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.

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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.

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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.

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RICHARD TURLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Mine was pretty low key but the petty handwringing and horror at the Red Scare girls years-old Visitor Design ISIS merch line blowing up on clickbait sites (entirely to the benefit of Anna and Dasha’s sku count), was beautifully idiotic and symbolic of this eras talent of starting fights in empty rooms. The disappointing part is how quickly those rooms STILL fill up with a braying mob outraged at the societal atrocity, or repulsed by the libtard orthodoxy, or the violation of some woke code, or whatever trigger event has been committed. The angry (but often nicely designed) posts get thrown up, protests arranged (make sure you ‘gram it), before the mob high-five each other in solidarity in the comments to get rewarded by likes and (God willing) some follows and by extension some attention, any attention. It’s as if we don’t know how to behave in the empty rooms of our Covid lives other than hang out in virtual spaces creating new enemies to have rage fits in honor of, before recording it as evidence of mutually shared values on social feeds. It’s the rubric of the times.

(Oh, and the Adrianne Lenker album was pretty good. And David Byrne’s American Utopia at the Hudson Theatre. And wondering around an empty MoMa, having it all to myself. And the shitty, unloved documentaries on Amazon Prime I watched endlessly. And walking down the middle of Varick Street on a Friday evening in April with not a car in sight. And the ramen at Cocoron, the chicken at Le Poulet Sans Tete, the dosas of Khiladi. And Washington Square on any given day but especially on Election Day.)

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