Ben Affleck proves he is meme material once again as Grammy Awards 2023 footage reveal his disinterested face

It appeared as if Ben Affleck wished he could be taken to 'Higher Ground' as he listened to the legendary Stevie Wonder belt out his classic song.

Appearing at the Grammy Awards 2023 alongside your new wife Jennifer Lopez, or as she's said Jennifer Affleck (J-Lo, you will always be), would bring joy and excitement. A joie de vivre that your life has led you to this fantastic place surrounded by incredible artists in music.

Not so, for Ben Affleck, according to his face during the events of the Grammy. He has once more become a meme due to his lacklustre facial expressions.

He sat beside J-Lo, who looked lovely in a blue dress and a smile that exuded warmth and happiness for events taking place around her. Women, after all, must smile at all times, according to social conditioning. How many times has a woman been told to 'cheer up, it may never happen' or 'give us a smile'.

Ben Affleck, award-winning screenplay writer and actor, is 'allowed' to look grumpy. And he does it well.

One particular moment that generated a plethora of hilarious memes on Twitter was when the stone-faced Oscar winner watched Stevie Wonder belt out Higher Ground.

'Ben Affleck looks like he'd rather be at Dunkin',' tweeted one viewer, referencing Affleck's famous passion for Dunkin' Donuts.

The memes kept on coming, with one viewer writing, 'Ben Affleck looks like he'd rather be at the dentist.'

'Ben Affleck, blink if you're okay,' tweeted another viewer, echoing the sentiments of social media across the board.

One meme read: 'Why does Ben Affleck always look like he's 10 minutes away from crying during a much needed smoke break.'

Standing beside Jennifer in the darkened amphitheatre, Ben appeared to be less than amused by Wonder's powerful performance, which brought down the house. He did a slight body sway beside J-Lo, trying - despite all his instincts - to look like a man who was engaged with events happening around him.

Is he depressed? Or is he having an existential crisis? Does he see the vapid nature of celebrity and these awards shows? We can only guess.

It could be a less agonising ordeal for Ben than the images suggest. He may just be a victim of 'resting bi*** face'. A phenomenon whereby a facial expression unintentionally appears like a person is angry, annoyed, irritated, or contemptuous, particularly when the individual is relaxed, resting, or not expressing any particular emotion.

The concept has been studied by psychologists and may have psychological implications related to facial biases, gender stereotypes, human judgement and decision-making.

The concept has also been studied by scientists with information technology - using a type of facial recognition system, they found that the phenomenon is real and the condition is as common in males as in females, despite the gendered word bitch that is used to name the concept.

Ben's wife, J-Lo, may have the opposite disposition: resting nice face. A person who naturally looks 'nice' or 'approachable' when their face is expressionless, without meaning to.

Others have pointed out that Ben Affleck is a recovering alcoholic, and being at a huge event with other people drinking around him may have been a test. Maybe cameras pointed in his face was also off-putting, despite his life-long career in front of the camera starring in films.

Ben has been a meme before. He spawned an outpouring of #SadAffleck memes in 2016 when he was interviewed alongside Henry Cavill for the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice film.

The interview in question was one the actor had with his co-star Henry Cavill after the film received some subpar reviews. As Henry answered the interviewer’s question, the actor stayed very quiet, looking down trodden and reflective which became classic meme bait.

Edited over by a fan, the funny clip slowly zoomed onto Ben’s face with the melancholy sounds of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ played over the footage and thus #SadAffleck was born.

The year 2016 also brought us a meme of Ben smoking a cigarette outside and looking exhausted. The image was published online and rapidly became a meme format around the web throughout the following years, typically used to express exhaustion or weariness.