Things I kept to myself...
The thoughts I decided not to flesh out.
I’ve been told by many people (specifically my family and friends), that I have an opinion on everything. Unfortunately, they’re right. I’ve yet to go through a political, pop culture, or life event without having an opinion on it and letting whoever is closest to me bear the brunt of whatever my initial thought is. And, while I thought a lot this year, not much made it from my brain to paper (both physical and virtual). I’ll assume responsibility of that, when it came down to it I either didn’t allow myself to really sit down and think it through, didn’t think it could ever be full piece, or just straight up told myself that by time I thought the idea out it wouldn’t be timely anymore. But in the spirit of the new year (and with the hope to get rid of some ideas make room for others), I’ve decided to make a list of them and subject everyone else to my thoughts for one last time this year.
My unfleshed thoughts:
Superman (2025) was received very well because Man of Steel (2013) set a low bar for Superman/Clark Kent as a character, so the only other way it could really go was up.
Additionally, when it comes to our more recognized heroes (specifically Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man) how are we deciding the “starting point” for their stories? No one wants an origin story anymore (fair enough they’re popular enough to not need them), but with Robert Pattinson’s Batman and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man we’re still getting them fairly early in their journeys. With David Corenswet’s Superman we’re getting thrown in a weird spot where he’s popular enough, but he’s still learning, and the Justice League (???) is there. So, what’s the goal?
Sunrise on the Reaping is a 320-ish page book, and yet when it came out people were reading it within the 24 hours that it came out. This isn’t me being jealous, I know there’s people that can read that quickly, but at times it makes me wonder if some of us are reading to take in a story or if we’re reading just to say we did it and that we were able to do it in a short period of time.
I also feel that being able to binge television shows has maybe encouraged the latter in a way.
Mockumentary sitcoms are having a moment (Abbott Elementary, Stumble, The Paper, and St. Denis Medical), and while I don’t think this is directly linked with the rise of reality TV, I do think it’s linked “relatable” influencer content.
It just feels like too many mockumentary shows at once and I feel like there’s something else going on there.
There was a trend on TikTok for like two weeks where Latinas were going “I’m not just taking your job, I’m also taking your degrees” but then it nefariously shifted to “I’m not just taking your job, but I’m also taking your degree, and your man.” This is was disappointing because why do we always feel the need to insert a man, and he was always white.
There was everything going on here, from how embedded we have it in us to involve men in our accomplishments to the role whiteness plays a role in what some in the Latine community consider a “successful” relationship.
The whole “baby but no ring” thing going on in some comment sections on social media when women announce their pregnancies feels reactionary, and I feel like it’s setting us on the alt-right pipeline. Especially when I think about women during the second wave of feminism, that would obtain from participating in the institution of marriage and attempted to re-imagine what romantic relationships between men and women could look like without said institution. Now suddenly people are getting online and acting as if marriage and kids is The Way, and (knowingly or unknowingly) feeding into the idea that a married woman is more favorably placed socially, and legally, than an unmarried one.
If this keeps going I’ll be left with no other option but to ask engaged women when they’ll start working on their pre-nups, just counteract whatever is going on.
Soccer cannot properly thrive as a sport in the United States due to how expensive we’ve made it. I say this for both being able to play the sport and to be able to even see it. Our own league (MLS) is stuck with Apple TV of all providers, and wanting to see a league from any other country requires like 2-4 subscriptions, the sport cannot thrive in these conditions.
Weapons (2025) was not a better film than Bring her Back (2025), but Weapons makes people laugh at times, and since we seem to be in an epidemic of people not being able to take things seriously, the one that gets the laughs the final say (and the spot in the end of year lists).
Rosalia without a doubt spent her run for El Mal Querer and Motomami being appropriative of the Roma traveler culture and the Latin culture, and she deserves lashings for that. However, specifically for the latter, Bad Bunny and Rauw (especially Rauw), let her in to reggaeton/bachata scene, and they’re always conveniently left out of the conversation when her appropriation is discussed. This is particularly interesting because after her engagement with Rauw got called off his fanbase was calling her everything but a child of God, as if he didn’t willingly get engaged with her.
I hope not to repeat a list like this again, mostly because I hope that this upcoming year when I think something that makes my gears turn I write it down somewhere (anywhere) instead of letting it take up space in my head that I need for other things, like my job.