The fun thing about stock photos is that you really can use them for just about everything.
Since the photographer has no real idea what you'll need, they end up shooting a bunch of different images for different scenarios in one day; getting the most possible use out of their models and their camera time.
The result—at least in this case—is glorious meme worthy shenanigans.
Unless you've been hiding from all social media for the last few years (in which case hi and welcome back!) then you've almost certainly seen the distracted boyfriend meme.
It features a young hetero couple walking away from the camera and another woman walking towards it. The woman walking towards the camera is blurry, but smiling and just minding her own business.
The male of the couple is turned around to very obviously check out the girl walking past. His partner is turned to look at him with a face that screams of shock and disgust.
The image was not initially shot with the idea that it would become a meme, it was just part of another stock photography session shot by Antonio Guillem. The same models were used for a variety of different shots, but this one image really seemed to resonate with people and became the meme we all know and love.
The official title is "Disloyal Man With His Girlfriend Looking At Another Girl" but we all know it as "The Distracted Boyfriend Meme"
Disloyal man with his girlfriend looking at another girl
Getty Images/iStockphoto
We've all been at least one person in this scenario before.
So we all know how the Distracted Boyfriend meme storyline starts; but remember earlier when we said the fun thing about stock photography is the sheer number of possibilities?
Yeah... this story makes a major plot twist.
First, let's start by naming the characters. "Distracted Boyfriend" is obvious; the meme is named for him.
We'll call the girlfriend "Annoyed Girlfriend" because look at her face. That's perfect stock photo annoyance if we've ever seen it.
Let's call the other woman "Not-Leelee-Sobieski" because seriously that's not her.
We know.
We swore it was her at first, too.
Thos Robinson / Getty Images
Digging through the stock photos, a story begins to emerge. Distracted Boyfriend and Annoyed Girlfriend do stay together. Distracted Boyfriend even proposes!
But he's got his eye on someone else the whole time; you guessed it: Not-LeeLee-Sobieski.
Here's what he doesn't know, though. Apparently Annoyed Girlfriend and Not-Leelee are actually friends... at least at first.
It doesn't take long before things between the two women escalate. We do absolutely get a gorgeous wedding, just not between Distracted Boyfriend and Annoyed Girlfriend...
PLOT TWIST!
People couldn't be happier for Annoyed Girlfriend and Not-Leelee.
The thing is, this isn't the only story line to come from this stock photo session.
For those of you with darker sensibilities, there's also the story line involving a sick child that eventually dies, an affair, a divorce, and some breaking and entering... and a near murder.
See, we told you stock photography was fun!
*****
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