Instagram page, here is what you need to know: the account was created around a year ago and has over 6,300 followers, which is around half of the LSE student body. The number of followers has grown exponentially since September, and it posts LSE-related memes on a daily basis.
Boris is half-French and half-Russian, but has lived in London since he was five. Aside from the time he dedicates to the Memes of LSE page, which is more time consuming than one might expect, he plays the piano, writes music, and spends time trading market equities (as an IR student, I will not even attempt to go further into explaining this). He is also in the LSE men’s 5th football team, but has not been able to spend as much time playing as he would like. Looking back at his experience at LSE so far, Boris shared that he was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of the student body at LSE, which makes this university a very exciting place to be (apart from the number of noisy French students this year: “the fourth floor in the library is basically Paris”). But his first year was hard. “I still consider myself a fresher,” Boris shared. “Last year was a bad precedent, because we didn’t know each other…this year it feels a bit weird. There’s a lot of small talk. People are willing to talk to you – they’re friendly, but you don’t know them!” As a fairly extroverted person, Boris struggled a lot mentally during the Covid-tainted year, and had very few opportunities to connect with others. “First year, online at home, I was looking for a way to have some fun.” And so he decided to create Memes of LSE.
I really wanted him to break down why he believed the page became so popular and what it is that’s so special about memes as a form of expression. “Memes are often taken from TV shows, series, or pop culture references, stuff that we see on online culture…and the fact that you can understand them without being a native speaker, you can be from anywhere…it just brings people together and memes are relatable.” Boris mentioned here something unique about memes: “You know the quick exhale from your nose? Like when you see a meme and you find it funny? I don’t know what else gives you that.” This might sound like something small, but getting to share with one another memes and laugh together about our collective misery, even if just for a quick moment, as we navigate the ups and downs of LSE life, might just contribute to a sense of belonging. When you have been in the library for hours, desperately wanting to leave but knowing you have to stay and finish that essay, it’s in those moments that a relatable meme can bring some much-need comfort and solace. “It helps bring people together. That sense of community, we really need it at LSE, so I am really happy to be able to contribute to that.”
What are some quintessential LSE meme topics? “Something that always works is obviously King’s College.” When KCL students meet Boris and find out that he is the one who runs the Memes of LSE page, the reaction tends to be “it’s you – it’s that guy that keeps roasting us”. But KCL has its own banter page, where they mock LSE students unabashadley, so “it’s only fair”. Overall, it’s a healthy rivalry. Apart from KCL, library memes (“when are they going to fix the elevator?”) and its controversial stairs can always be relied upon to provide memeable content. Silent zones have become fruitful terrain for the exploration of memes as well: “They should rename the silent zones non-silent zones – it’s mainly a place to do networking now,” Boris added. What about the obsession with Management students? “They take themselves so seriously that it just works.” Boris has a few friends doing the BSc in Management, which he says makes the situation all the more amusing.
Boris admitted that he is sometimes wary of posting certain memes, especially since he knows that it’s not just students that follow the page, but also class teachers and staff at LSE. The most recent one was about faking Covid tests, “It’s funny as long as you don’t do it yourself, even though you know other people are doing it!” Another tricky aspect about memes is that “sometimes I have to take a step back and try to see if a person might not understand the humour cause it could get you in trouble if you meme about something and it’s taken seriously, when it’s not meant to”. Boris explained that although it had never happened before, he would be willing to take a meme off the page if it made someone uncomfortable.
In many ways, memes make use of stereotypes, misconceptions and our own preconceived ideas to produce content that hopefully others will find entertaining. I asked Boris if he thought these memes reinforced stereotypes: “They don’t reinforce stereotypes – they make you aware of those stereotypes and make you have a laugh at yourself. I think it’s very important to, every now and then, laugh at yourself.” As much as there are some recurring themes in his memes that hint at LSE stereotypes, they are there primarily to teach us that it’s okay to not always take ourselves seriously, and to have a good time.
“Are you ready for the consequences of this article coming out, and the end of your anonymity?” I asked. “Not really,” laughed Boris. “I don’t know what this entails.” But the page is not just about Boris anymore, which makes him less scared of the effects of revealing who is behind it. Most of the memes he posts at the moment are sent by students, and his friends sometimes reply to the page Q&As. “But I guess I am excited to see what happens.”
After being at LSE for more than two years now, Boris was probably the first Finance student I had a proper conversation with, and it was a great one. In the end, regardless of whether you are a Finance, Management or Sociology student, we all enjoy a good LSE meme, and there is something undeniably special about memes that brings all of us together. “There is so much that I still have to discover and meme about – there are so many doors to open, and I am just interested to see where it’s gonna take me.” It’s an exciting world of memes out there, and Boris’ final message to the LSE community is simple: keep sending the memes! And he will continue to bring them to us, and brighten our cloudy days, one nose exhale at a time.
