Netflix, Pokémon Go, US Presidential elections: The pop culture moments that defined 2016

Heading into the end of any year does strange things to you — you somehow start to feel nostalgic about it even if you’ve had a pretty sucky 12 months. Let’s face it, a decade from now, people aren’t likely to claim 2016 as their favourite year; but with all the political upheaval across the world (Brexit, the US elections, the refugee crisis, the human rights debacle that is Syria, demonetisation here in India), it definitely was an important one. On this the final day of the mockery that was 2016, let’s look back at this year through the prism of pop culture: because while it may seem superficial to reduce significant world issues to a meme, a tweet or a catchphrase, pop culture has never been as important as it is now. Now, when a failed businessman-turned-reality show host-turned US President, is using Twitter’s 140 characters as his official spokesperson. Ah, pop culture — it’s the gift that just keeps on giving!

The Highs  JK Rowling: First she gave us a glimpse into Harry and crew’s future by co-writing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Then she brought Harry’s school textbook to life by writing the screenplay to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first movie in a five-part series. Newt Scamander and his niffler entered our lives in the perfect prequel (an expansion of the Harry Potter universe) as well as a terrific standalone tale. As if opening up the vaults of Pottermore even wider for her frenzied fans, giving us a glimpse of our true Patronus (we got beagle, so we’re happy), and slaying online trolls with her wit as sharp as the sword of Gryffindor, wasn’t enough. And it’s not just the fantastical world that Rowling rules: HBO recently picked up rights for BBC One’s series based on her super-interesting and fun Cormoran Strike novels (she wrote them under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith), about the grumpy-yet-kind-war-veteran-turned-PI Cormoran Strike. Cannot wait! Pop Culture impact: 10/10 (See this reddit about the complete Pottermore Patronus quiz breakdown, and you’ll know what we mean!). Star Wars: Now that we’ve reached a point in history where everyone in the world has been alive for a Star Wars movie release (i.e. the best point in nerd culture), can we just talk about how incredible it is to have the biggest movie franchise become an annual event for the family? Move on Marvel, there’s a new kid in town! With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which released earlier this month, we now know that for a movie set in the Star Wars universe (a prequel, sequel, a separate anthology altogether..doesn’t matter) to work, it doesn’t need the iconic opening crawl or even a Jedi! Pop Culture impact: 9/10 (It’s Star Wars . Enough said!). Hamilton: Growing up, if history were taught to us the way Lin-Manuel Miranda and his band of insanely talented co-stars taught Broadway-goers about one of America’s often-forgotten founding fathers Alexander Hamilton, then we’d all be scholars. The premise of Hamilton, Mr. Miranda’s genius musical creation, was to combine America’s Revolutionary War-era history with, erm, hip hop. Reviews for the musical were good in late-2015 when it debuted on Broadway, but it was in 2016 that Hamilton became the cultural phenomenon that we now know it as. The musical has won a staggering 11 Tony Awards, a Grammy, and a Pulitzer. It earned $105.5 million in 2016. Lin-Manuel Miranda was just declared The Associated Press’ Entertainer of the Year. Gigs in Chicago and San Francisco have been sold out, and with shows slated for the West End in October 2017, the Hamilton juggernaut continues. The Hamilton carpool karaoke was ah-mazing, and during the cast’s performance at the White House, President Barack Obama said that Hamilton could “turn musical haters into die hard fans.” On point!

Pop Culture impact: 10/10 (See all of the above. Also, impacted - kids, adults, James Corden and carpool karaoke fans, celebrities, current President, future President, future vice-President, Tony, Grammy, Pulitzer, $$$$$). Stranger Things: It was an ’80s throwback like no other. In mid-2016, Stranger Things came at us in all its retro glory, in the form of a group of pre-teen misfits riding bikes with lamps in the front, a girl with “special” powers, the most wonderful concoction of supernatural and sci-fi, and Winona Ryder. In a post-Stranger Things world, our expectations of television shows (especially sci-fi) have reached (sometimes) unreasonable heights and in our heads, all adventures (real and fake) are now set to its awesome opening sequence . Since it released on Netflix, the show has become the kind of cultural phenomenon that would’ve been unthinkable in a world without social media. From dissecting all the pop culture references on the show to creating a Stranger Things Christmas (a mashup of Stranger Things and Peanuts/Charlie Brown), the Stranger Things takeover is complete. Winona Ryder’s true-to-form comeback and Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for her, Millie Bobby Brown (who plays the inimitable Eleven) and the show itself, are all just icing on the cake. It’s a Stranger Things world in 2016, and we’re just living in it! Pop Culture impact: 10/10 (See the inspirations: the Halloween costumes , the ridiculously good and detailed fan art , and the gift ideas for the superfan . Want!).

Feminism: In a year that saw appalling behaviour towards most minorities worldwide, feminism went from being an academic term to something mainstream. Unlike two years ago, being a “feminist” is now no longer limited to being rich, white, glamorous, fashionable, and female. In 2016, pop culture images associated with “feminism” went beyond Beyonc é silhouetted against the word “FEMINIST” and young women ditching thongs in favour of more comfortable underwear (or granny panties — it’s okay, we can say it). This was supposed to be the year of the first female US President shattering the glass ceiling, and while many are ruefully declaring the absence of said female President in office as the bursting of the feminist bubble , 2016 gave us more than enough to keep on carrying on. Besides Beyoncé’s Lemonade, in 2016, we had our second successive Star Wars movie with a female protagonist (Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso in Rogue One). There was Kate Mckinnon’s overall brilliance on Saturday Night Live and her pitch perfect performance in the highly underrated all-female Ghostbusters. Some of television’s best shows had crazy-good female characters (Eleven on Stranger Things, Dolores on Westworld, Issa in Insecure, Bart Curlish and Farah on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, not to mention Claire Foy’s portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown and Daenerys Targaryen’s ongoing kickassery on Game of Thrones). We also had Moana — our first Disney princess without the slightest hint of a love interest (who needs it when you can climb mountains, learn to sail, sing like Alessia Cara , and in the process save the Earth?). Bring it on 2017, the future really is female! Pop Culture impact: 8/10 (In light of the Trump administration’s appalling anti-abortion, anti-women, and anti-minority appointments, growing feminism is exactly what we need). Netflix: In 2012, E News (of all sites!) wrote this funny, grateful ode to Netflix and how it offers an approximation of the “dream life” to its viewers. A dream life that’s lazy and craves instant gratification. Fast forward four years and past a (regrettably) popular catchphrase (“Netflix and chill”), we’re looking at Netflix as an online streaming behemoth unlike any other (Amazon Prime, Hulu and others included). In 2016, Netflix released original content that included Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Luke Cage, Fuller House, Master of None, Bojack Horseman, Orange Is The New Black, Narcos, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards, Stranger Things, and Black Mirror. Netflix is like the ham to your cheese, the cheese to your cracker, the hint of salt to your chocolate milk. Finally, technology that fully understands us! Pop Culture impact: 9/10 (Apparently, Netflix is more important to viewers than original thought! ). ** The Lows  The US elections: Maybe it was because of Alec Baldwin and Kate Mckinnon’s portrayals of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Maybe it was the legion of liberal celebrities who endorsed Clinton. Or maybe the fact that Trump’s rise in the public eye had come through years of being a reality show host, played a role. Whatever the reason, the US elections dominated popular culture all over the world in 2016. Both candidates contributed to the election’s cultural significance with their diametrically opposing views on all matters, and their continuing scandals, thereby becoming memes in their own right. Pop Culture impact: 10/10 ( “Yuge” impact. It all ended in a rather depressing fashion, but turns out that pop culture had already warned us about the 2016 elections ). R.I.P. Vine: People loved Vine. Back when it released, it was a super viral app. At the time of its demise, it was still listed as “essential” on the App Store. People thought that it was a good thing lost, gone too early. Many swore that they’d never forgive Jack Dorsey (as if he doesn’t have bigger problems! ). Pop Culture impact: 7/10 ( See this obituary ). Losing our cultural heroes: Alan Rickman, David Bowie, Gene Wilder, Muhammad Ali, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Leonard Cohen, Debbie Reynolds, Harper Lee, Bill Cunningham — the list is long and illustrious. According to The Verge’s Tamara Warren, “2016 was the year the muses died. Each time the Twitter alarm sounded, the floodgates of obituaries, condolences, and personal reflections washed over us in a series of Facebook overshares. Stars are mere mortals, and we lose some every year, but this year, death seemed to strike more often and more suddenly, and it felt more searing.” Forgive us while we close our eyes, and weep as we listen to Leonard Cohen’s rendition of Hallelujah. Pop Culture impact: Beyond any rating scale.

In-betweens VR becoming mainstream: 2016 was supposed to be the big year for virtual reality. And well, it kinda sorta was a biggish deal. The Oculus Rift launched in March (but without motion controllers), HTC’s Vive came out in April (with motion controllers but was too expensive and clunkily designed). Sony’s Playstation VR released in October and faired better than the others. All of them struggled with compatibility issues and lack of I’ve-got-to-have-them type of games. It most certainly wasn’t the VR year we’d envisioned, and ironically, augmented reality reached the masses more prominently (if not more quickly and efficiently). So it goes. Let’s hope for a better performance in 2017. Pop Culture impact: 6/10 ( Sales are meh , that’s all there is to say about it). Pokémon Go’s moment in the sun. Literally: On 6 July 2016, something changed around the world. The warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia within us that were slowly and languorously being stoked by Netflix, suddenly swept us into a storm of Pikachus and Jigglypuffs. In a perfectly-timed throwback, Nintendo had released Pokémon Go — a mobile game that became an overnight sensation. People were stepping out of their homes and walking around (i.e. getting some exercise instead of indulging in the usual Netflix and chill), but they were also getting into driving accidents, walking off cliffs, and passing through live TV broadcasts like no big deal. For a while, it was funny . Then people got really mad that they hadn’t invested in Nintendo stocks. For a while, it also looked like Nintendo had cracked the developed world’s obesity problem . Then the allure faded; people were back to being lazy and couching. And now everything is fine with the world again. Also, there’s no shame in not getting the fuss about Pokémon Go. Pop Culture impact: 9/10 (For a while, augmented reality really did capture our collective imaginations). Superheroes, superheroes, and more superheroes: Captain America and Dr Strange had a good 2016. Batman, Superman, and the baddies from Suicide Squad, not so much. Television got its first black superhero: Marvel’s Luke Cage. Daredevil continued to kick ass this season, with Elektra as his partner. Deadpool aka Ryan Reynolds had a better year than all of them. He even got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Pop Culture impact: Marvel - 9/10, DC - 4/10 Late Night television: The Americans, British, South Africans — they all contributed to it. Jimmy Fallon, Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, John Oliver, Trevor Noah — they were mostly all entertaining. But, somehow, despite detailed monologues and the audacity (and the willingness) to ruffle Donald Trump’s hair , they all got the people’s pulse so thoroughly wrong about the US elections, it’s kind of shameful. Pop Culture impact: 8/10 (The impact was felt by the liberals. The conservatives just turned and looked away. Well, at least late night television continues to be scathing! ). 2017, what have you in store for us?