Are You Not Entertained

2009reaction imageclassic

Are You Not Entertained is a reaction image and catchphrase pulled from the 2000 Ridley Scott film Gladiator, where Russell Crowe's Maximus shouts the line at a silent Colosseum crowd. Online, it gets deployed as a snarky retort when a post, joke, or piece of content gets a lukewarm response.

movie quote memescatchphrase memesreaction memesimage macro memeslate 2000s memes

Overview

Are You Not Entertained is a reaction image and catchphrase built around a screenshot from Ridley Scott's 2000 film Gladiator, showing Russell Crowe as Maximus with his arms flung wide after slaughtering opponents in the arena1. Online, it gets used as a sarcastic retort when a poster feels their contribution deserved a bigger reaction than the comments section actually gave it2.

The format usually pairs the Gladiator still (or a similar wide-armed pose) with a caption echoing the line, slotting it into the same family of confrontational reaction macros as Come at Me Bro2. Beyond the still itself, the wording alone works as a standalone catchphrase in tweets, comments and captions.

How It Spread

On April 25th, 2010, DeviantArt user Astaldo Fea posted an illustration of Maximus titled "Are You Not Entertained?"5. Roughly a year and a half later, on November 8th, 2011, FunnyJunk user mrgreeny built a rage comic around the Gladiator screenshot with the same caption, and it pulled in more than 26,000 views and 1,200 upvotes over the next two years6.

The phrase kept branching out through 2011 and 2012. TV Tropes added it to its Gladiator entry on May 10th as an example of "Chewing the Scenery"7. On June 16th, 2011, a macro pairing the quote with a photo of a Vancouver Stanley Cup rioter posing with a hockey stick in front of a wrecked storefront hit r/pics and picked up around 1,300 upvotes and 80 comments before being archived8. On August 20th, 2012, Redditor TomSellecksStash posted a GIF of the scene to r/reactiongifs captioned about a toddler refusing to stop crying, clearing 2,000 upvotes9.

By 2013 the meme had its own dedicated Facebook page, launched on April 22nd, and on May 15th r/funny user herplderpster posted an image macro of a man in a Batman costume with arms outstretched under the same caption, which racked up more than 15,800 upvotes and 280 comments in its first four months102.

How to Use This Meme

The typical setup is to post something (a meme, a screenshot, an in-joke) and, when the reaction is muted, reply with the Gladiator still or just the words "Are you not entertained?" as a mock-outraged callback. It also gets attached to any image of a person with arms flung wide, from athletes to characters in costume, as a caption riffing on the pose.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are You Not Entertained

2009reaction imageclassic

Are You Not Entertained is a reaction image and catchphrase pulled from the 2000 Ridley Scott film Gladiator, where Russell Crowe's Maximus shouts the line at a silent Colosseum crowd. Online, it gets deployed as a snarky retort when a post, joke, or piece of content gets a lukewarm response.

movie quote memes catchphrase memes reaction memes image macro memes late 2000s memes

Overview

Are You Not Entertained is a reaction image and catchphrase built around a screenshot from Ridley Scott's 2000 film Gladiator, showing Russell Crowe as Maximus with his arms flung wide after slaughtering opponents in the arena1. Online, it gets used as a sarcastic retort when a poster feels their contribution deserved a bigger reaction than the comments section actually gave it2.

The format usually pairs the Gladiator still (or a similar wide-armed pose) with a caption echoing the line, slotting it into the same family of confrontational reaction macros as Come at Me Bro2. Beyond the still itself, the wording alone works as a standalone catchphrase in tweets, comments and captions.

How It Spread

On April 25th, 2010, DeviantArt user Astaldo Fea posted an illustration of Maximus titled "Are You Not Entertained?"5. Roughly a year and a half later, on November 8th, 2011, FunnyJunk user mrgreeny built a rage comic around the Gladiator screenshot with the same caption, and it pulled in more than 26,000 views and 1,200 upvotes over the next two years6.

The phrase kept branching out through 2011 and 2012. TV Tropes added it to its Gladiator entry on May 10th as an example of "Chewing the Scenery"7. On June 16th, 2011, a macro pairing the quote with a photo of a Vancouver Stanley Cup rioter posing with a hockey stick in front of a wrecked storefront hit r/pics and picked up around 1,300 upvotes and 80 comments before being archived8. On August 20th, 2012, Redditor TomSellecksStash posted a GIF of the scene to r/reactiongifs captioned about a toddler refusing to stop crying, clearing 2,000 upvotes9.

By 2013 the meme had its own dedicated Facebook page, launched on April 22nd, and on May 15th r/funny user herplderpster posted an image macro of a man in a Batman costume with arms outstretched under the same caption, which racked up more than 15,800 upvotes and 280 comments in its first four months102.

How to Use This Meme

The typical setup is to post something (a meme, a screenshot, an in-joke) and, when the reaction is muted, reply with the Gladiator still or just the words "Are you not entertained?" as a mock-outraged callback. It also gets attached to any image of a person with arms flung wide, from athletes to characters in costume, as a caption riffing on the pose.

Frequently Asked Questions