desymbol: Artist Gives The “Distracted Boyfriend” Meme A Wholesome Backstory

Meme culture is really at the heart of the internet, with those who use the world wide web coming across them at least once in their lifetime (yes, even your grandma has seen a Pepe meme somewhere.) However, like many trends on the internet, memes come and go with only a select few truly leaving a cultural impact behind them and becoming ingrained in our memories. One artist, however, decided to treat memes not as a medium for various situations, but as complete stories of their own.

Damien, better known under the pseudonym Unfins, first made waves after they turned the “woman yelling at a cat” meme into a thrilling 4-part story involving a puppy, a car accident, and alcoholism. This time, the creative artist put their spin on the “distracted boyfriend” meme and put out a comic detailing what happened after the iconic moment.

Bored Panda reached out to Damien to find out more about the enigmatic artist and they provided some tidbits about the art. “I’m 21, live in Switzerland and I’ve always liked doodling stuff at school until I started working for Webtoon, where I started my first comic,” Unfins introduced themselves.

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Unfins is back with another interpretation of a meme and this time it’s the ‘distracted boyfriend’

When asked what inspired Damien to create the meme series, they revealed that it was a pretty impulsive decision. “Memes are everywhere and memes are funny so one night, as I was drawing my series, I just took a break and did that ‘woman yelling at a cat’ comic on a whim,” the comic artist explained. “Then it exploded and I thought ‘oh, I have to continue this,'” Damien told us.

“Honestly, I’m still surprised that many people liked it and shared it, but I can only be thankful for this,” the artist expressed gratitude over people’s reaction to the comics. Despite having only 20 posts on their Instagram page, Unfins currently has 226k followers on the social media platform and the latest meme series garnered over a million likes.

Unfin’s story starts off with the classic frame we’re all familiar with—a boyfriend looking at a girl passing by, all the while his own girlfriend noticing and staring, seemingly in disbelief. The following photos show the unfolding story as the couple sits down for lunch only for the boyfriend to leave the girlfriend for a moment. With several twists and turns, Damien’s retelling seems to end on a wholesome note, except for the twist at the end.

The “distracted boyfriend” meme originated from a stock photo showing a man checking out another woman while walking with his girlfriend. The photograph was part of a stock photo series showcasing various scenarios and some people traced a story out of it. The website Knowyourmeme, an archive that collects memes and explains their origins as well as history, has a section on the “distracted boyfriend” meme that shows its development. “Tumblr user klubbhead posted a compilation of similar photos from the series, featuring the man looking at the same woman at various instances with at the end showing his romantic partner in distress and questioning why she didn’t dump him,” the website details. “Twitter user @akfamilyhomeak posted a tweet featuring a similar scenario, but instead showing the two women from the series getting closer to each other with the man being blurry in the background. Later that day, Twitter user @oranforest added a photo to the same series as @akfamilyhomeak, featuring the two women being together with the implication that they got together,” the description concludes.