Historically pop culture has defined moments in our society that usually prevail to influence past, current and future generations’ perspectives and identities. So with that in mind, beginning in summer 2009, let us begin.
The summer of 2009 was marred by a number of prominent celebrity deaths, celebrities who made enormous contributions to the artistic or political landscape of their times. No. 1 on everyone’s list is pop star Michael Jackson, who died in his home in Los Angeles, Calif., from a cardiac arrest. While the blame is still up in the air — his physician plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges — medical examination definitely indicates that his heart attack was the result of several benzodiazepinic drugs present in his system at the time of his death.
Patrick Swayze died in September after a heroic (and very public) battle with pancreatic cancer. Walter Cronkite, arguably one of the most famous broadcast journalists of all time, also died, leaving behind four Peabody awards and a School of Journalism and Mass Communication in his name at Arizona State University. The celebrity pitch personality community was hit hard with the death of Billy Mays from hypertension disease (he was buried wearing a shirt with the OxiClean logo on it).
The fall of 2009 and spring of 2010 was notable for its numerous celebrity scandals. It was celebrity nude photo open season with Jamie Foxx, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Greene, Rihanna and poor ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews having photos leaked.
We basically watched Tiger Woods’ life unravel before our eyes after a mysterious car crash that revealed he was having an affair. Within the coming days, several women came forward to reveal they had secret affairs with the PGA’s 10-time Player of the Year. And while not a “scandal,” it certainly was a shock when President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October when it became known that nominations were submitted just days after his inauguration.
The 2009-2010 year in music will hold a special place in the hearts of pop culturists, as several stories rose into the national consciousness. Kanye West became the man to hate when he took the stage while Taylor Swift was beginning to accept her award for “Best Female Video” at the Video Music Award. Hijacking the microphone, Kanye protested in support of Beyonce Knowles’ video. This story reached its height when Obama’s infamous comment (“He [Kanye] is a jackass”) was released via Twitter by an ABC News reporter. Teen pop star Miley Cyrus rose more than a few eyebrows with her pole dance performance during the Teen Choice Awards. “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas was the most downloaded song of 2009.
This year in movies will probably be remembered as the most important in recent memory. James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” broke worldwide box office records and topped the previous record holder (Cameron’s “Titanic”), mostly due to the high price resulting from 3-D ticket sales. Whether or not you bought the film’s green message, James Cameron’s utilization of groundbreaking visual effects and broad stroke storytelling showed George Lucas the right way to make a contemporary space opera. During the Academy Awards Ceremony, the glass ceiling was raised a bit when Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to receive the Academy Award for Achievement in Directing for her gritty Iraq war drama “The Hurt Locker.”
Video games proved to hold their own as an entertainment medium when “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” sold more than 4.7 million copies within the first 24 hours of its release. Nintendo’s console, the Wii, has proven it has marketability outside the standard video game demographics, as its the leading console in comparison to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in regard to units sold.
Moving forward with technology, Facebook overtook MySpace as the most popular social networking at the beginning of last year. But that was just a sign of things to come as Facebook became the most visited site on the Internet in March, edging out Internet giant Google. And while generally regarded as a “name fail,” Apple’s iPad, called a “laptop killer” and a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, sold more than 300,000 units the first day of its release, proving once again that nothing can discourage Apple’s loyal fan base.
While definitely not including all the events that occurred during the 2009-2010 school year, the highlights should speak for themselves: this year was one of the most turbulent in recent pop culture memory. And we didn’t even touch on the politics.
Joe Terrell is a sophomore telecommunications major.