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“As a freelance journalist blessed with an inheritance as well as a venture-capitalist husband..."
Lots of talk about whether this FT article on How The Other 0.1% Lockdown is a parody or not. Both yes and no... https://www.ft.com/content/8ea1c992-89f8-11ea-a109-483c62d17528
Lots of talk about whether this FT article on How The Other 0.1% Lockdown is a parody or not. Both yes and no... https://www.ft.com/content/8ea1c992-89f8-11ea-a109-483c62d17528
Priyamvada Gopal gives a good explanation of the Indian upper-caste nuances at play here.
The mention of the mother's house in Delhi's "mausoleum view" which, to those in the know, places it precisely in the most expensive address in the city. https://twitter.com/PriyamvadaGopal/status/1273246389221416960
The mention of the mother's house in Delhi's "mausoleum view" which, to those in the know, places it precisely in the most expensive address in the city. https://twitter.com/PriyamvadaGopal/status/1273246389221416960
Readers want to assume the author (Shruti Advani) is stupid and doesn't know what she's writing, because the content is unrelatable and they're angry about that.
Nah. Lines like that Freddie's Flowers ones are very deliberately played. She knows what she's doing.
Nah. Lines like that Freddie's Flowers ones are very deliberately played. She knows what she's doing.
Prof. Gopal explains...
The whole of the society magazine Tatler is written like this, btw. By people who do know their lives are ridiculous, but who also enjoy them. And have some massive blindspots. https://twitter.com/PriyamvadaGopal/status/1273256696945815552
The whole of the society magazine Tatler is written like this, btw. By people who do know their lives are ridiculous, but who also enjoy them. And have some massive blindspots. https://twitter.com/PriyamvadaGopal/status/1273256696945815552
But authorial intent isn't the whole picture -- there's also the publisher, the FT.
Publishing inflammatory personal essays (almost entirely by written by women) is an established digital journalism business model: the First Person Industrial Complex. https://twitter.com/Matt_Muir/status/1273280348001107974
Publishing inflammatory personal essays (almost entirely by written by women) is an established digital journalism business model: the First Person Industrial Complex. https://twitter.com/Matt_Muir/status/1273280348001107974
The author is semi-aware their situation is ludicrous.
The editor knows this will make people angry, and generate thousands of shares & clicks & reads -- and follow-up commentary (QED)
The author's led out like a lamb to the slaughter. It's a savage model, tbh.
The editor knows this will make people angry, and generate thousands of shares & clicks & reads -- and follow-up commentary (QED)
The author's led out like a lamb to the slaughter. It's a savage model, tbh.
Some writers are in on this, to an extent -- Emily Gould, most notably.
At Gawker she was the infant terrible of this style & arguably kickstarted the model. Her essay earlier this year, 'Replaying My Shame', shows what that cost. https://www.thecut.com/2020/02/emily-gould-gawker-shame.html
At Gawker she was the infant terrible of this style & arguably kickstarted the model. Her essay earlier this year, 'Replaying My Shame', shows what that cost. https://www.thecut.com/2020/02/emily-gould-gawker-shame.html
First Person Industrial Complex, meanwhile, is a phrase coined by @lbennet in 2015.
Read the definitive take on this model here: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/technology/2015/09/the_first_person_industrial_complex_how_the_harrowing_personal_essay_took.html
Read the definitive take on this model here: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/technology/2015/09/the_first_person_industrial_complex_how_the_harrowing_personal_essay_took.html
It's up to you whether you want to be angry at Shruti Advani for her rich-gal privilege, I don't care.
Just be aware that's the business model, yep? It's what the FT wants you to feel & it's they who profit.
(Given scarcity of profit in journalism, is that necess a bad thing?)
Just be aware that's the business model, yep? It's what the FT wants you to feel & it's they who profit.
(Given scarcity of profit in journalism, is that necess a bad thing?)
