You, your mom and even your grandma have heard the phrase “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

When looking back at 2012, it’s safe to say no one wants to see anything change in our world. This was a year full of sequels, prequels, reboots and re-imaginings.

The same stories were told again, but with a twist! Hollywood promises — in everything from television to movies to celebrity meltdowns. But we’re all OK with it.

As college students, we were assured our favorite culture icons would always be around, whether they’re suave spies like James Bond or eccentric divas like Lady Gaga. Our zip codes will change, we’ll get more candles on our birthday cake, but Gaga will always be there to have eerily similar music to Madonna.

And movies continued to reference the past just as well as Gaga.

“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “The Hunger Games,” “The Amazing Spiderman” and “The Breaking Dawn – Part 2” were the top grossing movies of the year. All five are adaptions of comics or plain old books, while the top two were the newest installments of already cemented series.

Just in the next month, we’ll be seeing adaptations of “The Hobbit,” “Les Misérables” and “Anna Karenina.”

Primetime TV Land wasn’t much more creative. CBS premiered the New York City set Sherlock drama “Elementary” with Lucy Liu as our dear Watson. The CW pulled out 1980’s “Beauty and the Beast” from the mothballs as well as DC superhero Green Arrow for “Arrow.”

Even celebrity drama was the same old same old. Lindsay Lohan’s black hole of madness series seems to be at part 34. Amanda Bynes forgot how to drive a car like countless forgotten celebrities of yore, such as Mischa Barton and Charlie Sheen.

Miley Cyrus even pulled a Britney Spears circa 2007. She shaved her head, went on Twitter rants and stopped wearing pants. Justin Bieber transitioned into his own Justin Timberlake stage and even crooned Timberlake classic “Cry Me a River” during a concert.

Luckily, for everyone who enjoys the Same Old S***t, Different Day we saw in the last 12 months, 2013 promises to offer the usual usualness.

There will be two Marvel movies out next year: “Iron Man 3” on May 3 and “Thor: The Dark World” on Nov. 8. “The Dark Knight” producer-director Christopher Nolan will take a turn at solely producing a superhero blockbuster with “Man of Steel.”

Even Jack and the Bean Stalk will hit the silver screen with “Jack the Giant Slayer,” which was originally slated for 2012 until it was pushed back.

And for anyone who missed Carrie Bradshaw’s voiceovers from “Sex and the City,” worry not. The CW has added aptly named “The Carrie Diaries” to its midseason schedule.

But in the immediate future we have holiday specials to look forward to. These are the mainstays that can outshine even Ironman and Carrie Bradshaw. My personal favorite, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” has been popping up since 1946.

The Christmas movie classics club is so exclusive that the only modern movie to break in is “Elf.” But if you can bet on anyone being able to crash something, it’s definitely Will Ferrell.

At least with the world ending in only a matter of weeks, we’ll end everything on a predictable note.

Ariana Romero is a junior magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears every week. She can be reached at akromero@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @ArianaRomero17. 

 

Published on December 6, 2012 at 2:54 am