Meaning
What does It’s Been 84 Years mean?
It’s Been 84 Years is a memorable quote uttered in the movie Titanic, by the present-self of the character Rose DeWitt Bukater, who reminisces the events of the tragedy in the scene.
A screengrab of actress Gloria Stuart saying the line now serves as a template for the meme, which most often appears in an image macro format. These memes are used as reaction memes that usually refer to something that happened in the past, with a bitter-sweet, romantic, or nostalgic uptake.
In gaming communities, the meme is sometimes used to mock developers who hold back or delay the release of long-awaited game titles.
When Christmas dinner is finally ready pic.twitter.com/yGRuaTYTiI
— It’s been 84 years.. (@been84years) December 26, 2014
Origin
What's the origin of It’s Been 84 Years?
The movie Titanic premiered in the United States on December 14th, 1997, based on the real events of the infamous shipwreck-tragedy that shook the world in 1912. The movie was the most successful piece of filmmaking history, being the first-ever film to reach the billion-dollar mark in revenue.
The scene that features the meme appears at the very beginning of the movie, where we see one of the protagonists, Rose (portrayed by Gloria Stuart) telling her story about the tragedy. That’s when she utters the line: “It’s Been 84 Years.”
Over time, this iconic scene was adopted by online communities as a reaction image macro, to refer to the passing of a long time.
Spread & Usage
How did It’s Been 84 Years spread?
The meme started to spread online in around 2013, as a reaction GIF on various social media sites like Twitter or Facebook, but it wasn’t very popular until 2014 when it surfaced on 9GAG. Following that, the template went viral and started circulating in various message boards like Reddit, as well as on Memegeneator and other meme-sharing platforms.
In December 2014, a Twitter account called been84years was created, posting the same image macro regularly.
The quote “It’s Been 84 Years” has remained a popular reaction meme format, both appearing as an image macro and as a GIF, on several social media sites and forums.
Despite this, the passing of time was no kinder to the meme than to Rose, and by the end of the 2010s, the popularity of the format has radically died down. Nowadays, it may be scarcely encountered in chats and discussions on sites like Facebook, Tumblr and Reddit.
External resources
- Reddit.com – r/OutOfTheLoop/
- Twitter.com – ohmwrecker