The Netflix hit Adolescence has shown parents that icons have taken on new significance among youths. Learn the true meanings in our interactive guide below
“My brain can’t take all this. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” says Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe in the Netflix show Adolescence as his son deciphers the real meaning of emojis on Instagram.
Millions of parents would have been feeling the same as the boy decodes the kidney bean and “100” emojis used by teenagers who subscribe to the language of the “manosphere”.
The next time you send a heart emoji, remember this part of his explanation: “Red means love; purple: horny; yellow: ‘I’m interested, are you interested?’; pink: ‘I’m interested, but not in sex’; orange: ‘You’re gonna be fine.’ It all has a meaning, Dad — everything has a meaning.” Bascombe responds, perhaps for most of us: “It’s a good thing I only text Mum red then.”
The exchange was a pivotal moment in the series. But it also exposed the gulf in online communication between teenagers, adults, and small communities that adopt emojis for their own lexicon.
Among those left scratching their heads were experts in emojis and the manosphere, a culture that promotes masculinity and misogyny.
“I actually wasn’t aware of quite a few of these,” said Keith Broni, editor-in-chief of Emojipedia, a website that catalogues all things emoji. “This speaks to one of the difficulties of my job … a lot of different communities are able to repurpose emojis for their own whims.”
The most common use of the purple heart emoji is to represent the South Korean boy band BTS, not arousal, he said. Broni is not rushing to update his guide just yet. He is waiting to see if these meanings become mainstream, like the peach and aubergine emojis being used to imply sexual innuendo, or the skull being used to mean mirth (I’m dying of laughter).
Another interested viewer of the TV series was Dr Robert Lawson, associate professor of sociolinguistics at Birmingham City University, who studies the manosphere. “Me and my wife sat there, overwhelmed, because it was delivered in this really breathless, insisting kind of way,” he said.
Lawson said the definitions given for the “100” and “red pill” emojis rang true. The former relates to the so-called “80/20” theory: that 80 per cent of women are attracted to only 20 per cent of men.
The latter originates from the film The Matrix, in which taking the red pill (over a blue one) led to an awakening to the harsh truth of reality. There isn’t actually a red pill emoji, but a red circle has been adopted to represent it instead.
Lawson was not so sure about other emoji meanings espoused in the show — especially the explosion and kidney beans being used to indicate an incel (involuntarily celibate). “I don’t know how well established they are in terms of their meaning,” he said. “There was one thread from Reddit about three years old where they talked about incels and beans, but the commentary underneath it was sort of disbelieving that beans was an incel thing in the first place.”
Lawson said Adolescence could spawn new meanings for emojis, just like the Beastie Boys coined the term mullet haircut and The Bucket List, a film starring Morgan Freeman, gave us an expression for the things we want to do before kicking the bucket.
The professor has also reviewed manosphere and incel forums to see what the reaction has been to Adolescence. It has mostly been dismissive, with many sympathising with Jamie. Lawson said: “The justification of Katie’s murder because Jamie was being bullied is incredibly concerning.”
How well do you know your emojis?
