What Pop Culture Did You Turn to For Comfort After the Election?
Here are the movies and TV shows that helped us cope.
The day after the 2024 presidential election was the worst kind of déjà vu, as we collectively realized that we were returning to the “darkest timeline.”
Pop culture plays a significant role in each of our lives, and so of course this is how we chose to cope with the bleak news. From TV comedies to family-friendly movies, here is what we turned to for solace. (And we could always use more recommendations for comfort viewing, if you’d like to share with us in the comments!)
Saul Austerlitz Sought ‘Community’
On Wednesday afternoon, emotionally and physically shattered and incapable of doing anything other than continually refresh Bluesky, I followed a stray whim and put on the first episode of Community.
The Dan Harmon hangout series/metafictional hall of mirrors is a dazzling undermining of lazy television and film tropes, filtered through the brilliant mind of TV savant Abed (Danny Pudi), but it is also a show about broken hearts—including disbarred lawyer Jeff (Joel McHale), ex-BMOC Troy (Donald Glover), divorcee Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and tightly wound overachiever Annie (Alison Brie)—finding unexpected companionship in their community-college study group.
Perhaps one day after our being wrenched out of our hoped-for future, the idea of taking solace in, well, community spoke to a need we were all feeling. We are all Troys in search of the Abeds who will make us feel better about all this.
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong Rediscovered the Beauty of ‘Ugly Betty’
I had already been rewatching Ugly Betty for weeks before the election, and I chose it for reasons that had little to do with current events. (I'm writing a book about Parks and Rec so I wanted to watch some other TV from the 2000s.) Just after the shellshock of the election results, I turned it on again, and suddenly it felt like absolute ancient history.
It's set at a glamorous and vibrant fashion magazine, Mode, and while many of the characters are cutthroat, the show's arc bends toward the goodness of Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), the less-than-fashionable assistant with untweezed eyebrows, glasses, and braces. It's from a time when we were about to elect Barack Obama, and we hadn't even experienced the financial crisis of 2008 yet. Working at a magazine was still the coolest job in the land. And a plucky daughter of Mexican immigrants was the antidote to all that ailed the wealthy Meade family, the owners of Mode.
Ugly Betty was absolutely at the top of its game in the mid-second-season episodes I watched (and mostly past an extremely bungled plotline about a trans character played by cisgender woman Rebecca Romijn): In the first installment that came up for me post-election, Betty is finally embarking on a sweet romance with Henry from accounting (Christopher Gorham), and they go to see their mutual favorite play, Wicked; the production actually takes place during a performance of the play, featuring future Smash star Megan Hilty as Glinda! In the next episode, the evil editor Wilhelmina Slater (a delicious Vanessa Williams) is about to marry Mode owner Bradford Meade (Alan Dale), with Posh Spice doing a cameo as the maid-of-honor. Escapism at its absolute heights.
Kirthana Ramisetti Welcomed a Bear Hug From ‘Paddington 2’
Once I learned the news, it took me awhile to figure out what I could watch that would give me mental respite. I needed something that was completely removed from our reality. None of my usual go-to comfort viewing fit the bill, and by a stroke of luck I remembered Paddington 2.
As I mentioned in my other newsletter, watching this movie was a lovely lesson about the value of community, as exemplified by Paddington’s positive impact on everyone who meets him, from his family and neighbors to the tough-guy criminals he befriends while (unjustly) sent to prison.
This movie is such a warm hug — and it also has a secret weapon in Hugh Grant as the film’s delightful villain, Phoenix Buchanan. A failed, preening actor and self-proclaimed master of disguise, Grant is just as much a joy to watch as Paddington.
And that’s what makes Paddington perhaps the ultimate comfort watch: It will make you laugh while also reminding you that there is still a lot of goodness in the world.
Erin Carlson Scrolled a Gentlemanly Instagram Account
Ugh, the day after the election I was completely unfocused. I tried to work on a freelance assignment, but instead doom-scrolled and read fellow Democrats' postmortem complaints about how the party botched the campaign to topple Trump and defeat Trumpism once and for all. (No one asked, but my official statement is here.) As I struggled to process the news, I also tortured myself by taking a tour of Doug Emhoff's cozy, uplifting Instagram account and remembering the good times, when hope was still alive. To quote the late, great Whitney Houston, "Didn't we almost have it all?" (Oh, Doug, you will always be First Husband to me. Melania? She's got nothing on you. I mean, you actually like your spouse.)
On Inauguration Day, which I refuse to watch, I will imagine Kamala Harris being sworn in and Doug by her side, proving that Real Men want women to win. And while the election's over, I will not stop following Doug on the 'Gram. I'm a fan for life.
Thea Glassman Watched an Uplifting Pop Culture Doc
I cannot say enough about the soothing nature of the new documentary “The House From...”, a beautifully done, joy-filled portrait of the people who live in famous movie and TV houses. There's the sweet story of the girl who grew up in the Home Alone house during filming, a diehard fan who saved up enough money to buy the Goonies house and the couple who transformed the Twilight house into an Airbnb, among other deeply fun tales. (It's not all sunshine and daisies, by the way — tune in for some crazy drama involving the woman who owns one of the Breaking Bad houses.)
As someone who has stood — in complete rapture — in front of homes and apartments from my favorite shows, I also loved the insightful analysis into why we fans make pilgrimages to these sights and feel the feelings we do once there.
I came down with covid the day after the election and promptly binged the first two seasons of Ted Lasso (very late to that party...)
I scrolled up South Park reruns and was reminded to laugh at how ridiculous we all are as humans. I also pulled out a bunch of old poppy "New Wave" & Soul/Funk vinyl from the 70s & 80s to soothe the rope burned soul. I even tried to relearn the moonwalk. It was a little sad, just like before! HEE-Hee! Finally I got back in it & am here, now makin' my opinions known, spreadin' facts, and learning even more online. Fight the Power!