The Departed | Know Your Meme

About

The Departed is a film directed by Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson. The film follows DiCaprio’s character Billy Costigan, a plant placed in the Irish mob by the Boston police, and Damon’s character Colin Sullivan, a plant placed in the police by the mob, which is headed by Frank Costello (Nicholson). The film was a massive success, winning several awards and debuting at number one at the box office.

History

The Departed was released on October 6th, 2006. The film follows Boston cop Billy Costigan rising as a plant in the Irish mob and mobster Colin Sullivan gaining trust in the Boston police. The two eventually figure each other out, leading to a climactic pursuit. The film is an adaptation of the Hong Kong film Internal Affairs.

Reception

The film was a huge critical success, winning Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. It was hailed by critics as one of Scorsese’s best alongside Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. It has been hailed as one of the best films of the 2000s by several critics, including Richard Roeper, Peter Travers, and Roger Ebert.

Online Presence

On October 6th, 2006, a page for the film was launched on Facebook, gaining upwards of 1.9 million likes over the next 13 years. One of its most iconic scenes, which features DiCaprio’s character smashing another’s over a bar table, has been parodied in GIFs (shown below).

The film has also been widely discussed on Reddit. Threads have covered Scorsese’s use of X’s to mark certain characters for death and the film’s making. The film is also big on Tumblr, with devoted blogs “The Departed Blog” and “Hurray The Departed.”

“Remove the Rat” Kickstarter

On February 18th, 2019, Adam Sacks created a Kickstarter to remove the rat from the final shot of The Departed, which he claimed was heavy-handed symbolism that spoiled the film (original scene shown below). The rat has long been a subject of jokes about Scorsese’s “ham-fisted” use of symbolism. As of February 20th, the Kickstarter has reached its $4,000 goal.

The Kickstarter was mocked the following day on Twitter. Twitter user @Max_Read joked that the shot ruined the film’s “carefully cultivated subtlety” (shown below, left). User @bernstein joked that the ending was actually tonally appropriate if you think of the film as a comedy.

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External References