The main events in pop culture in 2014
At first sight 2014 turned out to be a year of the obvious: Miley Cyrus continues to ride the ball, “Nymphomaniac” both came and went, key characters like Beyonce continue to hold and strengthen their positions. However, not everything is so flat, and if you look closely, in the past year important pop-cultural processes, which have been brewing for years, finally got an expression. In 2014, the final distribution of zones of influence in pop culture for the near future occurred.
As always, many of the topics that worried us in the entertainment industry bordered on pressing issues of life. So, it is foolish to deny that feminism became the main trend of the outgoing year: the big actors explained their feminist position, and Beyoncé (flawless!) Stood at the head of the movement in pop culture. Hip-hop stars and celebrities worked harder on expanding the list of beauty standards: remember how Niki Minaj sat on the cover of the album, and Kim Kardashian blew up the Internet. There were sad events - we said goodbye to Robin Williams, there were joyful events - Lupita Nyong'o became a symbol of racial equality in gloss and on the carpet. It's time to figure out what else happened in the entertainment industry in the past year.
1
Taylor Swift - Queen of Pop
Maybe someone is already tired of listening to the same mantra, but yes, Taylor Swift is the pop star number one of this year. While Beyonce takes an unattainable position somewhere in the clouds, here on earth, Swift rules. Until the last album, her work passed by many: melodious country music about a broken heart and a crippled soul, no matter how popular it was, but still music for an amateur. Taylor seemed to be building on a platform for his “real” debut. Having earned a fan base of loyal adolescent teenagers, she remained, rather, the hero of the gossip era of the normcore era: Taylor goes to Topshop, but meets Jake Gyllenhaal, and then writes again about the same thing - how he broke her heart. Taylor plays her hand on her age and goes hand in hand with him the flexibility of thinking. She absorbed all the best that was in pop culture to date, and gave the world a great record. And she is friends with Lorde, Lena Dunham and Jennifer Lawrence, communicating with them without too much secularism and even walking the handle.
2
Lena Dunham finally became the voice of a generation
In 2014, we all read and re-read books of comedians - from Sarah Silverman to Amy Poehler, who turned out to work no worse than going to a psychotherapist, only they will have a better sense of humor. I remember, the heroine of Lena Dunam - Hannah Horvath - declares from the first shots in "Girls": "Mom, dad, it may very well be me, the voice of a generation!" We all grinned a little then: Lena, of course, is cool, that's just what she can show us, except for our own reflection curves that do not fit into the perverse 90-60-90. A couple of years later, Dunham turned out to be the number one star on the book shelves, her writing advance has become the main topic of conversation, and real success as an author and director has long overtaken the development of an autobiographical character in Girls.
Lena Dunam is criticized for being too frank: sometimes topless appears too often, then she describes in detail how a guy in cowboy boots raped her - and his counterpart now cannot step on campus. With pliers, she pulls herself out of the next forced truth, examining it with perverted corrosiveness. She tries to study herself to the end and tell others about her discoveries - what if someone can learn from her mistakes. Such Lena turned out to be an incredibly needed pop culture today - even re-photoschooled on the cover of Vogue.
3
Pop culture has accelerated even more: memes are born and die in seconds
Now it became clear that the main role in promoting anything is played by social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine and YouTube. You don’t need to go far for examples: the Target seller has become a meme and sex symbol in a couple of days, the bad guy Jeremy Mix is even faster. The adoration and hatred of the public, which is the locomotive of all popular culture, today spread with cosmic speed. The reverse is also true. In 2014, we easily forgot about the memes of 2013, like the Harlem Shake, and by December we won’t remember the #IceBucketChallenge charity hit. The culture of hashtags and memes is consumed, spreads and dies faster than ever before, becoming, quite importantly, a good source of income. If bloggers earning on YouTube no longer surprise anyone, then the income of the Grumpy Cat cutie shocked many - the only question is how long it can be exploited.
4
Video games have caused discussion about sexism
We ourselves became participants in the showdown of the relationship between the gaming industry and caring spectators. 2014 was held under the #GamerGate tag, which exposed the unpleasant gut, about which, in general, and so many people knew - misyginia, flourishing in the game environment. Conversation under the guise of reasoning about journalistic ethics instantly became the cry of female haters, turned first against the girl Zoya Quinn, and then all the women at once. Another character in this unpleasant performance turned out to be media critic Anita Sargsyan, whose family had to move because of the threats that came to her. The past year has explained one simple thing to us: the gaming industry has to change and it seems that this is inevitable.
5
"Cold Heart" - the main cartoon of the year for children and adults
The animated film “Cold Heart” was released at the end of 2013, so it’s not surprising that we took it to the new year and carried it through 2014. Surprisingly, the new Disney film about the princess and queen hit absolutely on all fronts the bullseye. Children instantly fell in love with him: on merchandising, legal and not very much, shops are still enriched. He became the most successful animated film in history, earning $ 1.3 billion at the box office, at the same time taking several Oscars (among other awards), including the best song "Let It Go". The anthem of non-conformism and female empowerment was sung mostly by adults, who saw in the cartoon a revolutionary feminist overtext for the genre. Although many Disney movies can actually do a good job with Behdel’s test, in no other mainstream cartoon would the message be as clear and appropriate as here. Next year, by the way, there will be a sequel in the form of a short film.
6
Interstellar destroys the cult of Nolan
Christopher Nolan’s most anticipated film of the year Interstellar caused about a fatal wave of adoration mixed with contempt, like the one that covered the heroes' spaceship in the film itself. The highest grossing director of the planet took the most calculating picture, but in the end he was not able to deceive the audience. Interstellar was recognized as the worst picture of the year, with which we are forced to agree. The main pop director tried again to turn the trick with the substitution of meanings, but it turned out that he was heartless and not very clever. And even McConaughey, the forced participant in the clichéd dialogues about the eternal, does not save the picture - no matter how much we love him.
7
Kim and Kanye - a couple of years
The loudest celebrity couple today - Kim and Kanye, and just Kimye for their own - dictated their own rules in the industry last year. Their media image is already more important than any actual achievements, they are shot in advertising, go to shows, discuss private life in public and raise their daughter North West in design sliders. Kim wanted to get on the cover of Vogue - and exactly there she was - in the arms of Kanye, of course. Kanye still can’t release a new album, so his wife, who was commissioned to break her brilliant (in every sense) booty, had to take the rap for a simple one. In addition, the outgoing 2014 was the Year of the Big Weddings: in addition to Kimier, Brangelina and Clooney and Amal Alamuddin married.
8
Popular culture drew attention to transgender people
The first big breakthrough for transgender people today was the role of Lavern Cox in the TV series "Orange - hit of the season": in just two years, the actress became the face of transgender people in the entertainment industry. In addition to the second season of the show about women's prison on Netflix, Amazon launched an incredibly successful "Transparent", the main character of which is decided to change sex. In addition, many transgender people were involved in the filming of the series as employees of various departments. The music videos of the year also referred to the shakiness of gender boundaries, an example of this being the clip of both Perfume Genius and Arcade Fire, which shot Andrew Garfield in the female image. Cox's work did not accidentally hit our list of the most important events of the year for women - largely due to her, the general public, who had previously closed her eyes to the problems of transgender people, changed her mind.
9
Farrell Williams song is again the hit of the year
Perhaps Farrell just figured out the formula for an ideal radio hit. Another explanation for the fact that the guy in a strange hat for the second year in a row dictates the planet, under which track she should dance, sleep, eat and, in principle, live cannot be found.
10
Celebrities headed for immediacy
We have already written about the course on immediacy: whatever one may say, the time of the celestials in the cinema is coming to an end. 2014 will be remembered as the year when celebrities voluntarily turned themselves into an object of jokes and material for memes, not hesitating to behave indecently. It turns out that the stars are the same people as we (like a surprise!), And those who do not take themselves too seriously win. The latest Oscars became exemplary: they were led by Ellen DeGeneres, who ordered not only pizza for the ceremony, but also added relaxation to the award. Jennifer Lawrence continues to fall, Benedict Cumberbatch makes selfies with fans, and even in very serious areas the degree drops. Kate Middleton during a visit to the States screams with delight at the sight of Jena Malone, and Michelle Obama reads rap about turnips. God, let nothing change!
11
James Franco, Seth Rogen and The Interview foment US-North Korean relations
Perhaps, we still see the film, because of which the Sony server was hacked: the company was considering the option of uploading the Interview on YouTube (and this is more proof of the influence of social networks), and now it has become known that it will be released with limited rental. The satirical opus of James Franco and Seth Rogen on the assassination attempt (successful) on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could not pass by the country's radar. It was only a matter of time before the North Korean leadership reacted. It is rumored that Sony is not very difficult to hack. In any case, now Kim Jong-un is wearing this achievement as a medal on his chest, while American stars created petitions asking them to release a film. Thank God that the film didn’t become the cause of a serious inter-ethnic conflict. Media, however, fears that now hackers of Comrade Kim are planning an attack on South Korea as well.
12
Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson - Actors of the Year
The main actors of the year were clearly Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson. Escaping from the role of a silly tanned rolling, McConaughey again fell in love with many thanks to his dramatic talent, which he increased along with the muscles. In the Dallas Buyers Club and the True Detective, we saw another somber McConaughey, and neither his trademark alright alright alright nor his role in the controversial Interstellar would prevent him from perceiving the same way. Scarlett and at all played three diverse and very characteristic roles in the films of 2014, becoming, perhaps, the most successful actress of the year.
13
Women openly sang about sex
Frankness in a sense became an important topic of the year in itself. Here both the visual image of women in the media, and frank scenes without embellishment with the same Lena Dunham in "Girls", and, of course, songs about sex in R'n'B came together. Young girls rethink the genre in terms of content, dragging the blanket over themselves. If before singing about intimate moments was for the most part a man's lot, in 2014 the situation changed. FKA twigs, SZA, Kelela and others are no longer shy - and they sang about their innermost feelings and desires without grimacing.
14
Teenage literature has become an influential genre.
After the release of the books and the subsequent versions of “Twilight”, the literature for teenagers and adults who did not want to grow up gained popularity and gradually ceased to be, as they say, an amateur - straight went to the bestseller tops. Now everyone reads such books: and in 2014, in love for them, it’s not as embarrassing to confess as for pop music, for example. More and more authors are placing in the center of the plot courageous girls, who want to be equal to young women who are ready to save the world on a par with men. With the adaptation of the dystopia "Divergent" and the touching novel "Blame the Stars" young actress Shailene Woodley was the face of this trend - it turned out that she chose to play the main roles in the two main screenings of Yang-Adults-works.
15
Donna Tartt revived the form of a great novel.
Obviously, Donna Tartt's “Goldfinch” became the novel of the year. Released abroad at the end of last year, it became a 2014 bestseller - including in Russia. They say the rights to its screen version have already acquired Warner Bros. The first book of the writer secretly returned to the modern literature the concept of a great novel, and “Goldfinch”, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, only consolidated it. The Shchegol, which was promptly translated into Russian this year, with ease and without unnecessary advertising, became the main novel of the year. Tartt herself, terribly non-public, closed, and having written over twenty years of writing career, already three major works, two of which have become bestsellers, elegantly avoid the public, although their fame may not shy away - certainly, this is the main writer of the year.