IN 2017, E. Alex Jung declared that "Male Stars Are Too Buff!" On the heels of that, a young Timothée Chalamet entered the popular consciousness via Call Me by Your Name. The public appraised him; people took in his long, lean limbs, his "alabaster skin" (Vogue's phrase), the alien angularity of his facial structure, and, rather than say "Wow, this kid should 100 percent be cast as Colin in a remake of The Secret Garden," they said, "This is the heartthrob we've been waiting for." He was the antidote to the Marvel-led glut of synthetic, bulging muscles that looked like CGI but were real and the brute brand of masculinity associated with that type of body.
Blended with Chalamet's otherwise standard-issue heartthrob characteristics (white, cis, floppy '90s hair, pouty lips), all this led to an explosion of heartthrob idolatry: Vogue declared that he was "ushering in a new era of masculinity"; I-D magazine hailed him as "the Perfect Heartthrob for 2018"; another headline singled out his eyes, stating "Timothée Chalamet's Sex Eyes Are the Spice of Life." It took no time at all-he was the Internet Boyfriend Supreme by the end of 2019. The fandom materialized and grew to full "Chalamania." Fans made slow-motion memes of his open-mouthed, torso-winding dancing in Call Me by Your Name and Photoshopped his face onto great works of art on the ChalametInArt Instagram account. The overwhelming allure wasn't just his looks. It was, as one megafan who waited hours to spot him on the red carpet of the 2022 Venice Film Festival put it, his gentle personality. "It feels nice to have a Gen-Z star who seems genuinely nice, whom we can all look up to," she told Variety. Fans were drawn in by his emotional intelligence and seeming sweetness and sensitivity. It felt like they could rely on him to always make the interesting choice (in love interests, famous friends, roles, red-carpet fits).
Denne historien er fra December 4-17, 2023-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra December 4-17, 2023-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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THE BEST ART SHOWS OF THE YEAR
IN NOVEMBER, Sotheby's made history when it sold for a million bucks a painting made by artificial intelligence. Ai-Da, \"the first humanoid robot artist to have an artwork auctioned by a major auction house,\" created a portrait of Alan Turing that resembles nothing more than a bad Francis Bacon rip-off. Still, the auction house described the sale as \"a new frontier in the global art market.\"
THE BIGGEST PODCAST MOMENTS OF THE YEAR
A STRANGE THING happened with podcasts in 2024: The industry was repeatedly thrust into the spotlight owing to a preponderance of head-turning events and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium's consequential nature. To reflect this, we've carved out a list of ten big moments from the year as refracted through podcasting.
THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - BEST BOOKS
THE BEST THEATER OF THE YEAR
IT'S BEEN a year of successful straight plays, even measured by a metric at which they usually do poorly: ticket sales. Partially that's owed to Hollywood stars: Jeremy Strong, Jim Parsons, Rachel Zegler, Rachel McAdams (to my mind, the most compelling).
THE BEST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
2024 WAS one big stress test that presented artists with a choice: Face uncomfortable realities or serve distractions to the audience. Pop music turned inward while hip-hop weathered court cases and incalculable losses. Country struggled to reconcile conservative interests with a much wider base of artists. But the year's best music offered a reprieve.
THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE YEAR
IT WAS SURPRISING how much 2024 felt like an uneventful wake for the Peak TV era. There was still great television, but there was much more mid or meh television and far fewer moments when a critical mass of viewers seemed equally excited about the same series.
THE BEST COMEDY SPECIALS OF THE YEAR
THE YEAR IN CULTURE - COMEDY SPECIALS
THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR
PEOPLE LOVED Megalopolis, hated it, puzzled over it, clipped it into memes, and tried to astroturf it into a camp classic, but, most important, they cared about it even though it featured none of the qualities you'd expect of a breakthrough work in these noisy times.
A Truly Great Time
This was the year our city's new restaurants loosened up.
The Art of the Well-Stuffed Stocking
THE CHRISTMAS ENTHUSIASTS on the Strategist team gathered to discuss the oversize socks they drape on their couches and what they put inside them.
