Ghost in the Shell and Anime’s Troubled History With Representation
Emily Yoshida | The Verge
“But I never had to visually deal with the fact that these magical girls and teen soldiers and melancholy robots were Japanese—culturally, yes; racially, no. It was enough for me to hear Japanese being spoken and Japanese culture being referenced to. But Japanese people—flesh-and-blood humans—had long since been removed from one of Japan’s chief cultural exports.”
What Do Our Online Avatars Reveal About Us?
Amanda Hess | The New York Times Magazine
“But as I traverse the Web, I naturally scan for subtle clues in the avatars chosen by friends and strangers, reading their U.S.A.-themed scrapbooks and cat GIFs like leaves at the bottom of a teacup. On Twitter, an avatar flipped to Beyoncé in Lemonade or Prince reads like a pledge to a newly materialized online club; a bizarre cartoon points to a person who tweets frequently and with open self-loathing; an unhatched egg that appears automatically upon profile creation has become its own anti-avatar avatar.”
How Air Jordan Became Crying Jordan
Ian Crouch | The New Yorker
“For those of us who were sentient when Jordan was winning championships, seeing his face become a mocking emblem of sadness and incompetence has been jarring. Jordan never lost when it counted, and even during his strange baseball interlude, few dared call him incompetent. But today, Crying Jordan is one element in a much broader repositioning of Jordan’s place in the culture.”