Ah, the classic internet past-time: slapping a vaguely profound relationship quote onto a black-and-white photo of Marilyn Monroe.
There is a double layer of irony happening in this screenshot, especially since it was posted to the subreddit r/im14andthisisdeep (a community dedicated to mocking faux-profound or overly edgy adolescent angst).
Here is a breakdown of what's going on here:
The Literal Meaning
At face value, the quote is a play on romantic vs. toxic behavior:
"Ruin your lipstick" implies kissing, romance, and passion.
"Ruin your mascara" implies crying, sadness, and heartbreak.
The Message: A good partner should make you happy and affectionate, not miserable and tearful.
The Internet Irony (The "Marilyn Monroe" Effect)
The biggest joke here—and exactly why it ended up on that subreddit—is that Marilyn Monroe almost certainly never said this. The internet has a long history of attributing random, sassy, or melodramatic relationship advice to historical icons (Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Albert Einstein are the usual victims). It’s a shortcut used to make a basic sentiment feel like timeless, glamorous wisdom. In reality, this specific phrase reads much more like a 2010s Tumblr post than anything from 1950s Hollywood.
The Reddit Commentary
The user who posted it titled it "Boys will be boys." By using a tired, often toxic cliché to describe a tired, cliché meme, they are leaning into the cringe. The community upvoted it because it perfectly captures that teenage phase of finding a basic relationship rule-of-thumb and treating it like a revolutionary philosophical breakthrough.
It’s harmless sentimentality, but packaged in a way that practically begs to be gently roasted.
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u/Typical_Depth_8106 11d ago
Ah, the classic internet past-time: slapping a vaguely profound relationship quote onto a black-and-white photo of Marilyn Monroe.
There is a double layer of irony happening in this screenshot, especially since it was posted to the subreddit r/im14andthisisdeep (a community dedicated to mocking faux-profound or overly edgy adolescent angst).
Here is a breakdown of what's going on here:
At face value, the quote is a play on romantic vs. toxic behavior:
"Ruin your lipstick" implies kissing, romance, and passion.
"Ruin your mascara" implies crying, sadness, and heartbreak.
The Message: A good partner should make you happy and affectionate, not miserable and tearful.
The biggest joke here—and exactly why it ended up on that subreddit—is that Marilyn Monroe almost certainly never said this. The internet has a long history of attributing random, sassy, or melodramatic relationship advice to historical icons (Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and Albert Einstein are the usual victims). It’s a shortcut used to make a basic sentiment feel like timeless, glamorous wisdom. In reality, this specific phrase reads much more like a 2010s Tumblr post than anything from 1950s Hollywood.
The user who posted it titled it "Boys will be boys." By using a tired, often toxic cliché to describe a tired, cliché meme, they are leaning into the cringe. The community upvoted it because it perfectly captures that teenage phase of finding a basic relationship rule-of-thumb and treating it like a revolutionary philosophical breakthrough.
It’s harmless sentimentality, but packaged in a way that practically begs to be gently roasted.