Let’s be honest: A lot of us are relieved to see 2012 go. Sure, we got to see some grand Olympic performances and all. But we spent far more time dealing with hurricanes or mourning horrific tragedies or fighting about politics or panicking over the looming fiscal cliff. It’s a wonder the world didn’tend on Dec. 21.
No surprise that many of us turned to entertainment to escape. We wanted a little diversion. We needed some pop culture comfort food. We even looked to our entertainment for heroes. And sometimes we found them.
But sometimes our entertainment just reminded us further of what a fallen world we live in.
With that in mind, Plugged In presents a list (alphabetically) of folks who (according to us) rocked the U.S. culture in 2012. Some were heroes. Some were villains. And still others were swept up in the storm that was 2012, just like the rest of us.
Lance Armstrong: He never failed a drug test. He still maintains his innocence. No matter: The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency unfurled a tsunami of evidence against the seven-time Tour de France winner, proving (legally, at least) that Lance Armstrong led the most sophisticated doping program in the drug-plagued world of cycling. Armstrong was stripped of his titles and banned from racing. He responded by trying to save the brightest part of his legacy—The Livestrong Foundation cancer charity—by walking away from it. Armstrong’s fall from sports Mt. Olympus was hard to watch, but it reminded us of a sad, salient fact. Our heroes are not always who or what they appear to be.
Julia Bluhm: She’s only 14, but Julia Bluhm may have had the biggest impact on the fashion magazine industry since the invention of slick paper. This spring, Bluhm launched a campaign on change.org to encourage Seventeen to include one unaltered photo a month. More than 84,000 signatures later, Seventeen was meeting with Bluhm, revealing its photo alteration process to the public and promising to “never change girls’ body or face shapes.” The mag stopped short of admitting any wrongdoing, but for Bluhm—and for us—it doesn’t much matter. Bluhm successfully drew attention to the unrealistic, often unhealthy models found on the pages of most fashion magazines—adding a strong voice for a growing call to change.
Captain America: “Aren’t the Stars and Stripes a little … old fashioned?” Captain America asks Agent Coulson in The Avengers. “With everything that’s happening,” Coulson says, “people might just need a little old fashioned.” Coulson wasn’t talking about you and me, but he might as well have been. North Americans were in the mood for some old-school heroes this year, coughing up more than $1.3 billion to watch the Dark Knight rise, Spider-Man amaze and the Avengers, um, avenge. The Avengers was the biggest movie of the year, collecting more than $600 million. And while Hulk may be stronger and Iron Man might get more press, Captain America is the team’s tactical and moral leader—a guy who, in the amped-up world of superheroes, emphasizes the “hero” more than the “super.” Cap, we doff our caps to you.
Katniss Everdeen: Before The Avengers rolled out its spangly carpet, The Hunger Games was the talk of Tinseltown. Katniss helped launch new interest in archery, encouraged tourism in North Carolina (where the movie was filmed) and, on this very blog, stoked loads of conversation about the influence of violent movies. But Katniss also represents a new wave of strong female characters in the movies—characters who have been underrepresented in film for years. From Hushpuppy, the 6-year-old dynamo in Beasts of the Southern Wild to headstrong Merida in Brave to driven CIA spook Maya in Zero Dark Thirty, movies have been awash in estrogen-laden protagonists, telling girls and women everywhere that heroes come in more than one gender. And Katniss speaks to that point as sharply and as lucratively as anyone.
James Holmes: At a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colo., James Holmes opened fire on a theater full of moviegoers, killing 12 people and injuring 58. Holmes, his hair dyed bright red, allegedly told police he was the Joker. While we can’t know what inspired Holmes to pull the trigger, some experts note that his elaborate scheme (down to his booby-trapped apartment) seemed yanked from a movie, sparking new debate over the influence of violent media on those who watch it. The fact that the killing was perpetrated in a place of secular refuge—where many of us go to get away from the world’s problems—only adds to the horror. While the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., is more recent and raw, the Aurora shooting makes our list because it more directly impacted the world of entertainment.
Demi Lovato: In late 2010, Demi Lovato was at the lowest ebb of her young career. Struggling with eating disorders and cutting herself, the Disney teen queen allegedly punched a backup dancer during a tour with the Jonas Brothers and, shortly thereafter, checked into a treatment facility. Now, two years later, Lovato’s comeback is complete. She was the subject of a brutally honest documentary this spring on MTV. She became a judge on Simon Cowell’s The X-Factor this fall. More importantly, the 20-year-old singer/actor has become a passionate advocate for her young fans, many who struggle with the same issues she did. Lovato will admit that she’s not out of the woods: She still faces some of the same issues as before. But through her, many young girls have learned to embrace the words she tattooed on the scars on her wrists: Stay Strong.
Mickey Mouse: It’s official: Our childhoods are owned by Disney now. It wasn’t enough that the House of Mouse made most of the classic animated movies we watch and rewatch. It wasn’t enough that it owns Pixar, the studio churning out more modern classics than any other. It also owns the Marvel superhero universe now, which means The Avengers has Mickey’s white-gloved paw prints all over it. And this fall, Disney announced that it was buying George Lucas’ phenomenally lucrative Star Wars franchise for a measly $4 billion (the sale was completed right before Christmas). We can only assume that Mickey’s in negotiations to buy the LEGO, Barbie and Tinkertoy empires right now, and he may be plotting to go after lemonade and snow angels next.
PSY: It’s amazing what a little traction on YouTube can do. Before this year, the South Korean star PSY was virtually unknown in the rest of the world. Now, thanks to his song “Gangnam Style” (an over-the-top satire of South Korea’s consumerist elite) and a music video that with 1.06 billion views became the most-watched YouTube clip of all time, PSY’s arguably the world’s best-known artist. Alas, all that fame has a way of uncovering long-hidden skeletons: Shortly before PSY was scheduled to perform in front of President Obama, the world learned that the rapper of sorts sang a song with some virulently anti-American lyrics during a 2004 performance. He quickly apologized, but it was a good lesson for the rest of us: What we say and do in this wired age never truly goes away.
Kristen Stewart: The Twilight Saga that made Kristen Stewart a star came to a close this year with a $282.4 million bang. She starred in another hit, Snow White and the Huntsman. A third movie, On the Road, is in select theaters now. Oh, and she also happens to be the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, collecting $34.5 million in the 12 months ending in May. But all that success couldn’t keep her from making a massive misstep: cheating on boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her married Snow White director, Rupert Sanders. That was enough to shock legions of Twihards something awful, but her apology was even more shocking: It felt painfully sincere. “This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob,” she wrote. “I love him, I love him, I’m so sorry.” The two are reportedly back together, prompting us to wonder if maybe even movie stars deserve second chances.
Alanna “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson: Hey, don’t get us wrong: We love the pint-size star of TLC’s Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. She’s all of 7 years old, after all: How much responsibility can we have her take for her poor diet or go-go juice? But her show—well, that’s another story. One of the highest-rated series on television, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo stands at the forefront of rubberneck television, where viewers are encouraged to watch—and laugh at—a familial freak show, where the worst attributes of this apparently loving family are stressed and augmented, and their dialogue is routinely accompanied with subtitles (as if the Thompsons’ Southern twang was a foreign language). Sure, MTV encouraged us to laugh at the Jersey Shore cast, too, but at least they were of age and (presumably) knew what they were doing. But this little girl? Twenty years from now, when Honey Boo Boo is known as just Alanna Thompson and has earned a law degree, methinks TLC may have some trouble on its hands.
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