I Would Like To Award You the Highest Honor I Can Bestow

About

"I Would Like To Award You the Highest Honor I Can Bestow" is an exploitable image macro series depicting Carl and Russel from the Pixar movie “Up” where Russel receives a special award from Carl following the conclusion of their adventure. It’s typically used as a combination between a reaction image in the first frame with a caption above, followed by an object labeling macro in the lower frame where an award is overlaid on Russel’s sash that holds his various badges. Usually the meme is intended to show someone or something giving praise to the caption at the top, but other forms meant to troll can also be found with a negative connotation.

Origin

The images used in this meme are stills originating from the animated Pixar film "Up," which released on May 29th, 2009, specifically the scene where Russel receives an "Assisting the Elderly" badge from Carl at his award ceremony for the Junior Wilderness Explorers.

In the clip (seen below), Carl, Russel and Dug have saved Kevin (the snipe/bird) and returned to their normal lives as newfound friends. Having successfully helped Carl with his mission, Russel is awarded with his new badge for assisting the elderly and awaits his prize with other Junior Wilderness Explorer members on stage. As the other boys begin to get their badges, placed upon their sashes by their fathers, Russel appears to have no one to give him his badge. Suddenly, Carl appears on stage and joins Russel, accepting the badge for him. Carl then kneels beside him and explains that for helping him and for performing above and beyond the call of duty, he "would like to award you the highest honor I can bestow … the Ellie Badge." Instead of giving him the normal badge, Carl pins the makeshift badge from a grape soda cap that Ellie gifted him during the opening scene of the movie, one of his most prized possessions, as a sign of his respect and love.

Although the exact first use of the scene being used as a meme is unknown, some of the earliest instances of a format come from Twitter, where several users began replying to tweets with a variant as a reaction image. One such instance (shown below) can be seen as a reply from Twitter^[1] user kalthurzod on June 8th, 2019, where the meme was used to comment on a post about a CSGO player spending money.

Spread

This earlier version of the meme featuring a negative connotation was continuously used on Twitter throughout 2019 as a form of insult until another variation was posted to Reddit with a more wholesome format. On August 2nd, 2019, Redditor^[2] pops_wickerson uploaded a version (seen below) to the r/memes sub, where it was gifted Reddit awards and upvoted over 33,000 times.

This variant then spread to other subreddits in the following months, as users began creating their own formats with different captions and objects placed over the Ellie Badge on Russel's sash. On October 14th, 2019, Redditor^[3] DuffyDark posted their version of the meme to the r/wholesomemems sub, receiving several Reddit awards and over 57,000 upvotes.

In 2020, the format spread to other social media platforms, including Instagram^[4], where the account dungeons_andmemez featured a version (seen below) depicting a DM rewarding an attentive Dungeons and Dragons player during a campaign.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

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External References