¿Y Ahora Qué? / Now What?

About

¿Y Ahora Qué? or Now What? is a memorable quote and catchphrase from the 2003 Pixar movie Finding Nemo. In the film, the post-credit scene shows a group of fish celebrating their escape from the dentist's aquarium, finally reaching the ocean but still being trapped inside plastic bags. When the starfish reaches her friends, they are then left wondering what to do next as someone says "What Now?" The quote and scene became a prevalent reaction meme and image macro on social media around February 2016, used to describe an unexpected event or a state of confusion.

Origin

Finding Nemo, produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, was released in theaters on May 30th, 2003. Within a post-credit in the movie, the fish trapped inside the dentist's aquarium finally execute their escape plan, but upon completing the objective, they are left confused as to what to do once they reach the ocean and find themselves stuck inside plastic bags filled with water. Shortly after, a character says the line, "What now?" The Spanish dub of the scene is one of the earliest posted online. On September 5th, 2013, YouTuber^[1] mariannita24 posted the video (shown below) and garnered over 32,000 views and 28 likes in a decade.

Spread

On February 7th, 2016, Memedroid^[2] user @Dampgm12 posted one of the earliest memes using a still image of the Finding Nemo scene paired with a Spanish text saying "When you get out of the shower and realize you didn't bring a towel." The post (shown below) garnered over 2,300 reactions in seven years.

On April 27th, 2023, Memedroid^[3] user @Gersonmira503 posted news about 400 Haitian immigrants mistakingly reaching Cuba. Below the news, the user uploaded the Finding Nemo "Y Ahora Qué?" meme (shown below), which garnered over 340 reactions in four months.

On April 30th, 2018, an unknown Tenor^[4] user then uploaded a GIF format of the scene to the site, which is commonly used as a reaction meme (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References