About

"You Think You're Better Than Me" / "I Am Better Than You" is a memorable piece of dialogue from the 2017 thriller film Good Time. Online, people have used a two-panel image macro of the characters speaking the lines to compare two related things.

Origin

On August 25th, 2017, the film Good Time premiered in the United States.^[1] In the film, the character Connie Nikas (portrayed by Robert Pattinson) attempts to raise bail money for his brother through illegal means. At one point, he and a partner, Ray (portrayed by Buddy Duress), with whom he has a fractured relationship, hold up in a high-rise apartment building. Ray says to Connie, "You think you're better than me." Connie responds, "I am better than you" (clip below)

On February 19th, 2020, Redditor Ricardo_H1302 posted a variation in the /r/criterion^[2] subreddit. In the post, Ray is labeled "Synecdoche New York" and Connie is labeled "8 1/2," two acclaimed arthouse films. The post received more than 240 points (94% upvoted) in less than two years and is the earliest known version of the meme (shown below).

Spread

Within a few days of the meme's posting, others began sharing the format. On February 21, 2020, Twitter ^[3] user @DCFlashshill shared a variation comparing Good Time to the Safdie's followup movie Uncut Gems. The post received more than 250 likes in less than two years (shown below, left).

Weeks later, on March 5th, Redditor Klashinov posted a variation comparing engineers to Minecraft Redstone experts in the /r/memes^[4] subreddit. The post received more than 19,000 points (97% upvoted) in less than 13 months (shown below, center).

Throughout the year, the meme remained a viable and popular format on Reddit. On December 23rd, Redditor^[5] Mizanur1214 shared a variation comparing the different eras of Cartoon Network. The post received more than 24,000 points (97% upvoted) and 445 comments in less than four months (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

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External References