Zoolander

About

Zoolander is a 2001 comedy film directed by Ben Stiller and starring Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell. The series, which follow the exploits of the male model Derek Zoolander, has gained a cult following due his satirical approach on the fashion industry.

History

In 1996 and 1997, Stiller performed the character Zoolander in comedy sketches released during the VH1 Fashion Awards ceremonies. On September 28th, 2001, the Zoolander film was released, in which the dim-witted male model Derek Zoolander is ousted from his position in the fashion industry by the rising star Hansel (Owen Wilson). After announcing his retirement, he joins the fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), who uses brainwashes Zoolander in an attempt to kill the Malaysian prime minister.

Zoolander 2

In 2008, Stiller confirmed he wanted to do a sequel, and began working on it during the following years.^[1] In March 2015, the sequel was confirmed y Paramount Pictures with a release date scheduled for February 12th, 2016.^[2] On November 18th, Paramount Pictures' channel released the official trailer for the upcoming film, gaining over 10 million views in the following three days.

Viral Marketing

On March 10th, 2015, Stiller and Wilson walked a down a fashion runway in 2015 Paris Fashion Week as part of a promotional to announce the film. The same day, YouTuber Movieclips Coming Soon uploaded footage of the stunt, gaining over 800,000 views in the following five months (shown below, left). The same day, Viner Jerome Jarre posted a clip of Stiller grabbing his cell phone while walking down the runway (shown below, right).

On January 19th, 2016, the pop singer Katy Perry posted a short video clip to Instagram, in which Derek Zoolander approaches her while she sings along to the 1984 new wave song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (shown below).

On January 19th, the Vogue YouTube channel posted a video titled "73 Questions With Derek Zoolander," in which a Derek Zoolander answers various questions while showing a cameraman around his apartment (shown below, left). On January 22nd, the JoBlo Movie Trailers YouTube channel posted a clip of Kirsten Wiiig in full makeup portraying the Zoolander 2 character Alexanya Atoz (shown below, right).

Reception

The film grossed a total of 60.7 million worldwide, outperforming its $28 million budget. As of November 2015, the film has a 64% rating on the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes^[6] and a 6,6 on the movie review site IMDb.^[5]

Online Relevance

On August 18th, 2011, Youtuber MW2, Combat Arms, and More uploaded a compilation of scenes from the movie, gaining over 430,000 views in the following years. On August 9th, 2012, Youtuber rymdfarfar uploaded another scene from the movie featuring Derek and his friends having a gasoline fight, gaining over 700,000 views in the following years. On November 24th, 2011, a dedicated subreddit was created, gaining over 70 subscribers in the following years.^[4] The movie has also presence on other pages, like Tumblr^[3] or the artist community deviantART, where searching the keyword "zoolander" leads to over 1,800 results as November 21st, 2015.^[7]

Related Memes

Jeep Party

Jeep Party refers to a movie scene in which Derek Zoolander and his model friends go on a ride through downtown while sipping on Orange Mocha Frappuccino (a fictitious Starbucks drink) to cheer themselves up. The scene inspired several parodies, mostly as GIFs.

What is This? A Center for Ants?

“What is This? A Center for Ants?” is a memorable quote said by Derek Zoolander in a scene where he confuses a scale model of his charity project "Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can’t Read Good" with the actual building itself. On online forums and message boards, the phrase and its snowclone variants have been used to describe or criticize an unusually small post object or image.

I Feel Like I'm Taking Crazy Pills

“I Feel Like I'm Taking Crazy Pills” is a memorable quote uttered by Jacobim Mugatu when expresses his frustration at the fact no one else in the fashion world has noticed Derek Zoolander’s supposedly career defining runway ‘looks’ are nothing more than him pulling the same face over and over again. Online, the phrase has been used to describe vexation when the common consensus appears to go against common sense or when an expected straight-forward situation is greeted by a surprise outcome.

Search Interest

External References