The Brief: Lightning McQueen drifting memes take a scene from Disney's Cars to show someone pulling ahead or making a comeback.
DEEP DIVE
Lightning McQueen drifting memes come from a scene in Disney’s Cars where Lightning McQueen drifts into the lead after being pushed off the track. After a green car pushes him onto the grass, it looks like McQueen will lose the race, but he unexpectedly drifts alongside the other cars before pulling ahead of them.
Memes using images from this clip show underdogs beating big players. A common thread in these memes, which are particularly popular on Reddit, is that the person represented by McQueen isn’t really a winner in the traditional sense, but someone who is out of touch with reality and thinks that they’ve “won.”
sometimes my genius is… it’s almost frightening from dankmemes
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Lightning McQueen messing up then recovering looking cool, example provided from r/MemeTemplatesOfficial