Oppenheimer's Stare of Regret

About

Oppenheimer's Stare of Regret, also known as Oppenheimer Staring, refers to a series of memes based on an image of J. Robert Oppenheimer (portrayed by actor Cillian Murphy in the 2023 movie) looking slightly down in regret as he reflects on his role in the creation of atomic weapons. Memes using the screenshot imagine people having the same feeling of remorse over their ideas and creations that had an overall negative impact on humanity.

Origin

On July 21st, 2023, the biographical thriller drama film Oppenheimer premiered.^[1] In the ending scene of the movie, protagonist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the American theoretical physicist who played a key role in developing the first nuclear weapons, gives a look of regret and anxiety as he fears that his invention could lead to the destruction of the entire world.

Albert, when I came to you with those calculations, we thought we might start a chain reaction that will destroy the entire world.
- Hm. I remember it well. What of it?
- I believe we did.

On July 26th, 2023, X^[2] / Twitter user @MrDrewLandry posted a meme comparing Oppenheimer's state in the film to that of director Greta Gerwig upon realizing that she paved the way for Lena Dunham's movie. The post (shown below) garnered over 2,600 reposts and 37,000 likes in one year.

Spread

On July 27th, 2023, X^[3] user @eventualforever used the image to quote the 2014 announcement post by Dong Nguyen, the creator of the viral mobile game Flappy Bird, who notoriously took it down after considering it to be too destructive for society. The quote post, captioned "this is how he was tweeting this," received over 8,800 reposts and 90,000 likes in one year.

While the image found moderate use in memes, the meme format did not receive notable spread until March 2024 when X^[4] user @lextorias made a meme about the person who suggested the paid Horse Armor DLC for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

In the following months, more memes based on the format went viral on X / Twitter and Reddit and saw further spread through reposts.

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References