Elon Musk Dances in Shanghai

What is visible in the frame

On stage is a man in a black T-shirt with lettering on the chest, from under which white sleeves peek out. Trousers and shoes are dark. One arm is raised over his head, the other is held out to the side; the pose resembles a dance move. On the right, a dark jacket is seen in the air as it is tossed. Behind him is a huge screen showing a gray Tesla Model 3, and in the foreground are silhouettes of spectators with raised hands.

The car in the frame is not standing on stage but is shown on the screen. This matters for the description: the image is made up of a person, a picture of a car, and a crowd.

The event in Shanghai

On January 7, 2020, at the Gigafactory 3 plant in Shanghai, Tesla held a ceremony handing over the first serial Model 3s assembled in China. It was Tesla's first car factory outside the United States. Among the guests, according to media reports, were company employees, government representatives, and the first buyers; Reuters noted that 15 Tesla employees had bought cars a week before the ceremony.

At the same ceremony, plans to develop a new car in China and to open a design and engineering center there were reportedly announced. But the event entered meme history because of the dance.

The dance

Musk danced on stage and at some point threw off his jacket. He himself posted a short clip on Twitter with the caption “At Tesla Giga Shanghai NSFW!!”. The video spread across the internet and prompted both jokes and discussions on financial and automotive websites.

The meme frame captured precisely the moment with the tossed jacket and raised hands. The dance itself remains a brief stunt: the comedy lies in a man with the reputation of a serious entrepreneur behaving on stage like a guest at a party.

Caption examples

“Me when I realized I have no plans on Friday evening.” The occasion is trivial, but the joy is that of a world-scale ceremony.

“The delivery came earlier than expected, and the food is still hot.” The contrast between a household trifle and a solemn scene creates the effect.

“My coworker said today's meeting was canceled.” The caption shows collective joy: there are spectators in the frame too.

“The code worked on the first try.” A rare event in the world of programmers, so the reaction should be appropriately epic.

The frame is also handy because it contains spectators: raised hands in the foreground turn personal joy into shared joy. That is why the caption can be written on behalf of a whole team, class, or family.

How to use it

The frame is needed when you have good news, but not particularly significant news. The smaller the occasion in the caption, the funnier the mismatch with the scale of the scene. It is best to start the caption with “when” or “me when,” so it is clear that the joy belongs to the poster.

Do not attribute to Musk words he never said. The meme is about the dance, not about his views or decisions; stay within those bounds, and the joke will not turn into a discussion of his character.