To paraphrase Steve Martin circa the 1970s, it’s been a wild and crazy year. We’ve been through the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement. We’ve watched politicians bicker and our 401(k)’s sag. We marked the passing of a notorious North Korean dictator and celebrated the return of our troops from Iraq.
But for many Americans, all that took a back seat to discussing, um, other momentous events—like celebrity meltdowns. Or Edward and Bella’s nuptials. Or why, just when you get comfortable with your Facebook page, network execs fiddle with the thing again.
With that in mind, take a peek at who your lovable reviewers at Plugged In felt were the year’s biggest movers and shakers in the world of pop culture in 2011.
1. Mark Zuckerberg. I know, I know. To put the face of Facebook at the head of this list feels almost like we’re a year late. I mean, wasn’t he named Time’s Person of the Year in 2010? But consider the year the Zuck has had: In February, The Social Network was nominated for eight Oscars and won three. That same month, someone named their kid Facebook. In March, an entrepreneur created a Mark Zuckerberg bobblehead. Anyone familiar with Facebook has spent an inordinate amount of time discussing it this year—often on Facebook. Whether you love or hate Zuck’s grand creation, there’s no question that it’s changed the way many of us get our news and connect with people. While the other people on this list have impacted music or movies or the celebrity zeitgeist, no one’s influence has infiltrated our entire lives quite so thoroughly as Mark Zuckerberg’s.
2. Justin Bieber. Once upon a time, I thought the Biebs might be just a fad—a one- or two-year wonder, gone by the time his voice changed. And yet, the Justin juggernaut shows no signs of stopping—or even slowing down. In February, he unleashed his family-friendly concert movie (Justin Bieber: Never Say Never), which earned a healthy $30 million. In November, he released the Christmas album Under the Mistletoe, which has sold more than a million units. When he’s not dominating the media, his relationship with Selena Gomez raised our collective eyebrows. While evangelical Christians can feel a little uncertain of the Biebs—we appreciate his declaration of faith but worry that some of what he does runs counter to his beliefs—he helps remind us that we all are faced with temptations every day, and that people are watching to see how we handle them.
3. Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling’s fictional wizard fronted the year’s biggest movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), concluding the big-screen epic with a flourish. The secular world has long embraced “the boy who lived,” but Potter has left Christians fairly conflicted. Some embrace the good vs. evil ethos of the series and groove on some of the books’ spiritual underpinnings, while others are troubled by the franchise’s sorcery and darkness. Both sides had much to either embrace or take issue with in the final chapter, and the film was the source of much discussion even amongst Plugged In staffers.
4. Steve Jobs. The Apple CEO died earlier this year after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. I chronicled just how influential he’s been in the world of media in an earlier blog. Simply put, Jobs did more to blend the world of technology and the world of entertainment than anyone out there since Edison invented the motion picture, and his influence will be felt for decades.
5. Rebecca Black. You remember the song “Friday“, don’t you? Rebecca Black sure does. Earlier this year, the 13-year-old belted out a simple pop song and made a cheap video for YouTube—hoping, perhaps, that it might draw a couple thousand views. About 167 million hits later, Black was a bona fide celebrity. But a celebrity who was reviled as much or more than she was admired. Her turn at the top revealed the star-making power of the Internet, along with its inherent ruthlessness. Black was admittedly hurt by the criticism, but she got the last word: YouTube says that “Friday” was the most downloaded video of the year, and the teen recently announced she’s released another single. For me, Black offers two important lessons: Be careful what you post online, because the Web is a merciless place. But even if you make a misstep, it’s not the end of the world. With perseverance, we can overcome pretty much anything—even millions and millions of critics.
6. Tyler Clementi. You might not recognize the name, but Tyler Clementi was the 18-year-old freshman from Rutgers University who committed suicide after his roommate taped him having an intimate encounter with another man. Clementi’s death proved to be something of a cultural watershed: In its wake, homosexual celebrities and citizens started posting “It Gets Better” videos on YouTube, and Clementi’s passing fired up discussions about bullying and privacy. For Christians, his death was a critical reminder that, even when we disagree with someone’s choices or lifestyle, we must always treat that person with respect, dignity and compassion.
7. Tim Tebow. Let’s face it: The Denver Broncos quarterback is more than a football player. Over the past two months, Tebow has folks talking about faith in a way that even the world’s greatest spiritual leaders haven’t been able to do. Some people love him because he prays. Some people hate him because he prays too much. He’s been called the NFL’s worst quarterback and the NFL’s most effective leader—sometimes by the very same people. He’s the arm that launched a thousand sports columns, the man who kick-started an Internet fad (“Tebowing,” the act of bowing in unexpected places to pray). While two consecutive losses have dampened Tebow mania to some extent, the debate rages on. And in the midst of it all, the self-effacing QB keeps smiling, keeps giving away his time and money, keeps praying. Regardless of what happens in the rest of the season and the playoffs, Tebow showed what impact Christians can have in the world—simply by walking the walk.
8. Bella Swan. This summer, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight protagonist got hitched in a big-screen way to her sparkly vampire beau, Edward Cullen. And while critics hated The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, fans loved it. Trust me: We’ve heard from a few of you. And like Harry Potter, the Twilight series has left some Christians feeling a little conflicted. Some say, That Edward’s such a gentleman, while others remind us that that sparkly dude’s a soulless vampire! Perhaps that’s the reason why Meyer has made roughly 16 gazillion dollars from the series: She found a way to blend some of our purest aspirations with our darkest desires. And, like Bella, her readers must weigh the paradox and make a choice—though hopefully, the choice won’t culminate in a freakish vampire baby trying to claw its way out of the womb.
9. Kim Kardashian. Does anyone exemplify our fascination with celebrity better than this Kardashian sister? She may be the ultimate 21st-century star: She doesn’t sing or dance or act, but somehow her wedding to professional basketball player Kris Humphries nearly managed to eclipse another big 2011 wedding—the nuptials between Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Some believe that Kardashian grossed as much as $20 million from her big day, what with all the “exclusive rights” deals she peddled. And then, in the span of 72 much smaller days, it was all over. Now, I’m sure Kim’s a very nice person, and I’m not one of those who would suggest that her wedding to Humphries was a sham from the get-go. But for me, she still represents a sad low ebb in our culture: How the quest for celebrity has become so near-universal, it seems, and yet how empty it feels.
10. Charlie Sheen. Can you remember all the way back to January, when Charlie Sheen was talking about his “tiger blood” and “Adonis DNA?” Can Charlie Sheen? When the Two and a Half Men star was booted from his lucrative gig for a well-publicized drug-and-sex binge, the world witnessed a meltdown the likes of which we’ve never seen before—and hopefully will never see again. Sheen’s wild antics were, for a time, the hottest show in town, reality entertainment at its most real and raw. But the whole episode, in the end, might’ve said more about us than about Sheen: Though the man clearly needed help, most of us simply sat down, watched him and laughed.
There you have it—our rundown of pop culture’s biggest shakers and breakers. Now it’s your turn: Who did we miss? And who would be your No. 1?
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