10 Movies That Created Endless Memes

10. Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

It speaks volumes to the legacy of Gene Wilder's condescending Cheshire Grin as the titular character in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that a movie half a century old remains a fixture of internet circles.

Wonka's look of barely concealed delight has been used as a go-to sarcastic or patronizing response - "Oh so you were born in 1999? Tell me how much you miss the 90s" and so on. Appearing from the earliest days of memedom, Condescending Wonka is a legitimate piece of meme history.

The image itself comes from the sequence in which Willy Wonka introduces the factory visitors to his Everlasting Gobstoppers - the sweet that his agent "Slugworth" asks Charlie to steal in order to test his character. The legendary sweet-maker is asked how a mysterious machine operates, prompting one of the more famous smug looks in memory.

It's also worth mentioning that Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory initiated the "Hating Grandpa Joe" movement - a hilarious online theory that seeks to expose Joe as the movie's true villain by highlighting that he miraculously regains the ability to walk the instant he is offered a free trip to a chocolate factory.