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Confirmed   21,036

Part of a series on Madagascar. [View Related Entries]


Alex Scares Mort / Crying Mort meme from Madagascar.

X Staring at the Wings on the Table / Crying Mort

Part of a series on Madagascar. [View Related Entries]

Updated Dec 13, 2021 at 06:33PM EST by Philipp.

Added May 12, 2021 at 10:48AM EDT by Philipp.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

About

X Staring at Wings on the Table is a phrasal template used to humorously describe one's keen interest in certain something, usually stemming from financial hardship or ineptitude. The phrasal template is usually combined with a scene from the 2005 film Madagascar in which the character Alex, a lion, inadvertently scares the character Mort, a lemur, when attempting to make an acquaintance. The scene initially gained popularity in GIF captions on iFunny in March 2021, with a still image of Crying Mort later also gaining popularity as a reaction image.

Origin

On May 28th, 2005, the animated comedy film Madagascar premiered in the U.S.[1] In one scene of the film, the character Alex attempts to make a friendly introduction to Mort, saying "Hi there!" Mort, already scared of Alex's carnivore appearance, becomes even more frightened when he notices his sharp fangs, starting to cry in anticipation of being eaten (scene shown below).



On July 16th, 2017, an unknown Tenor[2] user uploaded a captioned GIF based on the scene (shown below, left). The GIF did not see use in memes until July 21st, 2020, when iFunny[3] user Moskau posted a fandom generalization GIF caption based on it that received over 1,200 smiles in one year (shown below, right).


An elementary schooler meeting a Hero Academia fan

Spread

GIF Caption

Prior to late March 2021, the GIF saw limited use in GIF captions on iFunny[4] without a defined trend. On March 25th, iFunny[5] user Michael posted a GIF caption that received over 2,600 smiles in two months (shown below, left).

Following Michael's post, the GIF achieved significant popularity on the app, with multiple viral GIF captions posted by users starting in late March 2021. For example, on April 7th, 2021, iFunny[6] user Dredge posted a version that gained over 5,900 smiles in one month (shown below, right).


The broke n---- staring at the wings on the table Me standing at the door of someone who ordered a "no-contact" delivery

Crying Mort

In mid-May 2021, the image of crying Mort from the scene received spread as a reaction, particularly on Twitter. On May 10th, 2021, Twitter[7][8] users @spark26249 and @intellattracted made posts that gained over 1,000 retweets and 6,700 likes and 6,000 retweets and 24,900 likes, respectively (shown below, left and right).


COMING SOON THEATERS Venom let there be carnage Arianna @intellattracted • May 10 Franziska Von Karma and Mort from Madagascar cry in the exact same way and no I am not joking

X Staring at the Wings on the Table

On April 18th, 2021, iFunny[9] user TurboJew posted the earliest meme which used Michael's post (shown below, left) as a snowclone. The post (shown below, right) gained over 410 smiles in eight months.


The broke n---- staring at the wings on the table White people staring at the coleslaw on the table

Apart from reposts, the phrasal template did not see further use until September 28th, 2021, when Twitter[10] user @blottso used the format to comment on the news that the US government could run out of money (shown below, left). The post gained over 2,100 retweets and 17,800 likes in three months, with screenshots widely circulated in the following days.

The format achieved popularity after on October 18th, 2021, Twitter[11] user @FantaEnthusiast posted a meme referencing recent rumors about NSFW artist Shadman's drug addiction. The post gained over 1,500 retweets and 16,600 likes in two months (shown below, right).


blottso ... @blottso The us government staring at the wings on the table w CNN @CNN · Sep 28 US government will run out of money by October 18, Treasury secretary says cnn.it/2ZuTmtY 6:15 PM - Sep 28, 2021 · Twitter for Android Shadman staring at the Black Tar Heroin On the table

Starting on October 20th, users on Twitter and others social media created memes based on the phrasal template, almost always illustrated by a still image from the GIF. For example, on October 21st, 2021, Twitter[12] user @SNIPERTF2_ posted a meme that gained over 930 retweets and 9,100 likes in two months.

Various Examples


The rhythm game dev staring at the constant audio latency ‚on the table British people when they see my perfect teeth Chris Chan doing his Donald Duck impression for some random little kid while he worked at Wendy's
BREAKING: Travis Scott is now facing over 2 billion dollars in damages from his Astroworld Festival. travis scott staring at the wings on the table ehumanity.gone26 Roblox Engineers staring at the broken servers for 48 hours the quiet white kid (mort) when he has to sit next to a girl on the bus (lion creature)

Template



Search Interest

External References

[1] Wikipedia – Madagascar

[2] Tenor – Alex Hi There GIF

[3] iFunny – Moskau

[4] iFunny – SpaceDandyFan

[5] iFunny – Michael

[6] iFunny – Dredge

[7] Twitter – @spark26249

[8] Twitter – @intellattracted

[9] iFunny – TurboJew

[10] Twitter – @blottso

[11] Twitter – @fantaenthusiast

[12] Twitter – @SNIPERTF2_


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