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2022 Pop Culture Year in Review
I hope everyone is having a festive runway to the holiday season — my break starts tomorrow night thanks to my strategic PTO, which I’m kicking off with the 3+ hour viewing of Avatar: The Way of Water with my coworkers who I have spent nearly every night this week with.
As the year winds down, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite pop culture moments, good, bad, and ugly. Enjoy!
Favorite Celebrity Scandal
To say my heart stopped when we received the leaked “Shia, Shia Shiaaaaa” video is an understatement — I might have actually been legally dead for multiple minutes.
It all felt so constructed — I’m in my car, sweaty from riding my horses. This is off-the-cuff and spontaneous! If I were in acting school, I would use that vlog as a monologue for my Chekov workshop.
The Don’t Worry Darling press tour drama of course became a little grating as time went on, but this video was better than any reality TV reveal. It rivals when Kim dropped the Kanye and Taylor tapes during the “Famous” debacle. Just pure chaos.
Favorite Movie Moment
The A24 thriller/comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but the final fight sequence between the surviving Gen Z frenemies was enough to redeem it.
Particularly, Rachel Sennot’s burn of all burns: “Your parents are upper. middle. CLASS.”
I have a particular distaste for people who cosplay as poor — I went to a super pretentious film school full of nepo babies and rich internationals, but no one wanted to admit to being wealthy because in an environment where positioning yourself as far left as possible is social currency, your own privilege undermines your cache.
And what kind of game is that? If I had a trust fund or a McKinsey mom, you’d find me at the White Lotus with Daphne. The hate would be well worth it.
Favorite Internet Saga
I don’t actively support bullying, but the Jake Novak SNL audition was probably one of the most memorable events of my year. This falls into the same category as the Try Guys scandal, but what I prefer in the Jake situation is that it was a slow build over time, so I really felt like I was on a cinematic journey. I covered this at length so if you missed it, the full breakdown is here.
I hope Jake is doing okay and can parlay his 15 minutes of infamy into something profitable, like a paid partnership with Better Help or a cheeky campaign with Halo Top about eating your feelings.
Favorite Fashion Moment
I don’t think I need to talk at length about Kim K at the Met. Obviously this is what I’m going to pick.
Watching it back docu-style on the recent season of The Kardashians made me like it even more — negotiating on the phone with Ripley’s, sauna suit workouts, completely bleaching her hair 36 hours before the event JUST to wear the dress for 10 minutes on the red carpet. . .this was Kim’s personal Rocky montage.
There’s been a lot of talk about legacy building this season and the orchestration of “moments.” When you’re so famous that you’re photographed for sneezing, how do you ensure that your personally-curated highlight reel dominates the narrative after you’re gone?
Most Chaotic Celeb Apology
Google searches surged for “egg yolk omelet” surged after Balthazar owner and professional shit-stirrer Keith McNally blasted James Corden for diva behavior and banning him from his restaurant.
What was great about this apology saga was that it was layered and contradictory. At first, he told The Times that he had done nothing wrong, but then apologized at length during his monologue on his show. But it was definitely an “I’m apologizing so I don’t get cancelled” apology — the equivalent of an “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
Favorite TV Moment
Season 2 of Euphoria was messy and melodramatic, but Cassie’s and crew’s country music star bathroom back-and-forth was TV magic. It was so pervasive, even Logan Roy got in on it.
The most under-the-radar line is actually my favorite: “Oklahoma isn’t like a play you read.” So true! That would be me — the chubby girl in the corner coming in hot with the musical theater knowledge.
This season also brought us the hiding in the bathtub meme, “is this fucking play about us,” and “you dumb fucking bitch I will fuck you up,” which I’ve seen played at raves (not that I’ve attended, obvs). Maybe Sam Levinson should just make viral TikToks and leave the HBO dramas to Mike White.
Cringiest Celeb Moment
I can’t believe that we’re already out here talking about the Oscars again — I remember it like it was yesterday, because I was in the same apartment with the same job and the same bad clothes.
But I’m not going to bore you with another reflection on The Slap, I have something more pressing to discuss.
I never saw West Side Story and I have no intention of ever doing so, but I did sit through its star, Rachel Zegler’s, incessant whining about not being invited to the Academy Awards.
I would be pissed too if I was the lead actress in a nominated film and I was essentially told to go fuck myself on what should have been one of the biggest nights of my career, but she handled it in such a pick-me-girl way:
“IDK y’all I have tried it all but it doesn’t seem to be happening. I will root for ‘West Side Story’ from my couch and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did 3 years ago. I hope some last-minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person but hey, that’s how it goes sometimes, I guess.”
She also made a comment about how she would be wearing her “sweatpants and [her] boyfriend’s flannel” during the broadcast, which is just so Tumblr 2009.
She ended up getting to go, but I wasn’t happy for her.
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