Year in Review: The 20 Greatest Stocking Stuffers of 2020
Thursday, December 24, 2020 at 11:21AM Our year in review lists begin! We'll try to bring you one each day for the next couple of weeks. We polled the team for this one and haphazardly tallied the results. At least two members had to vote for them or they had to score really high on one person's list. It's so not scientific but it was fun to think about: Which movie or television prop did you most covet this year? Here are the items Team Experience craved.
Just imagine pulling any of these things out of your stocking this holiday...
20 A BOTTLE OF SECONAL from Mank
If the pandemic has reeked havoc on your sleeping schedule, and what timetable hasn't it disrupted this year, you can take back control with one of these babies if someone is kind of enough to throw it in your stocking. No wrapping necessary. Maybe don't down a whole travelling case full of them like a boozy screenwriter, though. - Nathaniel
19 STAINED GLASS WINDOW from Relic
I'm no Marie Kondo but if you ask me what every home needs is a mythical demarcation line between the real world and allegory; one which feeds off of the abandonment of our elderly loved ones, off of their loneliness and quiet rage, off of the cruelties of time, our failing bodies. Festive! And it manages to do all of that while sparkling pretty-like when the mid-afternoon sunlight catches it just right. - Jason
18 A VINTAGE MS. MAGAZINE from The Glorias / Mrs America
After watching Gloria Steinem raise hell and be a feministic icon in both the Mrs. America miniseries and Julie Taymor's The Glorias, it's difficult not to be curious about the celebrated "Ms. Magazine" that the activist helped found. If the back issues can include the magazine's famous first issue or a framed copy of its glorious cover, all the better! - Cláudio
17 EMORY'S FAN from Boys in the Band
In Joe Mantello's starry adaptation of The Boys in the Band, Robin de Jesus stands out as the proudly flamboyant Emory. How do we know he's gay and proud of it? Simple. He uses a fan as punctuation for every bit of shade thrown. And fans fold out perfectly for Christmas stockings. Christopher
16 BABY CAKE TOPPER, MARBLE, JACK, BATTERY from Borat Subsequent Movie Film / Swallow
All are idea sizes for stocking stuffers! Is it wrong to want a keepsake that a brilliant actresses like Maria Bakalova and Haley Bennett swallowed in the service of cinema? - Nathaniel
15 MAJORETTE COSTUME from Mank
Marion Davies’ themed fancy dress parties were legendary, attracting the crème de la crème of Golden Age Hollywood. This particular outfit was even more ostentatious in real life, but Mank's costume designer Trish Summerville wisely decided to tone it down. Afterall Amanda Seyfried’s wide eyed, luminous face gives us more, A grade 30’s glamour than a few extra feathers ever could. It takes a Movie Star to play a Movie Star which is undoubtedly what she’s now become. - Baby Clyde
14 JIM BROWN'S THREE PIECE SUIT from One Night in Miami
After nine months of wearing nothing but drawstring pants and house shoes, we all need a little style. And what better way to exude that style with the outfit of the sharpest-dressed man in a film that takes place in a secluded indoors space with people you already know? Jim Brown is once again an icon for our times. - Ben
13 SCRABBLE, MONOPOLY, CHESS BOARDS from The Queen's Gambit / Let Them All Talk
The holidays are a perfect time for board games. Chess personally gives me a headache but apparently those boards are all the rage post The Queens Gambit. I'm definitely more of a scrabble or monopoly person a la Let Them All Talk. Unfortunately no boards purchased come with Dianne "Bow down, bitch" Wiest included. - Nathaniel
12 BISCUITS from Ted Lasso
These sweets, brought each morning by the affable American coach to his boss, have the power to melt even the harshest exteriors. Somehow, they seem to get magically better every day. - Abe
11 ENTROPY REVERSER from Tenet
Yes, I want to go through my day backwards, but not because I want to prevent worldwide castastrophe...I just want to have a little fun. Think of all the awesome Tik Toks I can make and how much fun I would be a kid's birthday parties. We all need more harmless levity. - Ben
10 AN OSCAR from Hollywood or Mank
As Oscar obsessives, we all probably dream of holding one of Hollywood's most coveted little gold men. Whether the real Best Screenplay trophy for Citizen Kane or Anna May Wong's imaginary Best Supporting Actress statuette, wouldn't you love to pull that statue from you stocking? Adore it for one beautiful day and then donate it to a museum so others could admire the artifact of film history. - Cláudio
09 SEPARATING FOLDERS from Emma.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s Emma is most comfortable hiding her true feelings, destroying the lives of those around her from behind the veil of high society musings. How better to do that than behind old fashioned, beautifully designed separating folders? They provide the perfect cover for you to curl up with your sweetheart and still hold your head high after he leaves. - Eurocheese
08 DEERSKIN COAT from Deerskin
Oh that I should ever love anything as truly and wholly as Jean Dujardin loves his deerskin jacket in Deerskin. What would that kind of love feel like? I once screamed at a guy on the subway who stepped on my new sneakers, but what if I'd decapitated him with a sharpened down ceiling-fan blade instead? My heart begs such sustenance. - Jason
07 MOONCAKES from Over the Moon
If there’s any food that conjures up nostalgia, it’s these delectable treats. There’s tradition in them and a generous helping of sentimentality. Plus, how many recipes can you set to song? - Abe
06 MARY'S DRAWING from Ammonite
After selling her ichthyosaurus fossil to the British Museum, all Mary Anning's got left of her treasured discovery is the drawing she made before the sale, a piece of paper steeped in loving devotion, frustration, ambition, and dashed dreams. Regardless of its artistic merit, there's such feeling in Mary's scientific drawing one can't help but be beguiled by its simple lines. Also, as Daniel Walber wrote, fossils are cool. - Cláudio
05 KEYS TO CAR from On the Rocks
Bill Murray’s car in On the Rocks completely nails his character – age inappropriate, desperate to appear young and carefree, and clearly running out of time. That shiny vehicle is a beautiful metaphor for his relationship with his daughter, bright and shiny to an outside viewer but all kinds of problematic. Yet, much like their messy relationship, how can you not find it charming? - Eurocheese
04 TILDA'S AXE from The Human Voice
A questionable gift if the holidays are triggering for you. But if you don't have any use for this household good, get more creative. The Human Voice even uses it to spell the "L" in ALMÓDOVAR. Plus it pairs well with red slacks, leopard print heels, insanely thorough art direction, and madwoman rages. - Nathaniel
03 BLODWYN PUGH'S "REALM OF THE OWL" from Let Them All Talk
There's always the one frenemy who recommends an obscure movie/book/podcast/song to assert their cultural prowess. Meryl Streep's Alice does just that when she "gifts" her estranged friends (Dianne Wiest, Candice Bergen) copies of Bronwen Pugh's memoir "Realm of the Owl." There are two types of friends: the one who reads the book just to make fun of you (Wiest) and the one who never picks it up because she's too busy looking for a sugar daddy (Bergen). - Christopher
02 EGG SANDWICH from Birds of Prey
As a foodie this was definitely the most I've ever coveted an object or meal on screen this year. Harley Quinn spends most of the movie just trying to enjoy the simple pleasure of biting into this wonderfully cheesy, breakfasty sandwich, something we can all relate to in a year where we've been reminded/forced to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. - Tony
01 OILY CAKES from First Cow
Ever since I saw Kelly Reichardt's latest masterpiece, I've been wondering what Cookie's much talked about "oily cakes" taste like. Is their flavor a nostalgic trip through the Victorian England of our imagination like Chief Factor implies? One thing's for sure, they look good and King-Lu's a very persuasive salesman! - Cláudio
WHICH OF THESE MOVIE OR TV PROPS DO YOU WANT MOST FOR CHRISTMAS?
Reader Comments (10)
A pair of Levee’s vintage yellow wings tips is the prop I most desire.
And for the naughty folks, a Frances McDormand autographed plastic bucket, direct from the Vanguard in Nomadland.
The socks & garters worn by Constable Fitzpatrick (Nicholas Hoult) in True History of the Kelly Gang...
Those top two are great. My mouth just started salivating automatically!
On the TV side... I'd like Moira Rose's Pope-inspired wedding outfit on SCHITT'S CREEK, Arabella's debut novel from I MAY DESTROY YOU, Hippolyta's magical orrery from LOVECRAFT COUNTY.
I'd love to have someone at home to swallow the exhausted batteries. Heard that we shouldn't throw them in the trash.
The casting of Amanda Seyfried in Mank is genious. She and Marion Davies really look like each other. The actress' costume parties have fun stories that would deserve a movie for themselves. In fact, besides that film with Kirsten Dunst, there's a made-for-tv movie depicting Davies’ relationship with Hearst, played by Robert Mitchum - The Hearst and Davies Affair(1985), in which she is played by Virginia Madsen.
The costumes of the protagonist of Emily in Paris. I.WANT.
Toni Collette's is it or isn't it a Yule Log.
I want the egg sandwich.
Fave prop this year, probably the cars in Unfortunate Stories (Historias Lamentables). Wait and see. See the damn movie, it's in Amazon Prime and it's a masterpiece of comedy!
I have to say, that it would be fun to have a prop from Eurovision Song Festival: The Story of Fire Saga... one of the statues of the russian singer played by Dan Stevens. Truly a shocker for visitors!
Incredible post! I didn't knowral of these assets and I will go look at them now! subway surfers