If you have been online recently, then it's likely you have come across the 'Willem Dafoe Looking Up' meme. It is that iconic moment when Willem Dafoe’s character gazes upward in contemplation, giving off an unsettling ambiguity vibe. This meme has been updated from cinema to a go-to reaction meme for situations ranging from existential confessions to absurd realizations, which people on the internet love for its ridiculous charm.
The image in the meme is sourced from the 2018 biopic, At Eternity's Gate, directed by Julian Schnabel. It is a psychological thriller in which Willem Dafoe plays Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter.
The specific moment captured in the meme occurred during one of the intense scenes when Van Gogh was outdoors, gazing at the sky with a mix of awe and longing, a man truly lost in thought, grappling with the beauty and pain of existence. His expression was so layered that it felt like a work of art.
Originally, Dafoe’s upward look expressed passion, a sense of madness in a certain theatrical approach. However, it soon became a blank canvas for all kinds of hilarious inputs on social media. Dafoe’s gaze was quickly memeified, with humorous captions involving embarrassing realizations or dramatic reactions to everyday situations which we can all relate to:
That awkward moment you face when you wait for your food at a restaurant, but the food goes to another table, and you feel nothing but helpless, looking up at the heavens.
We have all been in situations where we have forgotten about projects that are now due and don't have enough time to do anything about them.
That absurd existential crisis we face when we zone out of the present moment for a while, and then it becomes too embarrassing.
From Vincent van Gogh to meme culture
Van Gogh’s life was one of struggle and misunderstood genius, and the film captures his yearning to connect with the world through his work. The meme, however, strips away the weight of history and turns it into something universally humorous.
This merge highlights how memes democratize art and culture. Who could have imagined pairing a still from such a serious film with endless hilarious captions? So much so that even if you’ve never seen the movie or studied Van Gogh, you can still laugh at the context. It’s a reminder that art, whether a painting, a film, or a reaction image, can adapt to different contexts.
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It is the moment of crisis when technology outsmarts you. That existential look on Dafoe’s face is a masterwork of emotions; it’s wide-eyed yet contemplative, intense yet oddly relatable. This complexity makes it perfect for almost any dramatic caption. Looking up has an inherent symbolism: we do it to seek answers, admire, or even despair. This universality allows the meme to be both specific and adaptable. In the cinematic context, the scene is a meditation on perspective. It gives the meme an old-world gravitas, adding a layer of unintended absurdity when paired with modern-day punchlines.
The meme repurposes the scene to reflect our modern struggles, joys, and frustrations.
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