Saturday 9 February 2019

extended character set

Via Nag on the Lake, we were very pleased to learn that the latest batch of emojis to be released over the course of the year was not only inclusive of people with disabilities, having the vocabulary available and therefore not feeling like outsiders or othered, the combinations of couples, counting the gender neutral and the non-binary, numbers upwards of seventy permutations—to make sure all sorts of relationships are represented. I caught the end of a very clever commentary the other day that really anchored perspective and identity—I think it was through the lens of minorities depicted in superhero films but it’s also universally true: those depictions of a minority character on the screen is not just for those that look like and recognise something of themselves in the portrayal but it’s also for those in the majority who are used to seeing themselves in the movies to help them understand that others can be there too. There’s also underpants, a banjo and an otter.