As we march on—or for some of us, given recent polls: giddily skip on—to the election, it’s refreshing to be reminded that we can still be united as a nation. Specifically on social media, which is designed to sow cruel division.
That reminder came this week in the form of a horse that looked like it had just accidentally eaten an entire tray of pot brownies and then gone on a boat ride up the Hudson River as the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks were going off around him.
This week, A24, the hip and typically marketing-savvy film distributor, released the poster for the upcoming release We Live in Time. The romance, which is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, stars Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. Nowhere on the film’s Wikipedia or IMDb page, however, does it list an appearance by a carousel horse that had just visited a witch that showed him his entire future life, including his death, and didn’t like what he saw.
From the moment the poster dropped this week, memes circled social media faster than a merry-go-round on the fritz. In fact, it became such an instant viral moment that part of me wonders if A24 put the deranged looking horse on the poster intentionally, knowing people were going to turn it into a meme.
I don’t even feel cynical about that, if it’s true. I embrace it, because the laughter I’ve gotten from some of these PhotoShops and captions is worth any nefarious manipulation from an entertainment company’s marketing team.
Some people had the gawky horse crashing other iconic movie scenes, like The Shining:
Or, obviously, The Godfather:
What if everyone in the movie was played by this natural scene-stealer?
The musical and film adaptation of Carousel, for obvious reasons, was on a lot of people’s minds:
Domino’s UK joined the fun, and while I have no idea what this joke means, I enjoy living in a time when a British arm of a major pizza chain is engaging with indie film Twitter:
Obviously, the horse should be the star of his own movie or sitcom, case in point:
There was a topical tie-in to the Olympics:
Many of us felt seen by the horse. We are this horse:
And finally, as they should, all roads lead back to Queen Bey:
