Reese Witherspoon Creates Meme About 2020 Using Her Film Roles

Celebs Are Using Photos of Themselves to Represent Each Month of 2020 in Funny Meme

By Sara Barnes on August 11, 2020

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A post shared by Reese Witherspoon (@reesewitherspoon) on Aug 4, 2020 at 9:21am PDT

Let’s face it: 2020 has been a year and we’re not even three-quarters of the way through it. Memes are helping to sum up our collective angst, and few do it better than the one recently introduced by Reese Witherspoon. In a meme that she’s calling the #2020challenge (aka the COVID Calendar), the format comprises nine boxes in which each square is a different month (January–September). Using stills of herself from her different movie roles, she assigns a “mood” to each of the months. As you’d expect, things in January start with the optimism of a new decade—Witherspoon likens it to a bright and optimistic vision of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde—and the following months descend into confusion, fear, and exhaustion, the last of which is perfectly illustrated by her portrayal of Cheryl Strayed in the film Wild.

While the #2020challenge meme might sound utterly depressing, the recognition of it via Witherspoon’s greatest roles is both funny and cathartic. It also caught on among other actors and celebrities, and they copied the format and replaced it with their own projects. Mindy Kaling soon followed Witherspoon's lead, starting with her dressed in award show glam for January and ending with September as Kelly Kapoor (from The Office) when she endured an awful diet cleanse. With each iteration of the meme, it has you saying, “Yeah, same.”

Scroll down for more celebrities—from Kerry Washington to Mark Ruffalo—taking part in the #2020challenge meme.

Actors and celebrities are expressing their 2020 angst in the #2020challenge meme started by Reese Witherspoon.

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A post shared by Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) on Aug 4, 2020 at 1:25pm PDT

Many choose to do it with their acting roles, while others use photos of themselves (including selfies).

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A post shared by Kerry Washington (@kerrywashington) on Aug 4, 2020 at 2:37pm PDT

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A post shared by Mark Ruffalo (@markruffalo) on Aug 5, 2020 at 2:04pm PDT

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A post shared by VIOLA DAVIS (@violadavis) on Aug 5, 2020 at 12:34pm PDT

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A post shared by Michelle Pfeiffer (@michellepfeifferofficial) on Aug 6, 2020 at 9:42am PDT

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A post shared by Naomi Watts (@naomiwatts) on Aug 5, 2020 at 10:20am PDT

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A post shared by January Jones (@januaryjones) on Aug 6, 2020 at 9:54am PDT

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A post shared by Zooey Deschanel (@zooeydeschanel) on Aug 5, 2020 at 1:35pm PDT

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A post shared by Natasha Lyonne (@nlyonne) on Aug 5, 2020 at 6:06pm PDT

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A post shared by Kate Beckinsale (@katebeckinsale) on Aug 5, 2020 at 7:54pm PDT

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A post shared by Elizabeth Banks (@elizabethbanks) on Aug 5, 2020 at 9:36am PDT

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A post shared by Kyle MacLachlan (@kyle_maclachlan) on Aug 6, 2020 at 9:22am PDT

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A post shared by Josh Gad (@joshgad) on Aug 6, 2020 at 9:19am PDT

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A post shared by Kristin Chenoweth (@kchenoweth) on Aug 5, 2020 at 11:01am PDT

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A post shared by Sarah Michelle (@sarahmgellar) on Aug 6, 2020 at 7:26am PDT

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A post shared by Jennifer Garner (@jennifer.garner) on Aug 5, 2020 at 5:25pm PDT

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A post shared by Karlie Kloss (@karliekloss) on Aug 5, 2020 at 4:05pm PDT

How’s your #2020 going? Thanks for the inspiration, @ReeseW and @mindykaling. pic.twitter.com/7evMnZgpqR

— DVF – Diane von Furstenberg (@DVF) August 5, 2020