Stop Crying, It's Just a Movie / It's Just a Game

Submission 11,618

About

"Stop Crying, It's Just a Movie" and "Stop Crying, It's Just a Game" refers to a meme format in which users post dramatic scenes from films and video games which make them experience strong emotions. The format shares its structure with We Have Food at Home and gained popularity on Twitter in late March 2021.

Origin

Prior to its popularity in March 2021, the format saw several instances of use in August and September 2020. On August 12th, 2020, Twitter^[1] user @kimnamjoonpics posted a GIF of Korean singer Kin Nam-Joon, writing "mum: stop crying it's just a boy?? / the boy:" with the tweet gaining over 1,100 retweets and 3,600 likes (shown below, left). On August 31st and September 16th, Twitter^[2]^[3] users @D6Haru and @TMSkinny_ made two similarly structured posts, with @TMSkinny_'s post being the first instance of the "Stop Crying, It's Just a Game" variation (shown below, center and right).

On March 22nd, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @9795FOLDER made a K-Pop meme about JiKook that received over 380 retweets and 1,600 likes in nine days (shown below, left). On March 23rd, 2021, Twitter^[5] user @wtffastii2 posted the first instance of the "Stop Crying, It's Just a Movie" variation, posting about the 2019 film Five Feet Apart. The post received over 2,500 retweets and 6,500 likes and launched the trend.

Spread

Starting on March 23rd, multiple viral instances of "Stop Crying, It's Just a Movie" memes were posted on Twitter, with users posting images of dramatic moments from various films. Within five minutes of @wtffastii2's post, Twitter^[6] user @ItsSalahMate posted a meme about the Turkish remake of the South Korean film Miracle in Cell No. 7 that received over 240 retweets and 910 likes (shown below, left). Later on the same day, Twitter^[7] user @Uziar_Patel posted a meme about Harry Potter that received over 1,100 retweets and 2,900 likes (shown below, center). Also on March 23rd, Twitter^[8] user @sar_ren posted a meme about The Lion King that gained over 1,000 retweets and 3,200 likes (shown below, right).

On March 23rd and 24th, several Twitter users repurposed the format for memes about video games (earliest found example by user @Blurryface48^[9] shown below). This version of the format achieved viral status on March 24th when Twitter^[10] user @Razzbowski posted a Five Nights at Freddy's meme that received over 90 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, center), with multiple viral posts being made in the following days. For example, on March 24th, the official Twitter^[11] account for Halo posted a meme that received over 4,300 retweets and 39,900 likes (shown below, right).

In addition to memes about movies and video games, the format has also been used for memes about songs, viral photographs and sports matches.^[12]^[13]

I Promise I Won't Cry. It's Just A Single Frame From

In September of 2021, an extremely similar meme grew popular on Twitter, this time with the format, "I promise I won't cry. It's just a single frame from…", followed by a still image from a movie, television show or video game that would remind fans of that piece of media of a sad scene. The trend started on September 14th, 2021, when Twitter user @GirlyWolfPup^[14] posted a Walt Disney quote from Meet The Robinsons, gaining over 30 retweets and 140 likes (shown below).

The trend started spreading more widely after several days when brands began posting variations that gained high amounts of retweets and quote-tweets. For example, on September 20th, Xbox^[15] tweeted an example with a frame from Halo, gaining over 4,700 retweets and 44,000 likes (shown below, left). On September 21st, Nerdist^[16] tweeted a still from the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark," gaining over 200 retweets and 1,700 likes (shown below, right).