Happy 4th of July to This Perfect ‘Hamilton’ Meme

There are many reasons why Hamilton streaming on Disney+ is a good thing. It’s super easy to watch this musical about the Founding Fathers on the 4th of July, for one. It’s also pretty nice that the formerly uber-expensive, extremely-hard-to-get-tickets-to, Tony-winning musical is now free for anyone with a Disney+ subscription. But most importantly, the fact that Hamilton is streaming on Disney+ allowed the internet to do what the internet does best: memes.

While many have put forth a valiant effort since the filmed stage show of Hamilton premiered on Disney+ almost exactly two years ago, the clear winner of the Hamilton memes race is the genius who held up an iPhone to their TV screen, while paused on a frame of the musical. The moment comes near the end of the song “That Would Be Enough,” when Eliza (played by Phillipa Soo) reveals to her husband Alexander Hamilton (played by composer Lin-Manuel Miranda) that she’s pregnant. Hamilton is overcome with emotion and has to sit down for a moment, to collect himself.

But one viewer saw something else in Miranda’s tear-laden eyes—a chance to be hilarious. When paused at the exact right moment, with a phone held up to the screen just so, Miranda assumes the expression of a man squinting at a text message that he finds particularly distasteful. Now that’s what I call comedy.

According to the meme archive website Know Your Meme, the first known usage of this image was posted by Twitter user @rockwellism in January 2021. It’s not clear if the meme was said user’s original image or not, but if it was, I applaud them for their sheer ingenuity. It is simply a perfect meme—so simple, so dumb, so freakin’ funny. More than that, it’s extremely versatile; useful and relevant as a reaction image in a myriad of situations. This could include a reply to a very long text message, a reaction to a meme you simply don’t get, or an RT of an article detailing a certain former president’s behavioral problems.

In conclusion, happy 4th of July to that one photo of Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton squinting at a phone, and to that one photo of Lin-Manuel Miranda in Hamilton squinting at a phone only. I know what I’m watching to celebrate this year.