SUPPLEMENT: Criticism of Analyses
Article: “The Internet Has A ‘Problem’ Problem,” The Concourse
“Now 90 percent of all internet thinkpieces are dedicated to explaining why you should have a problem with something you originally had no problem with. OPEN YOUR EYES, SHEEPLE. Don't you see that keyboard cat is a way of enforcing traditional heteronormative privilege in America today? The cat is wearing a house robe, which means that it he/she is clearly being forced into a domesticated, subservient role against his/her free will. NOT FUNNY. NOT ON MY WATCH. There's a whole black hole of the internet that spends all day up its own ass, endlessly worried about approving of pop culture rather than actually fucking enjoying it.”
Article: Why the Internet can't stop overanalyzing 'Too Many Cooks,' The Daily Dot
“The trend of hyper-analysis isn’t inherently a bad thing; this is not the point of this piece... Knowledge has become broader, and people are far more capable of articulating concepts that used to be privileged knowledge and are now widespread discursive canon. In principle, this is a fantastic thing. Access never hurt anybody in and of itself.
But what thinkpiece culture has added to the mix is the idea that because we are now able to analyze things in this way, we must analyze it this way and, more importantly, we must analyze anything and everything in this way. It’s led to the widespread revocation of the idea that sometimes the cigar is just a cigar, that the thing can just exist without being defined by what is said of it. As a culture we’ve been handed the raw, crude materials of textual analysis, without the framework or the necessary discussions of when to say when.
This isn’t to say that we should stop being critical—far from it. But if the natural reaction to a late-night sketch at four in the morning is to wonder if it’s actually about shifting family values in the post-9/11 landscape, perhaps it’s time to consider whether a thing is, in fact, just a thing, not what we say of it.”