The Witherly Heights Yearender: Artistic Achievement of 2018

What 2018 artistic achievement—be it film, TV show, music, painting, play, musical, etc.—affected society or you the most?  The Alsion community weighs in.

Personally, the musical Miss Saigon affected me the most. However, what appears to be a much greater influencer of society is the movie, Crazy Rich Asians.

–Lauren Chang

Coincidence or zeitgeist?  A handful of films dealing with disenfranchised teenagers and young adults pricked our consciousness and conscience in our multiplexes this year.  They are all excellent, heartbreaking and restorative: Chloe Zhao’s The Rider, Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete and Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace. Each, curiously, also marks the sacred and undervalued intersection between human activity (with its mix of grace and foibles) and nature.  

Best debut novel of the year: There There by Tommy Orange.  The Oakland native uses more than a dozen narratives and points of view to bring to life how it is to be a modern “Ndn” and a people wracked by history and blessed with renewal.

I saw Yo-Yo Ma at the Greek this year.  No other reason to be hopeful about anything and anyone needs to be found.

–Paul Go

Eminem’s Kamikaze album affected me the most. After last year when he released Revival, Eminem seemed to be going in a new direction with his music. Revival included many songs about the uncertain political climate of the United States. His nationally televised BET cipher in which he criticized President Donald Trump was adapted into a track for the album called Campaign Speech; it lasted over seven minutes. With Kamikaze, Eminem responds to the people who criticized his previous album, with many of his older fans hailing the album as the return of his popular persona “Slim Shady.” The album also addresses more of the same political issues that he mentioned in Revival while also displaying Eminem’s ability as a rap lyricist. As a fan of Eminem as an artist and rap music in general, the album represented a return to form for Marshall Mathers.

–Ram Charan

The movie, Crazy Rich Asians, was one of 2018’s greatest artistic achievement. Not only was it entertaining to watch, but it made headlines by being one of the first films to feature an all-Asian cast in the past 25 years.

–Sonia Pramanick

Hamilton continues to define a modern view of history. The mix of history and rap captivates and inspires people to appreciate history in new ways.

–Joey Morrison

High-end streetwear and “Hypebeast” apparel really affected me in 2018. Brands such as Supreme and Off-White are becoming extremely popular with their hard-to-obtain clothes and high prices. The demand for the pieces goes up with the brand’s popularity. Special collaborations with companies such as Nike or Adidas have also been in high demand. Limited Nike collabs such as the Virgil Abloh “The Ten” collection and Travis Scott’s infamous Air Force 1s have drawn many customers to the brand. Many other brands continue to follow with limited collaboration pieces, such as the PUMA x MCM shoes.

–Rowan Tuttle

2018 was the year for diverse blockbusters and I think movies like Black Panther and Crazy Rich Asians affected society quite a lot. They showed Hollywood that diversity can be profitable, which is what they care about. However, the movie that affected me the most would have to be BlacKkKlansman. It was one of the best movies I saw in 2018, and it really made me think about so many different issues.

–Ananya Hindocha

I feel like one of the most influential works of art in 2018 was the “This Is America” music video by Childish Gambino.

–Jessica Anthony