We've seen thousands of people throw marches to raise awareness for issues such as women's rights, police brutality and gun control. There's power in numbers, and when all those voices combine as one, it can have a serious impact. And now people are gathering together for another important cause: to say 'wow' like Owen Wilson, in unison.
Owen Wilson is a versatile actor, best known for his roles in comedies like Wedding Crashers, Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums. But if memes are any indication, his true cinematic legacy is saying "Wow" in a funny way. And he's said it quite a lot, having starred in movies for three decades. Someone made a supercut of him saying wow, and it skyrocketed to over five million views. (And the appropriate reaction to that is "wow.")
A meme was born. Somebody created a Star Wars mash-up, in which all of the lightsaber sounds are replaced by his hushed "wow," which was pretty inspired.
Then somebody created a supercut where Owen Wilson says "wow" backwards. As a palindrome, 'wow' sounds the same in reverse, but the eerie edit casts the catchphrase in a new light. He sounds kind of like a cat. I don't know what the point is either but just go with it.
Owen's awestruck "wow" has delighted people all over the world, and now they're taking their fandom to the next level. On Monday, February 26 a group called Owen Wilson Wowposting" threw a live event, where everyone said "wow" just like the quirky actor. The event took place in Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, and the thick Aussie accents will only add to the spectacle.
The Facebook event reads: "Let's put some positivity out there into the world! Let's marvel at the beauty and Wonder of this incredible planet we live on, and let's WOW like Owen Wilson!" Over 18,000 people said they are interested in the event, and five thousand people said they are attending. In the livestream, it doesn't look like the crowd was quite that big, but it's still an impressive turn out. People even brought homemade signs of Owen Wilson. Who knew he was that huge in Australia?
In the video, the event organizer riles up the "wowers" with a megaphone, describing how much he admires Owen Wilson's positivity and the film Wedding Crashers. At the nine minute mark, the massive group practices saying "wow," and any tourists nearby were probably greatly confused. Then they finally do a countdown, and all the wowers say the epic wow together. Reluctant to go home, the crowd broke into a chant, "One more wow! One more wow!" After belting out that final wow, the event came to an end. It was all pretty silly, but seemed to make a lot of people happy. And they probably bonded over how much they liked The Darjeeling Limited.
I hope for the next event they gather a bunch of Keanu Reeves fans together to say "Whoa" at the same time.
