The 2024 Why's World Pop Culture Awards

Celebrating the best of the year

Welcome to the first-ever Why’s World Pop Culture Awards! In this newsletter, I’m highlighting my favourite pieces of 2024 culture from literature, film, television and more.

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Literature

Best Book (Fiction): Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

Intermezzo’s relationship-focused plot between two brothers and their lovers is Rooney at her best. The prose is ultra-rich and rewarding, best savoured one delicious chapter at a time. The novel is the best version of a writer pushing themselves to new heights while holding onto the core of what readers love about them.

Best Book (Non-Fiction): There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

Only Hanif Abdurraqib could get me to read a book about sports and love it. Written in his signature poetic style that mixes cultural criticism with memoir, the book is equal parts person and place-oriented. There’s Always This Year is a love letter to one’s hometown, community and rooting for the underdog.

Best New-To-Me Read: Dune by Frank Herbert

When it comes to narratives, I tend to gravitate most toward everyday, slice-of-life stories. However, Dune is an epic science-fiction work that simply hooked me from the first page. I love how the novel gave so much depth to the characters and the relationships between them, particularly hero Paul Atreides. Turns out classic work of literature is great!

Film

Biggest Cry: Sing Sing

While a film about a group of prisoners performing a play in a rehabilitation through the arts program could have easily come across as cloying, Sing Sing is instead incredibly sincere and beautiful. And there’s nothing like a last-minute switch to real-life footage at the end to make me cry a river of tears. Art is beautiful, friends are miracles and forgiveness is always possible.

Best Ending Scene: “Defying Gravity” from Wicked

I’ve seen Wicked twice in theatres now and the “Defying Gravity” sequence at the end obliterated me both times. It’s the best song of the film, a stunning vocal performance from Cynthia Erivo and the cherry on top of an emotional arc where Elphaba stays true to herself above all else. Say what you want about the film, but as someone who was at the movies nearly every weekend, Wicked is among the most fun I had at the theatre all year.

Most Underseen: Problemista

Problemista is the debut feature film from comedian Julio Torres. Released by A24, it was originally intended to premiere in 2023 but got pushed back to 2024 as a result of the dual Hollywood strikes. Its limited release made it one of the most underseen film gems of the year. Sparkling with Torres’ signature surreal wit, the film tackles the bureaucracy of modern work and immigration. I love a movie with a point-of-view, intelligent ideas and unique visual design. Plus, Tilda Swinton!

Best Portrayal of Suburban Ennui: Rap World

Following in the great tradition of music mockumentaries, Rap World is a 55-minute short film created by comedian and writer Conner O’Malley and director Danny Scharar. The film, which intentionally looks like it was edited in Windows Movie Maker, follows three friends in a 2009 Pennsylvania suburb as they attempt to write and record a rap album over one night.

The 2000s-specific references like an Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt, a slide phone and a “Viva La Vida” needle drop sent shivers of forgotten recognition down my spine. Rap World is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while with one of the bleakest endings. Watch it for free on YouTube.

Most Likely to Be Culturally Reappraised in 10 Years: Lisa Frankenstein

Lisa Frankenstein is the debut feature film from Robin William’s daughter Zelda with a script by one of my favourite screenwriters of all time, Diablo Cody. Set in 1989, the movie stars Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows, an alienated alt girl who falls in love with a zombie, played BRILLIANTLY(!!!) by Jughead Jones himself, Cole Sprouse.

While the film is rocky for the first 30 minutes, it eventually settles into an acid tongue-laced goth rom-com that is remarkably romantic and sweet. Mark my words: I’m calling a Jennifer’s Body-style cultural reprisal in the 2030s.

Television

Best HBO Miniseries No One Watched But Me: The Sympathizer and Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show

Fuck The Penguin: The Sympathizer and Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show were the two best miniseries’ released by HBO this year. Sadly, I don’t think anyone watched them except me.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer is a political spy thriller told from the perspective of a Vietnamese double agent living in America after the fall of Saigon. It features remarkable performances from leads Hoa Xande and Robert Downey Jr.

Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show stars comedian Jerrod Carmichael in a meta-documentary series where he decides to start recording all of his interactions in an attempt to live more honestly. Striking a similar tone as the beloved How To With John Wilson, I found the show to be simultaneously profoundly awkward and illuminating human behaviour with many uncomfortable laughs along the way.

Best Reality TV Episode: “Mazel, Meredith” (The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Season 5, Episode 12)

The girls that get it, get it: The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is the best current installment of the franchise. If you need an introduction, I suggest starting with the funniest episode of the season, “Mazel, Meredith.”

The episode features Meredith Marks, a 50-year-old woman, on the day of her Bat Mitzvah. The ceremony goes awry when fellow cast member Mary Cosby arrives multiple hours late and can’t find the right room. Later at the after-party, one Housewife gets forcibly removed from the gathering after telling another that she has “high body count hair.” Larry David didn’t write this episode, but it feels like he could have.

Best Reality TV Meltdown: “I’m PISSED!” Applebee’s Reward Monologue by Liz Wilcox (Survivor, Season 46)

As someone who watches a lot of reality TV, I’m used to seeing on-screen meltdowns. Still, in all of my years of viewing, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as uncomfortable as Liz Wilcox’s “I’m PISSED!” monologue from Season 46 of Survivor.

A bit of back story: Liz could not eat a lot of what was around camp due to food allergies. She could seemingly, however, eat an Applebee’s Bourbon Burger, which was the reward following a challenge. When Liz wasn’t chosen to go on the reward, thus losing her the opportunity to stomach food for the first time in weeks, she completely lost it. The result was both scary and instantly iconic. Now, whenever an inconvenience strikes me, the first words I hear in my mind are, “I’M PISSED!”

Other

Best Concert: Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, Sweat Tour

As a pre-Brat Charli fan, I lucked out on getting floor tickets to the Sweat Tour before the album finally broke her through to the mainstream. Co-headliners Charli XCX and Troye Sivan took an innovative approach to set list with each performing a short 3-4 song burst before switching out with the other.

I’ve been to a lot of concerts and I’ve rarely felt crowd energy as electric as it felt that night. I was so elated after the show I impulsively bought a $70 tour shirt, which is essentially just a black tee that says SWEAT on it lol.

Best Podcast Series - Blank Check, “Twin Pods Fire Cast With Me”

Although it’s been around for a decade, I discovered the film podcast Blank Check in 2024 through their David Lynch series, “Twin Pods Fire Cast With Me.” Week by week co-hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims analyzed Lynch’s filmography from Eraserhead to Twin Peaks: The Return.

David Lynch was already one of my favourite directors, but the in-depth analysis and commentary of his films on the podcast made me appreciate his work on a whole new level. It also got me to revisit Twin Peaks for the first time since high school (turns out Season Two is actually quite good?!)

Best YouTube Video - Kurtis Conner, “I Tried Anti-Aging TikToks”

Kurtis Conner is a YouTuber and comedian from Ontario who frequently makes videos analyzing cultural trends. In his hour-long video “I Tried Anti-Aging TikToks,” he challenges himself for a week to follow the “advice” of Internet “wellness experts,” which includes eating as cleanly as possible, exercising and avoiding the sun.

Of course, doing all of this makes Conner absolutely miserable. The climax comes when Conner goes golfing with a friend dressed like The Invisible Man and nearly faints. The video proves the scammy vibes of contemporary influencer health promises and makes you laugh while doing it.