The Interview Editors Favorite Pop Culture Moments of 2020

Popcorn by Miles Aldridge.

2020 was chaotic, traumatizing, and the majority of it felt like a fever dream. While the year was riddled with both turmoil and existential dread, there were a few moments that provided a short reprieve from the weight of the world. Below, the Interview editors give their picks for their favorite pop culture moments of 2020.

———

BEN BARNA, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

If you plan on watching The Mandalorian, or haven’t finished the second season, consider this a spoiler warning. Maybe it’s recency bias, but the surprise return of Luke Skywalker in the season two finale of the Disney Plus hit was the most thrilling thing I’ve seen on screen this year. I’m not even someone with a deep connection to the Star Wars franchise, but I couldn’t help but feel emotional when a de-aged Mark Hamill emerged from his X-wing to rescue Baby Yoda at the last minute. But no matter how much I loved it, it was nothing compared to these folks.

———

NICK HARAMIS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I wracked my brain thinking about things that I could like ironically, since the truth is that I hated this year. But there were bursts of optimism and goodness in 2020, chief among them being that instantly iconic, meme-worthy video of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, mid-run, on the phone with President-elect Joe Biden when they realized they’d won the election. “We did it, Joe” became not just an admission of victory, but a collective sigh of relief. And I’m excited for all of us to make sure that this new administration does, in fact, do it in the new year, Joe.

———

RICHARD TURLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Mine was pretty low key but the petty handwringing and mock horror at the Red Scare girls years-old Visitor Design merch line blowing up on clickbait sites (entirely to the benefit of Anna and Dasha’s bank balance as they shifted warehouse-loads of product), was both beautifully idiotic and symbolic of how brutalized our relationship to media has become, where the role of “reader” is now one where you’re trolled by the very news sites that were built (a generation ago) to inform you. And yet so few seem to recognize the game being played. We’re so keen to publicly balk at the most recently committed societal atrocity, throw up an angry post, and get in line at the protest, just so we can fit in a bit a more, get rewarded by likes and by some attention, any attention. Maybe it’s a hedge against how isolated and alone many have felt this year. But I don’t know about that. I think it’s more that we’re so burnt by the social media machine we don’t know how to behave otherwise other than to create yet another new enemy and have an epileptic fit in honor of their crimes. It’s the written rubric of our times.

———

———

———