When you think of 2021, what immediately springs to mind? For us, it was the first week of January when the Delta variant of COVID-19 was rampant, we were on the edge of World War 3 and a group of pro-Trumpers had stormed the White House. But really, that was only the beginning of a big year in global media.
At MediaCast, we consider ourselves media junkies and excellent at analysing the media, of course! We are excited to share our round up and insights on the year’s most exciting events that played out in the media.
To start off, we have to address the elephant in the room. COVID-19 unfortunately evolved at the end of 2020, and Delta was the concerning new variant on everyone’s minds this year. It has been a very confusing time for us all, with borders opening and closing again and intermittent mask mandates, you can’t blame anyone for not being able to keep up.
Unfortunately, it looks like the pandemic is here to stay for the time being and especially within our daily newsfeeds. We’re not sure about you, but the spread of Omicron was not how we wanted to learn the Greek Alphabet.
Political Events
This year we began with a goodbye to the Trump administration and a warm hello to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Harris especially made waves in the media as the first female vice president, the highest-ranking female official in U.S history, the first African American and first Asian vice president.
A media event that left Aussies half in shock, half in fits of laughter this year was when Joe Biden forgot Scott Morrison’s name during a video conference. Being referred to as “that fellow from down under” isn’t the worst thing, in fact, we’re sure Men At Work were proud at least!
Speaking of Scott Morrison, our revered leader left Aussie shores this year to attend the G20 Rome Summit to discuss climate change, taxation, vaccines and the economy. While we were delighted that Scomo was contributing to such important talks, we definitely weren’t happy to be stuck at home while he got to travel overseas.
The hashtag #COP26 instantly started trending across the world during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. This conference was an excellent win for climate change activists in Australia and across the world. The outcomes of the conference saw participating nations collectively agree to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
A ship blocking the Suez Canal caused chaos for a few days this year. Except, this time it was unintentional. It was a happy day for the region when the Ever Given was freed and trading in the Suez resumed.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics finally took place this year while the world watched with bated breath. Although there were no crowds, we were all joined in solidarity and cheered our athletes on despite being separated across the globe. Closer to home, Brisbane was nominated to host the 2032 Olympics - a wonderful achievement for our home city!
A Fairytale Ending?
As fans of all things Royal, we just had to mention Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s tell-all with Oprah. The controversial interview caused heated debate across the world for months afterwards and became the source of many excellent memes. We personally felt quite sorry for the Duke and Duchess’s PR team as we’re sure they certainly had their work cut out for them.
The Ladies Have It
2021 was indeed a fabulous year for women. #freebritney became a social movement, with die hard Britney Spears fans across the globe supporting the iconic songstress’ release from her conservatorship.
Our savior Adele returned from her six-year hiatus to bless our ears and touch our hearts with her new album ‘30’. Even though the album came out in mid-November, it was not surprising to anybody that this author found a few of Adele’s songs in her Spotify Wrapped already.
Another woman in music who inspired us all this year was Olivia Rodrigo, who became the first Asian American to make the No.1 spot on the US iTunes and Apple Music charts with her song ‘Driver’s License’.
Back in the land down under, Australia celebrated its first bisexual and Indigenous Bachelorette, Brooke Blurton. We were so delighted to watch Brooke find love and are wishing her all the best with her new beau.
From The 1700’s To Modern Day Dystopia
If you were glued to your screen this year, you may have noticed two incredibly different phenomena overtake public discourse this year. We started off 2021 by stepping into another era (the 1700’s specifically) and enjoying the beauty and glamour that was Bridgerton. It was hard to ignore the show’s wonderful storyline, fabulous costumes and the talented and diverse cast.
The second half of the year was completely overtaken by the unique Korean dystopian show, Squid Game. The show encouraged us to take a look a modern capitalist society and the competition that comes along with this societal structure.
To top it all off, the most anticipated reunion of the decade (or maybe even the millenium) eventually took place, the Friends Reunion! Long-standing fans of the show like the MediaCast team were delighted to see the six friends reprise their roles at a round table reading out iconic lines like: “My Eyes! My Eyes!”
Break Ups and Make Ups
If your love life has been incredibly disastrous this year, you might take a little satisfaction in the fact that a few iconic celebrity relationships also ended. Kim and Kanye, Camilla Cabello and Shawn Mendez, and Bill and Melinda Gates all broke up in 2021 causing huge waves in the media. Luckily for many of us hopeless romantics out there, we won’t be doing a Kim and rebounding with Pete Davidson. At the very least Bennifer are back together, and love is not dead!
The Future Is Here
Mark Zuckerberg made the surprising move to rebrand Facebook and is now calling the enterprise Meta. We are excited to see the direction he will be going in, but has anyone heard much about Meta since the launch? Watch this space!
2021 was indeed an incredible year filled with highs and lows. The media happenings this year definitely kept us on the edge of our seats. We are so excited to see what’s in store next year and will be sure to share our insights when we’ve all had chance to digest them.
Wishing everybody a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Year! Bring on 2022!