About

William James "Willem" Dafoe is an American actor. He is primarily known for his villain roles and his frequent collaborations with filmmakers Paul Shrader, Lars von Trier and Wes Anderson. In meme culture, characters performed by Dafoe, particularly Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, and the actor himself appeared in multiple meme formats.

History

Willem Dafoe made his film debut in 1980 film Heaven's Gate but was fired during production.^[1] He first appeared in a leading role in an independent 1981 biker drama film The Loveless, playing the main antagonist in 1984 film Streets of Fire and 1985 film To Life and Die in L.A., appearing in multiple other villain roles since. In 1985, Willem Dafoe received his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role of Sergeant Elias Grodin in Oliver Stone's war film Platoon.

In 2002 Dafoe portrayed supervillian Normon Osborn / Green Goblin in Spider-Man, which he again reprised in 2021 film Spider-Man: No Way Home. His other notable works include roles in Lars von Trier's films Antichrist and Nymphomaniac, Wes Anderson's films The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Grand Budapest Hotel, in 2017 coming-of-age drama The Florida Project, 2018 biographical drama At Eternity's Gate and 2019 psychological thriller The Lighthouse.

Over his career, Dafoe received four Academy Awards nominations, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and Three Golden Globe Awards.

Use in Memes

Starting in 2016, characters performed by Willem Dafoe, primarily Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, and the actor himself appeared in multiple meme formats. The earliest known meme format to feature Willem Dafoe is I'm Something of a Scientist Myself.

I'm Something of a Scientist Myself

In October 2016, during the popularity of Raimiposting (offensive memes based on Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy popular on 4chan; not to be confused with it's non-offensive development Raimi Memes), meme format I'm Something of a Scientist Myself was created. In 2017, an image caption format based on the macro of Dafoe "You know, I'm something of a scientist myself." gained popularity on Reddit.

You Know How Much I Sacrificed

"You Know How Much I Sacrificed" is a memorable quote uttered by the character Norman Osborn in the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man. Online, a screen-capture from the scene has been used in image macros featuring the quote as a punchline to various jokes about one's hardships.

You Can't Do This to Me

"Oh, You Can't Do This to Me" refers to a memorable quote said by the 2002 film Spider-Man character Norman Osborn upon being told that he is fired. Starting in 2019, an image of Osborn paired with the quote gained popularity as an image macro and in GIF captions.

Thicc Green Goblin

Thicc Green Goblin refers to a viral frame from the 2001 Spider-Man film in which Green Goblin, who is chasing Spider-Man, appears to have large buttocks. Originally posted by Tumblr^[2] user walrusofdoom on February 18th, 2020, the image has since been used as a reaction and inspired redraws.

Green Goblin Grab

Green Goblin Grab is a reaction image and a GIF caption format based on a Spider-Man scene of Norman Osborn suddenly wakes up and strangles Dr. Mendell Stromm upon transforming into Green Goblin.

Willem Dafoe Looking Up

Willem Dafoe Looking Up is a GIF caption format based on a scene from 2018 biographical film At Eternity's Gate in which Vincent van Gogh looks up at the sky.

Fresh Willem Dafoe vs. Lighthouse Willem Dafoe

Fresh Willem Dafoe vs. Lighthouse Willem Dafoe refers to a comparison meme format which uses images of actor Willem Dafoe in 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and the 2019 film The Lighthouse. The format, first used in 2020, gained popularity in March 2021, with both images also used independently as reactions.

Willem Dafriend

William Dafriend are series of name pun memes which intentionally misinterpret Dafoe's name as "the foe," with "the friend" (da friend) being a direct antonym of this.

Willem Dafoe Smoking Cigarette With Two Oranges One of Them Moldy

Willem Dafoe Smoking Cigarette With Two Oranges One of Them Moldy describes a viral photograph of Willem Dafoe that inspired photoshops edits. The lengthy name of the format stems from a viral October 7th, 2021, tweet by Twitter^[3] account @reactjpg in which the descriptive caption was provided for the image to ease search for it.

Personal Life

Willem Dafoe was born on July 22nd, 1955 in Appleton, Wisconsin. He studied drama at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a year and a half vefore leaving to join an experimental theater company and moving to New York. In 1977, Dafoe entered a long-lasting relationship with director Elizabeth LeCompte with whom he had a son. They separated in 2004. In 2005, Dafoe married Italian actress, director and screenwriter Giada Colangrande.

Dafoe is a pescatarian and a practitioner of ashtanga yoga.

Search Interest

External References