Underrated / Overrated

UNDERRATED

Laura Marling’s ‘A Creature I Don’t Know’: A U.K. singer-songwriter whose latest album made a splash among only select circles, Marling’s twisting and addictive “A Creature I Don’t Know” deserved a more fixed presence on the year-end lists of the last month. Though only a brain-scrambling 21, Marling is armed with a sharp, roomy voice and a wicked way with words that can recall a brilliant cross between Joni Mitchell and Lucinda Williams.

Christopher Plummer: There are few late-career runs more unlikely yet as deserving as the 2011 enjoyed by this 82-year-old character actor. Plummer offered rich, memorable 2011 turns as Ewan McGregor’s sweetly just-out father in “Beginners” and the dryly cynical Swedish employer of Daniel Craig’s disgraced writer in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Both are a long way from “The Sound of Music” but are as sharply in-tune as ever.

OVERRATED

Katy Perry, chart champ: A flip of the calendar always inspires reflection on the previous year, and one moment from 2011 that leaves a mark is knowing Katy Perry tied Michael Jackson’s long-held record for No. 1 hits from a single album with the pop tarts spawned from “Teenage Dream.” Though it’s a comfort knowing the numbers are a bit skewed given the current music industry, this hangover still might take another year to recover from.

TV’s fetishization of redneck culture: On any given night on basic cable you can go “Hillbilly Handfishing,” tromp among the gators with “Swamp People” and even indulge “white lightning”-running fantasies with “Moonshiners.” Though it would be consistent with the holiday spirit to believe these shows aim for greater cultural understanding, much of it feels more like freak-show tourism that only reinforces broad stereotypes in the name of ratings.

—Chris Barton