Scarlett Falls

Scarlett Johansson stumbled on set of Under the Skin and the internet lost its mind. Not in an outrage way, just the way it does when someone untouchable does something clumsy. There’s something about that moment that gets replayed and riffed on forever. Sad Keanu on a bench. That absurdly handsome guy in the coffee shop. The needy girlfriend meme. Johansson falling became another one of those.

People photoshopped her into everything. She’s falling onto a dolphin. She’s falling down a mountain. She’s falling with a lightsaber. Someone had her as Skrillex at the DJ booth, hands up mid-fall. The creativity was kind of impressive, just the commitment to the bit across a hundred variations.

This wasn’t her first time becoming a meme. A few years before, some nude photos leaked and the internet immediately turned her into a trend. Johanssoning, they called it—people taking weird mirror selfies trying to recreate her weird poses. That one had a meaner edge to it. This stumble was just physical comedy, someone beautiful in an awkward moment, captured and spread before she could do anything about it.

Maybe it’s just about recognizing something human in someone who’s usually untouchable.