Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
[Manage newsletters]( [View in browser]( [Image] with Kevin Fallon Everything we canât stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
This week: - Y2K culture is back, which is horrifying. - Are film franchises dying? (No. But maybe!) - Actors can be really stupid. But so can we! - A little fun thing for Severance fans to look at. - A little fun thing for me to look at. Please Stop Reminiscing About the Early 2000s Yes, I obviouslyâand immediatelyâsigned up for the bizarre Jennifer Lopez [fansite newsletter]( she forced people to subscribe to in order to see a photo of her engagement ring from Ben Affleck. The [whole engagement news is so surreal](. Iâm only mostlyânot all the wayâembarrassed to admit that itâs [exciting](, tooâso exciting that I willingly requested for more email to be sent to my inbox. It was 20 years ago that the couple first got engaged and, depending on how you look at it, ushered in a singular moment of celebrity obsession or opened up the next circle of cultural hell. It was a moment in time in which everyone lost their minds, in ways that, two decades later, weâre only just starting to heal from. âBenniferâ wasnât just a cute portmanteau memorializing the unlikely union of the worldâs biggest famouses, at a time when reality TV wasâcritics fearedâ[threatening the moral fiber]( of society and we needed our classic, glamorous famouses the most. âBenniferâ was our lifeboat. It was also our curse. When âBenniferâ was being splashed across magazine covers and dominated 95 percent of an episode of Access Hollywood, we were a destabilized, confused post-9/11 society. Some of us were just coming of age, and some of us were having to come of age again in a world we didnât recognize. We didnât know what we wanted or needed from culture or entertainment anymore, but we at least knew how this worked. The impossibly attractive major star who we took grotesque delight in objectifying and the chiseled-jaw actor representing the Everyman got together. They were ours to adulate. They were ours to dissect. They were ours to criticize, to photograph, to chase, to place our hopes and dreams on, and to make demands of. They were ours. Now that Ben and Jen are back together, we reminisce about their romance. But we forget what weâve learned over these last yearsâthat the cravenness with which we seized their engagement for ourselves, stripping them of privacy and dignity, is what ruined things. âBenniferâ was the horrifying turning point of a vulture-like, rapacious hunt for celebrity scandal and the willful complicity in causing tragedy and trauma that would define much of these last 20 years, until a reckoning that has only been very recent. So itâs been interesting to see the warm smile the engagement news has been met with. Not that Iâm not happy for them. Congrats to these two Hot as Hell people whom Iâve never met. Itâs that itâs bizarre to see it accompanied by a yearning for a return to those early-millennium, Y2K yearsâyears that, nostalgia be damned, were rather terrible! The return of the early aughts seems to be everywhere. [Britney Spears is pregnant again](. Lindsay Lohan is [working with Vogue]( and being incredibly charmingâand just signed a [two-picture deal](. A new Legally Blonde movie is coming. [Sandra Bullock]( and [J. Lo]( brought back the studio rom-com. Everyone is [talking about Shrek](. The cultural landscape is eerily familiar. And thatâs not to mention [the clothes](. People are [having fun with it!]( I am, too. It can be a hoot to be reminded of the pop culture that was formative at a certain point in your past. Tiffany âNew Yorkâ Pollard, reality TVâs Molotov cocktail of looney genius, currently has a fabulous [fashion spread in Interview magazine](. A cherished moment in queerbaiting TV historyâJake Gyllenhaal [performing a song from Dreamgirls]( while dressed in drag on SNLâwas revisited as Gyllenhaal [sang a Céline Dion ballad](, a phrase I might have previously typed in the search bar of a porn site, on the sketch show last weekend. And so much of this centers around redemption for mistreated public figures who fell victim to our misogyny, racism, or lack of empathy. Not just Bennifer, Britney or Lindsay. Thereâs finally [#JusticeForJanet](. Amanda Bynesâ [conservatorship ended](. Paris Hilton is [being taken seriously](. These are obviously things to champion. But shouldnât these comebacks actually underline how much those years were so very, truly not a good time? Itâs not just that I shudder at the thought of wide-leg jeans and frosted tips making a return to fashion. (Weâve been through enough these last months. Must we also weather that, too?) Itâs that these comeback stories have been such a stark reminder of the cultural ugliness of 20 years ago. Whatever you have to say about the bombshell news that Britney Spears is pregnant again months after her conservatorship endedâand the best thing to say about it, for the love of God, is absolutely nothingâthe reaction to it is inextricable from the medium on which she chose to reveal it. Spearsâ Instagram has, at times, made people uncomfortable for its candor. But for all the unease over how unhinged her captions can be, theyâve been remarkable diaries about how the horrific way she was treated by a Hollywood system, a lecherous family, and a villainizing press continues to affect her and her life decisions. Whatâs struck me about the news in her personal life is how great of an opportunity this is not to revisit, but to restart. I thought about this recently when the trailer for the [new season of The Real World Homecoming](, the series that reunites former casts of the MTV show to continue the conversations they started all those years ago, was released featuring the cast of The Real World: New Orleans. Every millennial and member of Gen Z has *their* Real World season, the one that mattered the most to them and changed how they thought about TV and pop culture. New Orleans was that for me. Iâve never stopped thinking about Julie and Melissa. My first AOL IM screen name was woowoo1987, in honor of Davidâs signature catchphrase. And then there was Danny. I was in love with Danny without knowing that I was in love with Danny. Itâs only looking back now as an adult that I realize just how absolutely, hopelessly infatuated with him I was. Danny was openly gay. He was lovely, kind, cute, and generous in talking about that with his housemates. Famously, his boyfriend, who was in the military, came to visit, and had to have his face blurred the entire time he was on screen because of Donât Ask, Donât Tell. That has stayed with me, even though I didnât always know why. I obviously canât wait to devour the Homecoming reunion and hear more about what that time was like and how he feels about it now. And even just now typing about my Dear Sweet Pretend Husband Dannyânot to mention the showâIâm smiling ear to ear remembering what fun it was to watch it for the first time. While those are nice memories, Iâd in no way want to return to that time or have to revisit what it felt like to feel so conflicted and tortured because of that eraâs cultural mores and attitudes. Maybe all of this Y2K nostalgia is because of a nationwide guilt complex, especially as we watch in horror while similar mistakes made out of moral panic, privilege, entitlement, and fear are beginning to happen again. We want to embrace the return of these cultural touchstones from 20 years ago because we can maybe do better this time. But if I see one person in a puka-shell necklace and popped-collar polo, thatâs it. My Big Straight Weekend at the Movies Weâre all tired of them. Even if the social-media chatter doesnât reflect it. Even if the box-office dollars donât necessarily say it. Even if [the Oscars are giving out bogus awards to moments from them]( featuring problematic actors. Weâre tired of the film franchises. You can admit it. Yes, [Spider-Man: No Way Home]( was the biggest movie in years, a total blast, and a perfect outlet for any and all people looking to accelerate their [crush on Andrew Garfield](. And The Batman sparked enough interest that many people willingly sat through [its three-hour runtime]( for it to become a similar box-office success. But it is with only the slightest of flutters in my heart and smallest of giddy grins on my face that I report that the Hollywood franchise seems to be in crisis. [Jared Letoâs Morbius]( just earned the distinction of having the largest second-weekend drop-off in ticket sales in comic book and superhero-movie history. Because of his arrest and history of alleged misconduct, Ezra Miller has played into Warner Brothersâ decision to delay the release of The Flash and [put on âpauseâ]( any future projects with the actor. Miller also, of course, stars in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, a once surefire Hollywood franchise money-minting machine that has now been [mired in so much controversy](âRowling, Depp and Miller, oh my!âthat its upcoming release this weekend is being met with deafening silence. Thatâs all well and good because I recently had one of the most fun movie-going weekends of my life attending screenings not of the quirky indie movies, musicals, or the rom-com fare I typically champion, but action-packed, adrenaline-filled, grab-a-bucket-of-popcorn-and-toss-it-in-the-air films that merit so much more excitement than we usually only reserve for franchise flicks. [Everything Everywhere All at Once is a blast](. People on social media are histrionically talking about it like some sort of cinematic savior because it really does feel that way: something so fresh and daring, but which taps into everything that traditionally delights us about the experience of going to a theater and seeing something on the big screen. Then [thereâs Ambulance](. I do not know why you all have not seen Ambulance, perhaps even several times. It is, in my mind, the quintessential Michael Bay movie. Couldnât get enough of it. Jake Gyllenhaal could run me over with his emergency vehicle, and I wouldnât mind. Itâs refreshing to have these movies as alternatives to the franchise nonsense at a micro moment in time when those films seem to be struggling (theyâll be back), but also great to have them as proof that there are really, truly better options out there. Weâve All Been Enabling Jared Leto While [talking with British GQ]( this week about the new Fantastic Beasts movie (as mentioned: cursed), Mads Mikkelsen gave the first quote about method acting and an artistâs process that finally made sense. Sorry not sorry, [Jared Leto](. And, rightfully, he places equal blame on the press as he does pretentious actors: âThe media goes, âOh my god, he took it so seriously, therefore he must be fantastic; letâs give him an award.â Then thatâs the talk, and everybody knows about it, and it becomes a thing.â Severance Is Even More Brilliant Than We Already Thought Severance has been the [TV surprise of the year](, as far as Iâm concerned. The first season, which recently finished, is so good, and so ripe for gushing about and analyzing that, for your own health, I highly recommend you ensure that you have someone to watch and talk through it with. If [youâve seen the series](, you might delight in this tidbit that [a keen-eyed fan noticed](. (If you havenât, itâs not a spoiler but just a very cool detail that shows how meticulous the attention to detail is on this show.) Baseball Officially Has My Attention Well [this happened](, and now I canât believe that I have no choice but to love sports. Russian Doll: A solid Season 2 for a great show, what a concept. (Wed. on Netflix) The Flight Attendant: A solid Season 2 for a great⦠well, see above. (Thurs. on HBO Max) Outer Range: Is it a Yellowstone copycat? Sure. Does that matter? Nope! (Fri. on Amazon) Better Call Saul: Turns out this show is pretty good. (Mon. on AMC) The First Lady: Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson⦠and yet not good? (Sun. on Showtime) Father Stu: Maybe donât go see the weird Christian film with Mel Gibson in it. (Now in theaters) Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: And letâs put this franchise out of its misery, too. (Fri. in theaters) Advertisement
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