Relax, I Just Wanna Take Some Pictures

About

Relax, I Just Wanna Take Some Pictures refers to a line of dialogue said in Netflix's Jeffery Dahmer series DAHMER starring Evan Peters. The audio became a notable TikTok sound in late 2022 as creators used it to portray humorous scenarios in which they unnecessarily needed to take photos of a person, their pet or the setting they're in. It also trended as an exploitable image macro template using a screencap of the dialogue.

Origin

On September 28th, 2022, multiple memes used a screencap from Netflix's DAHMER with, "Relax, I just wanna take some pictures of ya," written underneath Evan Peters' face. On September 28th, iFunnyer ^[1] NonSequitur1275 posted an iteration that referenced their mother needing to take multiple Halloween costume photos of them, earning roughly 9,500 smiles in 20 days (shown below, left). Also on September 28th, Imgur ^[2] user Miiaka posted an iteration about taking photos of their cat, gaining roughly 1,100 upvotes in 20 days (shown below, right). It is currently unknown which was the first iteration out of these two to be uploaded.

Spread

A few minutes after Miiaka's post, Redditor back-woods-rob uploaded an iteration about fishing to /r/Fishingmemes,^[3] gaining over 550 upvotes in 20 days (shown below). The meme was reposted to Instagram^[4] by the page oldrowoutdoors on October 1st, 2022, gaining roughly 14,600 likes in 18 days.

TikTok Sound

Sometime in early October 2022, TikToker hairg0dheather posted a video (since-deleted) that used the soundbite of the "Relax, I just wanna take some pictures" line from Netflix's DAHMER. After being deleted, the audio from hairg0dheather's TikTok was used by numerous other creators. The earliest known use of the sound was uploaded on October 7th, 2022, by TikToker^[5] jocewheeler who made a joke about taking photos of her kids before any formal event like prom. Over the course of 11 days, the video received roughly 1.3 million plays and 224,700 likes (shown below, left). Others followed her example going into October 2022. For instance, on October 8th, 2022, TikToker^[6] trey.serna posted a version about her dog, gaining roughly 369,700 likes in 10 days (shown below, right).

Related Memes

I Told You We Are Going to Watch X and Then You Can Leave

I Told You We Are Going to Watch X and Then You Can Leave, sometimes written I Told You We Are Going to Play X, refers to an exploitable image macro and phrasal template where Evan Peters, playing serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the Netflix's_DAHMER_, sits in front of a TV photoshopped to be playing a bad, memeable or ironically bad movie or TV show with a caption reading, "I told you we are going to watch X and then you can leave," "X" being the show or movie, as well as video games using the "Play" variant. The format first appeared online on September 24th and gained viral spread that month. That month, the meme spread to TikTok as a video format where a video clip is imposed onto the TV screen, known as Going To Hang Out, Watch a Movie.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References