Explaining the Origins of Your Favorite Movie and TV GIFs

So you'll have an answer when someone asks you about that work email they just sent.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Context is everything. Except on the Internet. Thanks to GIFs, context-less clips from movies and television shows abound. They've become our computerized feeling-enhancers. You think everyone around you just doesn’t get it? The GIF of Charlie Day threatening to smack people into fragments displays those emotions exactly. Better even, funnier. Though, amongst all the laughs, we may have done irreparable damage to Nicolas Cage’s career. Oh well, moving on.

Along the way, we've lost the backstory behind our favorite GIFs, but digging up their history just might give you a newfound appreciation for them. Did you know that the extremely popular and infinitely adaptable GIF of a bearded man giving a nod of approval is actually Robert Redford and taken from an ultra-masculine Western? Not likely. As such, let’s revisit these glorious moments and get into Explaining the Origins of Your Favorite Movie and TV GIFs

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Jean-Claude Van Damme Dancing in Breakin (1984)

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Robert Redford Nods in Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

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Condescending Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

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Menacing Charlie Day on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The Nightman Cometh" (Season 4, Episode 13)

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Excited Will Ferrell in Elf (2003)

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Will Ferrell Freaking Out in Zoolander (2001)

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Miserable Amanda Bynes in She's the Man (2006)

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Matt Damon Dancing in Good Will Hunting (1997)

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The Sassy Abbey Lee Miller on Dance Moms

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Donald Glover Crying in Community "Competitive Wine Tasting" (Season 2, Episode 20)

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David Cross Crying in Arrested Development, "Top Banana" (Season 1, Episode 2)

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Cobie Smulders Crying on How I Met Your Mother, "The Stinson Missile Crisis" (Season 7, Episode 4)

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The Crying Fist Pump on America's Next Top Model (Cycle 14, Episode 6)

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Tina Belcher Dancing on Bob's Burgers, "Burger Wars" (Season 1, Episode 10)

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Zac Efron Dancing in High School Musical 2 (2007)

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Turnt Up Snape in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)

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Jim Carrey Typing in Bruce Almighty (2003)

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Walter Jones Dancing on the Power Rangers

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The Channel Four News Team Jumps in Anchorman (2004)

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Hiding Homer on The Simpsons, "Two Bad Neighbors" (Season 7, Episode 13)

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Anthony Michael Hall has the shades in The Breakfast Club (1985)

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Wee-Bey's Disbelief onThe Wire, "The Hunt" (Season 1, Episode 11)

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Carlton Dancing on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

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Jimmy Falls Down in Degrassi: The Next Generation, "Broken Wings" (Season 7, Episode 19)

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James Van Der Beek Crying onDawson's Creek, "True Love" (Season 3, Episode 23)

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Frustrated Ed Norton in The Incredible Hulk (2008)

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Orson Welles Clapping in Citizen Kane (1941)

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Nic Cage Freaking Out in Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

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