The Matt Damon Aging meme originates from the powerful closing sequence of the 1998 war drama 'Saving Private Ryan,' where the camera dissolves from the face of a young James Ryan (played by Matt Damon) to his elderly self at the Normandy American Cemetery. While the original scene is a somber reflection on sacrifice and memory, the internet repurposed the transition into a hilarious relatable trope for existential dread regarding the passage of time. It is frequently used to highlight how old a person feels after discovering a piece of trivia about the age of a pop culture relic, successfully capturing the shock of realizing that 'the 90s' were actually decades ago.