Twenty Notable Things That Happened In 2020

At times, 2020 felt like the final season of a network sitcom that should have been cancelled years ago, the writers packing every single inch of the script with contrived plot twists, way beyond the realm of plausibility. 

In an attempt to keep things lighthearted, I'm not going to mention this year’s tragedies (obviously 2020 had more than its fair share of suffering). This was the kind of year in which there were plagues of locusts, reportedly the size of cities - but there were also plenty of absurd, and funny events.

Let’s take a look back at the strangest news stories, and hope that 2021 is a little less ... eventful.    

People Made Memes About World War 3

2020 began with a bang, quite literally, as the Trump administration appeared to be on track to bring about World War 3 after assassinating Iranian general Qasam Soleimani, sparking serious fears of military escalation. 

But years of living under the Trump presidency has imbued Americans with a wonderfully dark sense of humor, and Twitter quickly became alight with memes, as users imagined a world where the average citizen is conscripted in the army, to fight and die at the whim of a former reality TV host with silly hair. 

Thankfully, the worst didn’t come to pass, but the incident showed the best side of social media - the ability of users to turn sources of stress into comedy. 

Everybody Became Obsessed With Netflix’s Tiger King 

The early days of quarantine were defined by Tiger King, a Netflix documentary series that managed to reach a new low every episode.

The internet became enamored with Joe Exotic, the unhinged animal trainer with a penchant for giving hard drugs to young, vulnerable men. Carol Baskin, a stiff, awkward cat-lover, famously became a target for online hate, after the series strongly implied that she had murdered her husband. 

Needless to say, the obsession disappeared as quickly as it began, as the world moved onto the next 2020 plot twist - spare a thought for the creators of the upcoming, scripted Tiger King series. 

The Royal Family Broke Up

Members of the Royal Family aren’t really supposed to do anything, beyond existing as a ceremonial celebration of unearned wealth and privilege; hence, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were leaving Britain to forge new careers, royalists lost their minds. 

The British tabloids collectively decided to place the blame on Markle, crafting breathless accounts of the imagined power imbalance between her and Prince Harry - much of it reads like fan fiction, but written by middle-aged newspaper columnists instead of horny tweens, and subsequently, far less interesting.  

TikTok Rose To Prominence  

As always, teens understood the potential of TikTok long before the adults migrated to the platform; surely, social media should offer more than a space to endlessly repeat arguments. 

TikTok gave users a chance to be creative, to collaborate, to entertain each other. Crucially, it offered an escape from quarantine, an unpredictable, interactive experience that Netflix and Disney+ just couldn’t compete with. Beyond the cringe-compilations and endless dance routines, there’s some incredible sub-cultures, niches nested within niches - the algorithm can take one to some very unusual and interesting places.

Now, the powerful platform has blossomed into a cultural juggernaut, sparking and amplifying trends - an unlicensed Ratatouille musical that organically emerged from TikTok managed to attract Broadway talent, while Ocean Spray cranberry juice sales have skyrocketed, all thanks to a video of a man riding a skateboard. 

“Copagnada” Got Called Out

The Black Lives Matter protests, fueled by the tragic death of George Floyd, quickly led to a reckoning in the media, in which the casual glorification of police officers in film and television suddenly seemed more than a tad distasteful.  

“Copandaga” is everywhere, once one becomes aware of it; the ingrained assumption that the police are a force for good, or glorifying fictional officers who break protocol to get the job done, is soaked deep into the structure of procedural television, action movies and comedies, like Brooklyn Nine-Nine; it’s even in HBO’s Watchmen. 

That discourse seems to have died down slightly, but the conversation is far from over; it will be interesting to see how the depiction of police officers in fiction changes, in response to the shift in public perception. 

Everybody Hates Ellen 

Celebrities made a fool of themselves during quarantine, moaning about being confined to their luxury mansions, singing tone-deaf renditions of John Lennon's Imagine, but the shift away from celebrity worship was best highlighted by the dramatic fall of Ellen DeGeneres.

DeGeneres built her brand on being kind, until multiple reports of the abusive working conditions on set of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, not to mention, countless anecdotes of DeGenere’s being unpleasant and demanding, exposed the grim reality behind the fiction.

Ellen might be back on the air, interviewing celebrities and promoting products, but that genie never went back in the bottle. 

The Pentagon Admitted UFOs Exist, And Nobody Has An Explanation

Grainy footage of UFO’s (unidentified flying objects) have been online for a long time, but this year, the Pentagon officially released some of their own, admitting that the footage currently lacks a logical explanation. 

This would have been bigger news during a simpler time, but in 2020, the public gave a collective shrug, made a few memes, and moved on to the next story.

For extraterrestrial enthusiasts, the renewed sense of legitimacy has given the community a boost, and, along with some other odd events, like the establishment of Trump’s Space Force, have contributed to the alien abduction mythos.

Mysterious Monoliths Appear 

The world never figured out who really placed that shiny metal monolith in a random spot in the Utah desert - but the odd installation quickly attracted an incredible amount of media attention, and inevitably, led to copycats. 

The monolith’s vague resemblance to the famous structure from 2001: A Space Odyssey was always a big part of the appeal, adding another strange sci-fi element to 2020. After its discovery, monoliths started to pop up all over the world, often illegally erected, and thus, dismantled by officials (and sometimes, angry Trump fans). 

The creators of comedy sketch show Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun even took advantage of the trend to market themselves. 

Let’s hope for more monoliths randomly appearing throughout the world in 2021 - as far as internet trends go, this one was pretty harmless.   

Streaming Services Became King 

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was supposed to save movie theatres - but it turns out, releasing a blockbuster during a global pandemic wasn’t a great idea, and studios quickly began to shift their slates onto streaming services, another nail in the coffin for the theatrical window. 

It’s not clear what this means for the future of the industry; are blockbusters going to aim to attract new viewers to streaming, rather than break records at the box office? Can franchise movies still attract audiences in the theatre when viewers are able to watch them in the comfort of their own homes? 

Perhaps Netflix and Amazon will snap up the remaining theatres, and use them to promote their own exclusives - who knows? 

Whatever happens, the entertainment industry is set to change. 

Ben Shapiro Was Publicly Humiliated

Ben Shapiro, a trained lawyer who once spent his time aggressively “debating” fresh-faced university students, built himself into a successful media figure, seemingly by means of regular, ritualistic public humiliation, gaming social media algorithms to climb to the top of Google. 

But after criticizing the lyrics of Cardi B’s WAP, Shapiro reached a new level of unwanted attention, as the masses relentlessly mocked both his awkward, “wet-ass p-word” verse recital, and his hilariously oblivious tweet that followed. 

Despite being a proud prude, Shapiro might have permanently associated himself with Cardi B’s infamous acronym, for all the wrong reasons. 

J.K. Rowling Transcended Into A Living Meme

We don’t expect much from beloved children’s authors - J.K. Rowling could have simply basked in the glow of her magnificent creation, Harry Potter, and forever enjoy the undying respect of millions around the world.

But after proudly decreeing that “nobody should have to live in a closet,” Rowling decided that, well, perhaps certain people should remain in said closet, if their gender identity doesn’t match their biological sex. 

Whereas Rowling was once gently mocked for her incessant worldbuilding, nowadays, her former fans are more likely to poke fun at her rigid gender ideology. 

“J.K. Rowling reveals …” was once the beginning of a punchline; these days, I don’t think people want to hear the end of the sentence.   

Murder Hornets

2020 saw an explosion of strange, sensationalist headlines, as writers had fun exaggerating the oddities of the year. An invasion of “murder hornets” was the perfect story for 2020 - it sounded as though the surreal horrors of Rick and Morty and Black Mirror had bled into reality. 

The hornets haven’t quite managed to spread across America yet, and the few that have been sighted are believed to have migrated accidentally, through shipping crates. But the insects are no joke; reportedly, an average of 30 to 50 people each year die from the hornets’ stings in Japan. But really, it’s honeybees who should be worried; murder hornets are known to decimate honeybee colonies, and the long-suffering insects are already in decline. 

Even after the pandemic is over, I wouldn’t be surprised if folks weren’t keen on leaving the house. 

The Marvel Machine Stopped Churning

The pandemic put a stop to several beloved traditions - including the regular release of a new Marvel movie. Regardless of their perceived quality, the films have become an important social event, as watching one in the cinema feels a bit like attending a big sports game with fellow fans. 

2020 certainly felt like a year without superheroes, and Disney soon shifted its focus to streaming, in response to the turmoil; we’re going to see a glut of Marvel content on Disney+, in the form of films and television series, as the adventures of the Avengers become more interconnected than ever. 

Donald Trump, Elon Musk, And Kanye West Generated The Weirdest Headlines 

It’s hard to stay relevant nowadays - the attention economy is notoriously fickle. But Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Kanye West all managed to soak up an extraordinary amount of attention, generating the weirdest headlines of the year. 

Musk’s business acumen constantly contrasts with his public image as an overpaid internet troll, while Kanye West and Donald Trump both unsuccessfully tried to expand their political power. Musk supported West’s failed presidential bid, while West has long been an extremely vocal Trump supporter - together, the three men form a Holy Trinity of raw, untamed ego. 

With their unchecked ambition, unpredictability and power, the three effortlessly rose to the top of the vast ocean of content that the internet generates every day; it’s rather alarming to reflect on the amount of power they’ve managed to accumulate. 

Qanon Infected The Mainstream

When QAnon first began, it was the domain of deluded Trump supporters, hanging out on the dark corners of the internet, desperately trying to convince themselves that their favorite president was secretly a superhero, and that Hillary Clinton ate babies for breakfast. 

Increased public distrust in institutions, combined with the skin-crawling story of Jeffrey Epstein (check out Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich), not to mention, the boredom of quarantine, helped QAnon spread to platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where dancing teens and yoga moms spread the gospel of Q, sometimes without even knowing it. 

QAnon is a crowd-sourced conspiracy, its canon collectively decided by its believers, always shifting to frame Donald Trump as some kind of messiah, regardless of his words and actions. 

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how the movement reacts to Trump leaving the White House - be prepared for some incredible leaps of logic, as Q’s predictions continue to fail, and yet, leave supporters more determined and faithful than ever.

Star Wars Got Its Groove Back 

Star Wars was in a very strange place after The Last Jedi, a movie which is, somehow, still a source of furious debate among fans. A family-friendly company doesn’t want to attract that kind of toxic discourse; hence, Disney panicked and released The Rise of Skywalker - an incoherent, underwhelming end to the Skywalker Saga, packed with pointless fan service. 

But Baby Yoda proved to be the messiah of the franchise - after The Mandalorian skyrocketed to success, charming hardcore fans and newcomers alike, Star Wars is again ready to oversaturate pop culture with new entries, with multiple new Star Wars series announced on Disney+, many of them launched by season 2 of The Mandalorian.

Never underestimate an adorable animatronic. 

Cyberpunk 2077 Was Hilariously Disappointing 

Cyberpunk 2077 had been promising gamers an unforgettable experience for years, even involving Keanu Reeves, the world’s most beloved human, to voice a character and help market the game.   

But controversy followed the game from the beginning - Cyberpunk 2077 was titled after a genre, but didn’t seem to fully understand said genre; cyberpunk is inherently political, usually featuring outsider protagonists, marginalized figures on the fringe of society, rebelling against the wealthy and powerful. 

Hence, the game’s creators being accused of promoting transphobic and racial stereotypes, along with pushing employees to their limits through brutal working conditions, certainly isn’t very cyberpunk. It seems as though the developers were aiming to replicate the aesthetic of the genre, rather than the themes. 

But that was just the beginning of the controversy; upon release, the supposedly “finished” game was absolutely riddled with bugs, especially on older systems like Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Finding glitches can be fun (just look at Fallout and The Elder Scrolls) but Cyberpunk 2077 was so incredibly broken that, after its publisher said players could get a refund from Sony, Sony removed the game from the PlayStation store until further notice.

AAA games might just be a tad overrated anyway. 

Donald Trump Got COVID-19

Normally, whatever random phrase Trump’s brain decides to emit tends to dominate the day’s headlines, but when the president became infected with COVID-19, social media was unable to focus on anything else. 

After months of dismissing and downplaying the virus, mocking preventive measures such as masks and social distancing, the incredible irony of President Trump being infected by the virus and rushed to hospital by helicopter was almost too on-the-nose. Was the Trump presidency really going to be taken down by a Deux Ex Machina?

After enjoying the finest possible medical treatment (at the expense of the taxpayer), Trump fully recovered, and spent his remaining days in office pretending to have won the election.

Among Us Exploded, And Became A Political Platform

Among Us, an indie game released in 2018, became hugely popular throughout quarantine, overshadowing bigger games boasting massive budgets and photo-realistic graphics.

The game takes place on a space station, and tasks players with hunting down the “imposter” of the group, whose goal is to murder as many fellow players as possible, while trying not to arouse suspicion.  

Being an inherently social game, one that forces players to deceive each other, Among Us tended to provoke amusing reactions from Twitch streamers, and quickly became a space for conversation. 

Soon, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez utilized the game as a political platform, teaming up with Twitch stars to reach out to younger voters, and even raise money for charity. 

At its height, AOC’s livestream attracted almost 440,000 viewers - not bad for a game released two years ago, to little fanfare. 

David Attenborough Became The Latest Voice To Speak Up About Climate Change 

This year, the climate change protests that defined 2019 were overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic - Greta Thunberg even returned to school, taking a well-deserved break from her relentless activism.

Thankfully, David Attenborough stepped up to ensure that the environment remained part of the discourse; the respected BBC documentary filmmaker has spent his life visiting the wonders of the natural world - and watching in horror as humanity slowly destroys it. 

Netflix’s A Life On Our Planet featured Attenborough walking the viewer through the dangers of climate change through his own unique perspective, warning of impending destruction, and, most importantly, offering a vision of hope. 

And hope is exactly what we need to get us through 2021.