Memeing Classic Movies: Top Films From The '70s For Memes

Sometimes, step one in creating a quality meme is to watch a movie. Of course, if you’re lazy like the rest of us, you can always steal the captioned format and pretend you understand the reference. But oftentimes this is the best way to get immersed in a joke, and understanding meme humor is crucial. After all, nothing’s more important than earning fake internet points, right? So if you’re looking to up your meme knowledge, here are our top three picks for classic ‘70s-era movies that make a great starting point.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

This is a classic fantasy movie nearly everyone saw at some point in their childhood, but they probably remember almost none of it. Sure, you could rewatch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to relive a happy childhood you lost long ago, but perhaps the best reason to watch this movie is to find out why there is an entire internet subculture devoted to hating one of its minor characters, Grandpa Joe. Another great reason would be to pay tribute to the late Gene Wilder, known for the ancient meme Condescending Wonka.

When it’s a movie about a bunch of children getting involved in inhumane lab rat experiments in a giant candy factory, there’s just no limit to the number of memes you can come up with. Yes, a girl turns into a giant blueberry. Yes, there is an entire enslaved civilization of Oompa Loompas … and yes, there is a conspiracy theory circulating online about Willy Wonka kidnapping and harvesting the children as a secret ingredient for his chocolate. The sentimental value of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory keeps the memes going, and any number of scenes can make great formats.

The Godfather (1972)

This one may not be an obvious choice. Making millions of memes about a movie revolving around gruesome murders involving a mafia family would mean the internet is a cold, heartless place that laughs at other people’s pain, right? That’s exactly what it is, and these memes, while a little more obscure than the rest, are a great example of the internet’s general environment. Why not take advantage of this and make some memes about the scene in which Vito Corleone sees the corpse of his son, then chokes out, "Look how they massacred my boy."

The darker the source material, the funnier it is. And this critically acclaimed movie is just about as dark as it gets, chronicling anything from familial separation to the blurred lines between good and evil. This hilarity is why The Godfather is also known for sparking a meme based on the line “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse,” as well as memes made from a vast number of miscellaneous scenes and references.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

It would be impossible to complete this list without a Monty Python movie. Choosing which one to include was difficult — after all, Life of Brian’s He Is the Messiah is still an incredibly popular meme. But going on the sheer volume of meme production, it’s easy to say Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the most memed of all their films, as well as one of the most memed movies of all time. Monty Python was a British comedy crew known for bizarre antics and unexpectedly quotable dialogue. The Holy Grail is their most famous film of all, following the adventures of a low-budget, coconut-wielding, bootleg edition of King Arthur’s knights as they travel across the kingdom to find The Holy Grail.

They meet many adversaries on the way, including a “Black Knight” that led to about 20 different reaction images and other formats from a single scene, with quotes ranging from "'Tis but a flesh wound" to "Alright, we’ll call it a draw!" as his limbs are removed one by one and he refuses to cede the duel to his opponent. Other scenes are almost as famous, leading to a healthy sample of hundreds of memes devoted to this movie circulating online. While I encourage you to choose meme material from all of the movies on this list, this one, in particular, will provide hundreds of wasted hours worth of karma and likes, guaranteed.

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