Ben Affleck once went around looking so burned out by life he inadvertently inspired a series of memes – here’s the “Tired Ben Affleck” meme explained. Like many Hollywood actors, Ben Affleck’s career has seen its share of both highs and lows. Early on in his career, he had success with movies like Chasing Amy or Good Will Hunting, before starring in flops such as Daredevil and Gigli. That was followed by a career upturn both in front of and behind the camera in critically acclaimed projects like Gone Baby Gone, Argo and Gone Girl.

By the late 2010s, however, both Affleck’s career and personal life were somewhat back in the doldrums. Not only was the actor going through a divorce from his wife of over a decade Jennifer Garner, but his crime drama also Live By Night (which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in) underperformed critically and commercially. Affleck’s casting as Batman in the DCEU – the highest-profile role of his career to date – wasn’t initially popular either and received backlash from fans and critics alike.

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It was around this time that paparazzi photos of Affleck looking distinctly down started emerging. One photo showed the star standing on the street smoking a cigarette looking totally dejected, while another featured him standing on a beach in Hawaii with a towel wrapped around his middle staring out to sea with a melancholic look. Soon enough, such images of Affleck were shared online along with captions like “Ben Affleck smoking through the pain of existence” (courtesy of The Cut) and “the manifest embodiment of absolute male misery” (courtesy of David Rudnick via Twitter). And so, the hilarious “Tired Ben Affleck” meme was born.

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Ben Affleck’s seemingly dejected state of mind of the late 2010s also produced the equally famous “Sad Affleck” meme. Created by YouTuber Geoffers, the meme features an interview that Henry Cavill and a rather despondent, untalkative Affleck gave while promoting Batman V Superman with Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound Of Silence” laid over it. To his credit, the actor jokingly addressed the “Sad Affleck” meme in a later interview with BBC Radio 1 stating, “It taught me not to do interviews with Henry Cavill where I don’t say anything and they can lay Simon and Garfunkel tracks over it.”

As hilarious as the “Tired Ben Affleck” and “Sad Affleck” memes are, they’ve become a bit defunct lately. Not only has Affleck recently received praise for his role in sports drama The Way Back, but he’s also recently rekindled his relationship with old flame Jennifer Lopez. Subsequently, he’s looking a lot more upbeat as of late which has inspired a new wave of more positive memes going by the aptly-named moniker of “Smirking Ben Affleck.”

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