Continuing a streak of long, strange years, it’s been a long, strange year. And so, The Nose wonders how our popular culture is dealing with it all.

We look back at a whole bunch of movies and TV shows: American Symphony, Barbie, Black Mirror, The Curse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Headliners Only, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leave the World Behind, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Reservation Dogs, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and more.

We wonder about the future of superhero movies. We look at the over- and under-appreciated figures in our pop culture.

And don’t worry: Taylor Swift gets discussed.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

• smothers-dead.html">Tom Smothers, Comic Half of the Smothers Brothers, Dies at 86 Though he played a naïve buffoon onstage, he was the driving force behind the folk-singing duo’s groundbreaking TV show.
• sun-kyun-parasite-dead.html">Lee Sun-kyun, ‘Parasite’ Actor, Found Dead at 48 Mr. Lee, a familiar face on Korean television and movie screens, rose to international fame after starring in the Oscar-winning film.
• Jo Koy to Host 2024 Golden Globes The comedian will make his awards show debut on the CBS broadcast.
• ‘Zone of Interest,’ ‘Perfect Days,’ & ‘Godland’ Make 2024 International Film Oscars Shortlist
• aging-gen-z.html">The Year Millennials Aged Out of the Internet
• The Internet Isn’t Dead. It’s Saturday Night Live In 2023, a new idea took hold: The internet isn’t fun anymore. Except it’s not a new idea.
• We Aren’t Posting on Social Media as Much Anymore. Will We Ever? Excessive ads, bots and misinformation have sucked the fun out of sharing publicly, users say
• The Triumph of Zelda In a year of huge games, Tears of the Kingdom still stands out

GUESTS:

• Rebecca Castellani: Co-founder of Quiet Corner Communications and director of marketing at Washington Montessori
• David Edelstein: America’s Greatest Living Film Critic
• Rich Hollant: Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford
• Bill Yousman: Professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.