#the Pinnacle of pan representation

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

(Throwing gas on the fire with my opinions here)

I’d say bbc Sherlock and bohemian rhapsody suffer from similar terminally online takes where tumblr fans initially fell very hard for them and held them up as the pinnacle of art/representation (which they never were) then as the honeymoon obsession faded treated them as undeserving garbage (which they also never were) thus failing to understand why people divorced from internet fandom think of them as regular fun media without 20 layers of drama. And forget the original was, at the very least, entertaining to most audiences and had redeeming qualities.

This is truly gas on the fire and I'm going to have to do a HARD disagree with you there because Bohemian Rhapsody as a film was always extremely bad on several major levels. It was really inaccurate (and in some crucial respects, like botching the timing of Freddie's AIDS diagnosis for cheap drama), hit all of the tired band movie clichés with a cheesy ass script that could have been written about any old band instead of putting any effort in to tell Queen's unique story and portray their unique personalities, and had a homophobic/straightwashing portrayal of a real gay man while presenting his homophobic, asshole ex-girlfriend as some saint who was the True love of his life and "saved" him.

It's inherently worse than any Sherlock Holmes adaptation for misrepresenting real people, and being homophobic about real gay men. The idea that it's just fun entertainment becomes flimsy when it comes down to misrepresenting real people to the point of harm, as opposed to making a fake story about fake people. Borhap was rightfully panned every step of the way as soon as it came out as a terrible movie that people only sat through because it had chunks of Queen's music, which was/is good enough to keep people from leaving the theater mid-film. It was not at all an Online/fringe opinion that borhap had a poor script and was homophobic, it was mainstream. I remember even a review in my local newspaper being like, "Yeah, this movie low-key sucks, but the music was good" lol. I only joined the Queen fandom after reading about the backlash, which was all over the place! It was entertaining to some audiences because of the music and because most people don't know Queen's/Freddie's real story (and are homophobic and love the Mary fanfiction lol), but I remember watching someone on YouTube just casually mentioning it like, "Yeah, I didn't even finish the movie because even though I don't know Queen's history that well, the writing was just so cliched and I feel like it probably wasn't even accurate."

So yeah, no, sorry, borhap was actually incredibly bad and shouldn't have even gotten the praise that it did. If Rami hadn't given a great performance, it probably wouldn't have tbh

[orlissa]

*Puts on scholarly hat*

Okay, I wanna talk about this:

And this:

In his book, Running Scared: Masculinity and the Representation of the Male Body, Peter Lehman talks about a theory put forward by Steve Neale. Now, I want to preface this by saying that Lehman actually cautions the audience, because apparently Neale first came up with the theory, and then looked for instances to support it, but honestly? I’ve seen it enough to say that it’s solid.

Anyway, so Neale’s theory: the accepted status quo is (OFC) that in cinema, men look and women are being looked at. The audience is meant to identify with the male protagonist (narcissitic identification) and desire the female character (voyeuristic pleasure). So if we have a male body on screen presented for the voyeuristic engagement of the female audience (which, news flash, happens, oh, boy, does it happen), there is a, let’s call it an urge (Neale actually calls it a “homophobic response”) to punish it and attempt destroy its attractiveness--because male bodies are not supposed to be eroticized. That breaks the unwritten law!

So let’s see what we have here:

Keep in mind, I haven’t seen The Punisher, but it’s clear even to me from the gifs and whatnot that Billy is presented as the pinnacle of male beauty. There is talk about his “catwalk silhoutte” and how “pretty people run the world,” and even he references his own beauty. Plus there are the sex scenes which I could also talk about at lenght, even just based on the gifs.

...And then his attractiveness is destroyed (not taking into account how some people find scars sexy and all; let’s stay with the general societal response).

The we have the Darkling/Kirigan--same difference, really, only, like, rated T instead of MA. He is pretty much presented for the female gaze (in no small part thanks to Ben Barnes’ personal acting choices), from the asking for consent part, and... well, we know. I don’t think I have to elaborate here.

...And then he is tortured, made bleed, and scarred in a pretty horrifying way--once again, destroying his attractiveness.

Another pretty significant instance of this, by the way, is how Thor handled in the MCU (I’ve actually talked about this in a published paper too, btw).

Thor is easily the character in the MCU who is most posed from the female gaze. There are several instances in the movies where his body is pretty much presented in a way a female body is usually shown in movies (in a fractured way, focusing on one body part at the time, long, panning shots, etc.), plus the plot and the reaction of the female characters around him also highlight this. And then we have a recurring image in all the Thor movies: his face smashed against glass.

Pretty tame, pretty funny, but the fact remains: that scene is meant to highlight his un-attractiveness.

And then of course Ragnarok happens and he looses his hair and an eye, and then Endgame happens, and, well, we know what happens in Endgame.

My point is, I guess: no matter how more prominent the female gaze is getting in media, we are still having drawbacks and lashbacks.

[projectjasper]

people do be acting like asian media is the only one that lumps all queer cinema together under one label , as if all 200 newspaper sites weren’t calling god’s own country “ the british brokeback mountain “ , even though there is absolutely nothing in common between the two , except that they are both ( very broadly speaking ) about two gay men on a farm . 

people do be latching onto words and letting the west get away with it because the category is “ woke “ and calls itself “ lgbtq cinema “ instead of “ bls “ or whatever . even though 60% of all that “ lgbtq cinema “ is just a random love story between two cis white able-bodied neurotypical men ( who are likely both gay , or one of whom is perhaps bi or pan , but with an additional joy of biphobia or panphobia on the side )  , with no fucking queer people in sight in the cast or crew . and the majority of the remaining 40% is still the same old love story between two cis white able-bodied neurotypical men  ( who are likely both gay , or one of whom is perhaps bi or pan , but with an additional joy of biphobia or panphobia on the side ) , except maybe they got like one of the characters to be played by a gay actor , which thanks i guess .

and people do be acting like that bullshit is all valid attempts at queer cinema , while what is labeled as “ bls “ ( simply because that’s how it started and that’s where it’s at right now ) is garbage and has nothing to do with queer people , as if we are not getting more and more “ bls “ directed by queer people and/or with queer people in the cast , discussing queer issues and targeted specifically at our community .

and people do be acting like stereotypes about queer people are only perpetuated in bls ( which - may i remind you - is basically just fucking asian queer cinema , with the exception of a couple of gls that i can probably count on the fingers of just one of my hands and the equivalent to which is just as rare in the west btw ) , as if the majority of western queer cinema doesn’t rely on queer torture porn and doesn’t have terrible endings that reinforce the idea that queer people can never be truly happy , in addition to many other problems . 

like , it would be nice to get rid of the bl label , because it is redundant , but - looking at the western queer cinema - the label is clearly not the fucking problem . and getting rid of it will sure as hell not magically fix the misogyny or the lack of representation for someone other than mlm , etc. . and i say that as a trans non-binary asexual , who can run about looking for rep in what’s called “ lgbtq cinema “ or what’s called “ bls “ and won’t find any from either in equal measure .

queer cinema is not perfect anywhere . not in the west and not in the east . not when it’s labeled as “ lgbtq cinema “ and not when it’s labeled as “ bl “ . we have a fucking gigantic way to go to get to even as little as half of all queer cinema to be genuinely good and to have genuinely good representation in all areas . but watching any bullshit that’s produced in the us just because it’s wokely called queer or lgbtq , but not giving a fighting fucking chance to anything produced in asia because “ haha cringy bls “ is fucking bullshit . 

asian media is just as capable of producing fantastic queer cinema , even if ( at the moment ) they call it differently ( and they DO produce fantastic queer cinema , and the farther we go , the better it gets and the more good shows and movies we get ) . and the western media is just as capable of targeting their mlm shows and movies at straight girls ( who have always fetishized queer men just as much as straight men fetishized queer women - fucking everywhere , y’all do be acting like that’s something specific to asia , which it’s NOT ) . 

like not to namedrop , but some of you do legit think that a torture porn movie written by a straight woman with no queer people involved or the movie where a grown fucking adult man prays on an underage boy is the pinnacle of queer cinema , but you look at anything that’s technically called a bl and you go “ ew no “ without even trying to find out anything about it , much less giving it a chance ? from the very bottom of my heart - fuck off .

[atalana]

I understand that your only source of representation is through Jughead, so how do you feel about people who ship him with other characters? Would you want them to stop?

i mean in an ideal world? absolutely yes

that said, i'm well aware i can't control much about the world outside of my own personal bubble, and people who ship jughead with other characters but stick to their own space aren't the biggest problem here? i'm not gonna go on a crusade to tear down any sectors of the archie and/or riverdale fandom with jughead ships, because honestly that sounds way too tiring and like, i'm sure i have things that i like to think and write about that other people would find infuriating, i don't wanna be a hypocrite and insist my way of doing fandom is the only way to do fandom

and the same goes for other fictional characters that are strongly implied to be aro/ace but 95% of the fandom has ships with them in, it gets on my nerves, but it isn't majorly harmful

the biggest problem, honestly, when it comes to jughead specifically, is riverdale, for bringing archie comics back into the public consciousness and pretending to be supportive of lgbt+ rights, and then at the same time erasing jughead's canon sexuality. like, this has been less of a problem in recent years bc from what i've seen the show has made a fool of itself in lots of other ways? but for people who do still watch it, just remember, no matter how many gay characters they include, they do not support this community. they include gay characters because it's become socially acceptable to include one or two and pretend like you're a paragon of representation. they're not. they're cowards who do not care about us

but when it comes to fandom, here's what is a problem when dealing with aro/ace representation, and things i'd like all fandoms to work on:

stop assuming that everyone needs sex or romance to be complete, stop assuming that any kind of positive relationship between two non-related characters must be romantic. like please. im so tired. people exist in this world who would be actively worse off in any romantic/sexual relationship, even a loving one, than they would be on their own. acknowledge these people exist, and maybe, just maybe, consider them in your sexuality headcanoning. (do you know how much it hurts to see someone make a sexuality headcanon page of a fandom with like 20+ characters and all of them are gay bi or pan? like representation for all of those are great as well, you should include them, but don't do so at the cost of excluding us. if your only reasoning behind headcanoning a character as bi is "they have Bi Vibes and I Want To", why is it so hard to make one or two of them ace or aro or both?)

people who have no interest in the opposite gender are both gay and aro/ace coded. it's something i've found constantly, whenever even a hint of aro/ace representation shows up, there's gonna be a very loud section of the fandom who insists they can't be aro/ace because they're gay coded, and making them aro/ace would deny representation. these people's only argument? they showed no interest in the opposite (binary) gender. guess what guys! that can be both! and insisting it's only gay is honestly aphobic as fuck and you will instantly lose my respect

same goes for characters who in canon show no interest in anyone at all. you'd think this would be a stronger argument for them being aro/ace than for them being gay, but not for these people! and like, this isn't me saying gay people can't relate to characters, of course do what makes you feel better, but i'm just asking for you to make space for us and acknowledge we're here. let the people with aro/ace headcanons feel just as acknowledged and validated as the people with gay headcanons, instead of shunned and like no one wants them around

(i still lose followers any time i make an aro/ace positive post. which honestly only makes me more incentivised to keep doing it. i'm here i'm queer and i'm not going anywhere, the hill i've chosen to die on is protecting younger aro/ace people and fighting for their rights and good luck knocking me down)

this does include the archie fandom, by the way. i'm assuming you sent this because you saw my post from 3-4 years ago about jughead being canonically aro/ace? well, there are plenty of people who angrily told me that jughead, a character explicitly said in the text to be aro/ace, was gay coded and i was being homophobic. like fucking stop it.

if you're genuinely interested in being a good ally to aro/ace people, and i really do appreciate that you've asked this!! here's a few things you (and the fandom at large) can do:

make space for aro/ace people in your headcanons, even if you're not aro/ace yourself. honestly, while this is a personal opinion, i don't even mind if your understanding of what being aro/ace is is slightly wrong? i mean if you wanna explore that in depth, doing research is better than not doing research (my ask box is always open), but i'm just happy to see anyone be inclusive, those people are the good people in my book

make space for aro/ace people in your jokes and memes. we like to have fun too! i'm still never really gonna get over the gay alignment chart meme, like... they had two separate squares for gay and lesbian, one for bi/pan, and none for aro or ace. that pretty much sums up everything wrong with representation at the moment. if you had to stick to three for the sake of the meme template, gay/lesbian, bi/pan, and aro/ace would have been much fairer. and yeah it's just a meme but like... we shouldn't only be on people's minds when things are serious

stop making all your aro/ace headcanons jokes. don't headcanon horrible real life people as aro/ace. be careful that your aro/ace headcanons aren't entirely children or robots. like, you can headcanon those characters as aro/ace, but if you're exclusively doing that, you're not really seeing us as people

(i have... complicated thoughts about spongebob apparently being canonically aro/ace. but i wouldn't hold that up as the pinnacle of representation)

(also despite many assholes' insistence to the contrary, being aro/ace isn't an 18+ identity. if a 12 year old can be gay a 12 year old can be aroace. they may not have discovered the sexual part yet but they can still know the romantic part. every sexuality goes through this same persecution why are even gay people still passing it down)

aro/ace people can be happy, well adjusted, non traumatised adults! many of us are! go make some headcanons of that!

while just aro or just ace people definitely do exist, and you can headcanon characters as such, some of us don't split those labels (i just use aroace for myself bc it's one thing, like how bisexual and biromantic people just go by bi). make sure you have some aro/ace people in the mix there, and you're not falling into the pitfall of using our identities only to make Gay Lite(TM)

don't let people walk all over us. we had a really thriving community back in 2013, and then the exclusionists came in and completely wiped it out. i saw it happen. they've faded into the background but only because 90% of aro/ace people are now scared to speak up on their own behalf. encourage aro/ace people to share their experiences if they want to, encourage aro/ace headcanons where you see them, make sure your fandom is a space where aro/ace people want to be. and if you see people being exclusionists (laughing at aro/ace people like they're cringy, pretending like aro/ace people are stealing non existent resources from gay people, or calling aro/ace people homophobic for existing are big weapons of the exclusionists), don't pretend it's just an argument or "discourse", let them know they don't belong. we can only fight so hard on our own behalf, we're a community for a reason. we're in this together

research, read, and most importantly, have fun with it. that's what fandom's for. if the only way you get enjoyment out of characters is by putting them in ships, try exploring a different, non romantic angle, and see what happens. encourage different forms of relationships. encourage aro/ace characters who are happy and secure in their own identity. encourage aro/ace characters having the same emotions as everyone else, just without the being attracted to people part. we're cool people! and ultimately, ship what you want. but just remember we're here, we're desperately in need of representation, and we can't make that happen on our own

[kurtwagners]

hey as someone from a region also under PRC suppression *waves from hk*, I just wanna say thank you for articulating the unease i feel when white people start talking about atla like it's the pinnacle of storytelling and ""representation"". on a similar note, i'm frustrated by how AsAm creatives seem to be hopping on the diversity train lately by writing neo-orientalist/ unwittingly PRC-propaganda work which white ppl just drink up without critically examining. idk what to do about it tbh

Hi!! I’m a huge supporter of the Hong Kong protests, thank you so much for your solidarity! (I have relatives who live there and I absolutely adore the city!) I completely get you, unfortunately in a lot of pan-asian spaces there is often a divide between those who are victims of China’s colonial actions and ignorant pro-PRC tankies who believe that we’re all disgusting terrorists and/or CIA-funded bootlickers who lie to make the holy nation-state of China look bad lmao...

For “minority groups” of mainland China like Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Mongolians, a lot of these people think that we’re so backwards and primitive compared to the lightskinned, "civilized” Han that we all deserved to be colonized, lol...it makes me so angry to even think about.

I firmly believe that overly romanticizing any country and/or their government is not okay, and to be a real advocate you have to acknowledge every dark spot on a country’s history to uplift those who are marginalized in that society. We can only hope that one day that all of our countries and groups will be free from PRC control so that we can finally determine our own destinies. It’s draining as hell but the main thing we can do to combat false propaganda is spread awareness about our causes as much as possible and show firm solidarity for each other as people who share an oppressor.

The sheer courage Hong Kongers have inspires me every day, 加油!!!

[kandelia-mangrove]

Listen y’all I really enjoyed rewatching ATLA and it’s a good show, but like don’t let nostalgia take away from legitimate criticism Asian people have about how it represents us. For a long time it was seen as the pinnacle of rep and I think this renewed interest is allowing us to critically consume a show we mostly watched as children. As a south Asian person I have a lot of issues with how the show takes from Indian culture and Hinduism yet only presents one Indian person who is the epitome of stereotypical. I know East Asian people who find the pan Asian mishmash to be frustrating or even detrimental to an average person, as it colors non-Asian people’s expectations and experiences with East Asian cultures and conflates different cultures with each other. The showrunners did their research but the show isn’t perfect and if Asian people aren’t comfortable with it maybe you should listen to them instead of insisting it is the height of good representation.

[bigskydreaming]

notjustawave replied to your post:

If the only evidence of a character not being...

me seeing ppl act like deadpool movies are the pinnacle of representation like i HAVE to laugh

Like....we’ve been hearing this “oh, progress takes baby steps, one little thing at a time” crap for our entire lives, and guess what? With the exception of representation created by actual marginalized creators who manage to get a platform for it against all odds, most other so called representation from major studios and companies and franchises looks barely any different from the scraps they were giving us twenty years ago.

Baby steps my ass. Just say you’re trying to keep marginalized viewers on the hook watching your stuff without pissing off the homophobes and racists enough that they stop watching your stuff. That’s what it comes down to. That is the only reason most representation is still half-assed, blink and you miss it.

Major billion dollar corporations and highly successful and influential actors who makes millions off every movie honestly have people bending over backwards to say they’re trying or progress isn’t easy and it takes time, like these people are actual victims and like....boxed in by the evil homophobic society or whatever....instead of the tastemakers whose prioritization of straight white heroes for generations is the reason we have to fight so hard to get actual representation in the first place! 

They’re not powerless to do more in the face of a still largely homophobic society, they’ve just made the conscious choice that they care more about making sure homophobes still buy tickets to their movies than they do actually making a difference.

And like, if that’s what they want to do, then fine, they can do that, but what kills me is this idea that we’re supposed to be grateful for whatever little hint of not-straightness or not-whiteness that they shine a spotlight on for 2.5 seconds in a movie before its back to business as usual.....as though they’d do more if they could, really they would, but that’s just the best they could manage because The Homophobes and the Racists, y’see.

The movie Deadpool only happened because Ryan Reynolds wanted it to happen so badly, he wouldn’t let the project die in development hell. He kept making the rounds himself, kept the push on to keep new scripts for it getting made, and he has enough star power and a big enough fanbase that he was able to make it happen when lots of other actors couldn’t. There’s that post going around about how there’s a Bea Arthur T-Shirt he wore in the movie that they had trouble getting in because copyright stuff, so he paid $10K out of his own pocket for the licensing stuff to go through. And on and on.

Like, these aren’t small, innocuous things, they’re a display of the fact that people have power and influence in Hollywood and use those things every single day to get what they want or do things they care about. If the Deadpool production team and star really WANTED Deadpool the character to be the kind of meaningful representation they’re obviously all too happy to accept accolades for having provided already? Then they absolutely had the power to to give Wade an actual romantic history with one of the men in his films, or even one of them as an actual love interest or reciprocated flirting with one of them responding to his come-ons with like, interest of their own. Because notice how that suddenly, magically, turns what WAS just Wade obnoxiously using suggestive humor purely aimed at getting an audience laugh rather than an actual reaction....into two men having a moment like happens hundreds of times throughout every other summer blockbuster between a man and a woman and given the same degree of consideration and attention.

And yes, before someone comes at me with ‘bi and pan people don’t need to be in a romantic or sexual relationship with the same gender to be bi or pan’, like yes, thank you, I, a bisexual man, am aware of the fact that I remain equally bisexual when single, dating a man, dating a woman, or mid-orgy. My sexuality is not dependent on anyone or anything other than my own identity.

But we’re not talking about a real life human being’s identity here. We’re talking about REPRESENTATION, which is a thing created deliberately by human beings making conscious choices about what they want to display and what they don’t, and their reasons for both.

So yes, a bi or pan character is still bi or pan whether we see them kissing the same gender or not, but you can not act like a living bi man’s romantic and sexual interests being driven by his own unique choices as an individual....this is NOT the same thing as a bi or pan character who just so happens to be romantically interested in women love interests save for the occasional suggestive joke aimed at the nearest male character.

Because the former is born of that real life bi man’s entire life, experiences, personality, his BEING. The latter is born of human agendas and creative decisions and studio politics and yes, the fact that Fox and the Deadpool production are more than happy to throw LGBTQ+ viewers just enough table scraps that they’ll stay invested in supporting it, but not so much that it might risk them losing tickets in large numbers from the homophobic sector of their audience.

If I ignore the five men in my vicinity and focus on the one woman because I feel more of an attraction or connection to her for whatever reason, I get to do that because I am my own person, and people can assume whatever they want about what my motives or thought process might be but guess what? It doesn’t matter, because my choices are for me and me alone.

If Deadpool ignores the five men in his vicinity to focus on the one woman, its NOT because he feels more of an attraction or connection to her, because HE DOESN”T FEEL ANY OF THOSE THINGS. He is a fictional character. He only feels and acts upon whatever the writers decide he should feel and act upon, and THEIR motives and thought process absolutely get to be called into question, because they are not individuals making personal choices that are for them and them alone, they are creators of content that benefits and profits from the positive responses and continued support of whomever they choose to cater that content to in order to gain their support and positive response.

And bottom line, they still care more about selling tickets to homophobes than they do about creating real, positive, meaningful representation, and like....people should say that?? We do not owe it to million dollar franchises to say thank you, can we please have some more because of whatever they deign to dole out. Not while still blatantly making it clear PS, glad you liked that little moment there in Act Two Scene Five but tbh, we still care more about not pissing off the dude who lives in his parents’ basement in Kansas and has five guns and every Deadpool action figure ever made and cries into his pillow every night because Sara Lee rejected him when he asked her to his high school prom because he’s weird and ugly and nobody understands his pain like Deadpool, who is also weird and ugly and thus he NEEDS him, and just because he makes dumb jokes to guys onscreen sometimes, that’s no big deal, everyone does that sometimes, its not like he’s REALLY into guys, that’d be weird and also he can’t be because then he wouldn’t be like that homophobic shitbag who lives in his parents’ basement and trolls LGBTQ+ fans on twitter with “Lulz, dumbass losers, just accept that Deadpool doesn’t really represent you and never will, he’s OURS.”

They understand what actual representation looks like, because they’ve been representing the infinite shades of Shitty Straight White Human Being for generations now, and every single straight white man in Hollywood has a story about the character they identified with most as a child and made them want to write or act and basically shaped their entire life.

They know what actual representation looks like and what it means, but they have no interest in providing it so long as it might alienate who they see as the real moneymakers still, knowing they can still keep marginalized viewers watching by doling out the bare minimum and saying “there’s more coming, its just progress takes time, we need to take baby steps” like they’ve been doing for actual, literal decades, with very little actual change to show for it.

Sorry not sorry, but you tell me here’s five cents for you and hand me a nickel and then turn to the shitbag human being standing on the other side of you wearing a GOD HATES GAYS T-shirt and say “and here’s a twenty dollar bill for YOU, don’t spend it all in one place, lol” and then you and he share a hearty laugh while I’m standing there holding a fucking nickel?

LMAO, you can keep your five cents, you’re not like....actually doing me any favors there and I’m not going to feed your ego by pretending you did anything other than give me a shitty fucking nickel you probably picked up off the sidewalk.

[newstechreviews]

August 2020 saw no soca floats sliding along West London’s Ladbroke Grove. No pink feathered wings or giant plumes of headwear. The Notting Hill Carnival was canceled, like all mass gatherings in late COVID lockdown, the streets still spare, the air still choked with grief. No curry goat or jerk pan smoke rose up into the city trees. And the music, the great churning music of the Caribbean islands, of Black Britain, of Africa and the Americas, did not thump to the foundations of the neighborhood terraces, making them tremble.

All of this would have been part of a normal summer for Edward Enninful while growing up in the area in the 1980s. His mother Grace might look out of the window of her sewing room in their house right on the Carnival route, and see some manifestation of Trinidad going by, or a reggae crew, wrapped in amazing sculptures of bikini and shiny hosiery. Edward, one of six siblings, would stay out late and take it in, all that sound and spectacle, which for decades has been the triumphant annual pinnacle of London’s cultural and racial multiplicity.

It was this world that nurtured his creativity and helped shape the vision he has brought to the pages of British Vogue since being appointed editor in chief in 2017. “I was always othered,” Enninful says on a nostalgic walk through the streets of Ladbroke Grove, a much gentrified, still bohemian part of London, where he moved with his family from Ghana at the age of 13, “you know, gay, working-class, Black. So for me it was very important with Vogue to normalize the marginalized, because if you don’t see it, you don’t think it’s normal.”

Today, Enninful is the most powerful Black man in his industry, sitting at the intersection of fashion and media, two fields that are undergoing long-overdue change and scrambling to make up for years of negligence and malpractice. Since becoming the only Black editor in history to head any of the 26 Vogue magazines—the most influential publications in the multibillion-dollar global fashion trade—he has been tipped as the successor to Anna Wintour, the iconic editor of American Vogue and artistic director for Condé Nast. The privately held company is navigating, on top of an advertising market battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, public controversies around representation both in its offices and on its pages.

Wayne Tippetts—ShutterstockEnninful at London Fashion Week on Feb. 16, 2019.

Enninful’s vision for British Vogue comes at a critical moment for the international publisher. “I wanted to reflect what I saw here growing up, to show the world as this incredibly rich, cultured place. I wanted every woman to be able to find themselves in the magazine.” He chose the British model Adwoa Aboah to front his first issue, in 2017: “When others took steps, Edward took massive strides, showing the importance of our visibility and stories,” she says. Covers since have featured the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, Judi Dench (at 85, British Vogue’s oldest cover star), Madonna and soccer player Marcus Rashford, photographed for this year’s September issue by Misan Harriman, the first Black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover in its 104-year history. While other publications, including American Vogue, have reduced frequency during the pandemic, British Vogue has remained financially stable and is still producing 12 thick issues in 2020.

Under Enninful, British Vogue has morphed from a white-run glossy of the bourgeois oblivious into a diverse and inclusive on-point fashion platform, shaking up the imagery, tracking the contemporary pain. Its shelf presence is different—more substance, more political—and perhaps in part because of it, the shelf as a whole looks different. No more do Black women search mainstream newsstands in vain for visions of themselves. Now we are ubiquitous in my newsagent, in my corner shop, and it really wasn’t that hard; all it took was to give a Black man some power, to give someone with a gift, a voice and a view from the margin a seat at the table.

“My Blackness has never been a hindrance to me,” Enninful says. Yet he is no stranger to the passing abuses of systemic racism. On a Wednesday in mid-July, while entering British Vogue’s London headquarters, he was racially profiled by a security guard who told him to enter via the loading bay instead. “Just because our timelines and weekends are returning to normal, we cannot let the world return to how it was,” he wrote on Twitter. This summer, in the wake of worldwide Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, we are seeing a seismic reckoning across industries, scrutinizing who is doing what and who is not doing enough to bring about real change in equality and representation. “My problem is that there’s a lot of virtue-signaling going on,” he says. “But everyone’s listening now, and we need to take advantage of that. This is not the time for tiptoeing.”

We meet at Ladbroke Grove tube station in a late-summer noon. When anticipating an interview with the leader of a historic luxury fashion bible, it’s tempting to have inferior thoughts about your Nissan or your Clarks boot collection or your latest unlatest something, but Enninful, 48, is unassuming, arriving in a loose navy suit, pale blue shirt and shades, the only giveaway to his sartorial imperium the no socks with his brogues. He is warm and relaxed, bearing the close-shouldered tilt of the lifelong hard worker; he rises at 5 a.m. most days to meditate before work.

I-D: Nick Towers; Vogue Italia: Steven Meisel From left: a Fashion Week report by Enninful in I-D’s January 1995 issue; Naomi Campbell on Vogue Italia in July 2008.

These days he resides toward Lancaster Gate, on the posher side of Ladbroke Grove, with his long-term partner the filmmaker Alec Maxwell and their Boston terrier, Ru Enninful, who has his own Instagram account and whose daily walking was a saving grace during lockdown. But the London Underground is where Enninful’s journey into fashion began, one day on the train in a pair of ripped blue jeans, when he was spotted by stylist Simon Foxton as a potential model for i-D, the avant-garde British fashion magazine. Being only 16, a shy, sheltered kid who grew up in a Ghanaian army barracks and who was less than four years in the U.K., of course he had to ask his mother. Albeit a clothes fanatic herself, a professional seamstress and regular rifler (with Edward) through the markets of Porto-bello and Brixton for fabrics, Grace was wary of the hedonistic London style vortex, the enormity of the new land, and reluctant to release her son into its mouth. He begged. He wore her down: “I knew I couldn’t just walk away from this, that something special was going to come out of it.”

He never had the knack for modeling, he says with characteristic humility. “I was terrible at it. I hated the castings, all that objectifying. But I loved the process and the craft of creating an image.” He soon moved to the other side of the lens, assisting on shoots and assembling image concepts and narratives, a particular approach to styling that impressed i-D enough to hire him as their youngest ever fashion director at only 18, a post he held for the next 20 years. Without the courtesy designer clothes later at his fingertips, he would customize, shred, dye and bargain for the right look, using the skills he’d developed at home in the sewing room. “I realized that I could say a lot with fashion,” he says, “that it wasn’t just about clothes, but could tell a story of the times we’re in, about people’s experiences in life. And that freedom to portray the world as you saw it.”

What was innate to Enninful—this blend of skilled creativity with the perception of difference as normal, as both subject and audience—was relatively unique in an industry dominated by white, colonial notions of beauty and mainstream. Legendary Somali supermodel Iman remembers a 2014 W magazine shoot in which she, Naomi Campbell and Rihanna were cast by Enninful, the publication’s then style director, wearing Balmain, designed by Olivier Rousteing. “Until Edward appeared, no one at the mainstream fashion magazines would have cared to commission a portrait exclusively featuring three women of color, and furthermore who were all wearing clothes designed by a person of color,” she says. “He’s an editor in vocation and a reformer at heart, compelled to spur woefully needed social change.”

Courtesy Jamie Hawkesworth and Condé Nast Britain Train driver Narguis Horsford, on British Vogue’s July 2020 issue.

He shows me his various old haunts and abodes, the top-floor bedsit where he used to haul bags of styling gear up the stairs, the Lisboa and O’Porto cafés of Golborne Road—or “Little Morocco”—where he’d sit for hours chewing the fat with people like makeup artist Pat McGrath, Kate Moss, Nick Kamen and photographer David Sims. Name-drops fall from his lips like insignificant diamonds—stylists, photographers, celebrities—but he navigates his domain in a manner apparently uncommon among fashion’s gatekeepers. Winfrey says of him, “I have never experienced in all my dealings with people in that world anyone who was more kind and generous of spirit. I mean, it just doesn’t happen.”

Her shoot for the August 2018 cover of British Vogue left Winfrey feeling “empress-like,” and she ascribes his understanding of Black female beauty to his being raised by a Black mother. “Edward understands that images are political, that they say who and what matters,” she adds. Enninful’s father Crosby, a major in the Ghanaian army who was part of U.N. operations in Egypt and Lebanon, had thought that his bright, studious son would eventually grow out of his fascination with clothes and become a lawyer. But three months into an English literature degree at Goldsmiths, University of London, studying Hardy, Austen and the usual classics, thinking maybe he’d be a writer, or indeed a lawyer, Enninful quit to take up the position at i-D. His father did not speak to him for around 15 years, into the next century, until Grace suffered a stroke and entered a long illness. “Now that I’m older, I realize he just wanted to protect us. He’s come to understand that I had to follow my heart and forge my own path.”

He credits his parents for his strong work ethic—“drummed into you from a very early age by Black parents, that you have to work twice as hard”—and his Ghanaian heritage for his eye for color. His approach to fashion as narrative comes from the “childish games I would play with my mother,” creating characters around the clothes, sketching them out. “I can’t just shoot clothes off the runway,” he says. “There always has to be a character, and that character has to have an inner life.” Since Grace’s death three years ago, his father has lived alone by the Grand Union Canal and is very proud of his son, particularly of the Order of the British Empire awarded to him by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 for his services to diversity in fashion. The Queen, incidentally, is high on Enninful’s list of Vogue cover dreams.

The British Vogue Enninful inherited from former editor in chief Alexandra Shulman three years ago was starkly different from today’s rendition. During her 25 years in charge, only 12 covers out of 306 featured Black women, and she left behind an almost entirely white workforce. Now the editorial team is 25% people of color—“I needed certain lieutenants in place,” he says—and similar shufflings are being called for over at Condé Nast in New York. Enninful is reluctant to tarnish names any further, maintaining that Shulman “represented her time, I represent mine,” and declining to comment on the U.S. headquarters.

Courtesy Edward Enninful A Polaroid of Enninful in the 1990s from his personal collection.

Enninful’s rise is particularly meaningful to people like André Leon Talley, former editor at large of American Vogue, where Enninful also worked as a contributing editor. Talley describes the new British Vogue as “extraordinary,” and was joyous at Enninful’s appointment. “He speaks for the unsung heroes, particularly those outside the privileged white world that Vogue originally stood for. He has changed what a fashion magazine should be.”

“I’m a custodian,” Enninful says of his role, sitting in a sumptuous alcove of the club bar at Electric House. “Vogue existed before I came, and it will still exist when I leave, but I knew that I had to go in there and do what I really believed in. It’s our responsibility as storytellers or image makers to try to disrupt the status quo.” Ironically, though, he does not see himself as an activist, rather as someone who is unafraid to tackle political issues and educate others, while remaining firmly within the Vogue lens. “They said Black girls on the cover don’t sell,” he says. “People thought diversity equals down-market, but we’ve shown that it’s just good for business.” British Vogue’s digital traffic is up 51% since Enninful took over. He previously edited the 2008 Black issue of Vogue Italia, which featured only Black models and Black women and sold out in the U.S. and the U.K. in just 72 hours.

Since the incident with the security guard in July—which Enninful reveals was not isolated and had happened before (the culprit, a third-party employee, was dismissed from headquarters)—building staff have been added to the company’s diversity-and-inclusion trainings. Enninful would also like to see financial aid put in place for middle management, “because we forget sometimes that the culture of a place does not allow you to go from being a student to the top.” In 2013, he tweeted about another incident, where he was seated in the second row at a Paris couture show while his white counterparts were placed in front. “I get racially profiled all the time,” he says, going right back to his first experience of being stopped and searched as a teenager, which “petrified” him. “When I was younger, I would’ve been hurt and withdrawn, but now I will let you know that this is not O.K. People tend to think that if you’re successful it eliminates you, but it can happen any day. The difference now is that I have the platform to speak about it and point it out. The only way we can smash systemic racism is by doing it together.”

Campbell Addy for TIMEBritish Vogue editor in chief Enninful in Ladbroke Grove, London, on Aug. 31.

Activism, then, is intrinsic. Fashion is altruism, as much as story and craft, as much as the will to capture beauty. For Enninful, there is no limitation to the radicalism possible through his line of work. Rather than the seemingly unattainable elements of style (the £350 zirconia ring, the £2,275 coat) obscuring the moral fiber of the message, the invitation to think and see more openly, the style instead leads you to it, perhaps even inviting you to assemble something similar within the boundaries of your real, more brutal, less elevated existence. “Relatable luxury,” he calls it, and though it’s difficult to imagine exactly how one might evoke a £2,275 coat without his customizing skills and magical thinking, I am inclined to accept the notion, partly because I saw soul singer Celeste in a £1,450 dress in the September issue and think I might give it a try. Anything is possible. “I still feel like I’m at the beginning,” he says with palpable optimism. “I feel the fire of something new.”

—With reporting by Cady Lang/New York and Madeline Roache/London

Evans is the author of Ordinary People, The Wonder and 26a

Cover photo: Styling: Susan Bender; Suit, sweater, shoes: Burberry

[dragonageconfessions]

Critical

VERY LONG POST   Dorian Pavus Critical

BioWare Critical

Fandom Critical

DISCLAIMER:

Confessions DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE MODS

Please use Reply/Reblog if you wish to convey your thoughs -THANKS

CONFESSION:

People often respond to crit. of Dorian as too close to The Stereotype for comfort with the suggestion that it’s “just part of his character!” i.e. it’s because he’s a pampered Vint/Altus with a dramatic streak, not because he’s gay. Which may well be the case. But Solas was apparently not bi because writing a character *like Solas* as bi was thought to edge on some unpleasant stereotypes about bisexual folks being deceptive + manipulative. 

Well. As a gay man, I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to feel that a character *like Dorian* being the first and only *gay* (not bi, not pan, not w/e) male character in DA does exactly that, i.e. edges on an uncomfortably large collection of unpleasant stereotypes about gay men that I’ve personally had to deal with.

There’s nothing essentially *wrong* with being a gay man who “fits” The Stereotype (in any degree!), but it does bother me that (1) this was the route Bioware chose for, again, DA’s first and only gay male character so far, and/because (2) soooo many people in the fandom (including straight folks!) point to Dorian as the *pinnacle* of Gay Representation™, and actively silence anyone who feels otherwise. What if that first, awesome example of a gay man written well *had* been the devout Knight-in-Shining-Armor (or any other trope) that’s otherwise always been written as very pointedly (and imo exhaustingly) straight, pale/“fair”, and blond?

It’s just. The *only* things I have in common with Dorian are that I’m a man, and a man who loves men. I don’t dislike Dorian, but he doesn’t ~represent~ me—and frankly, neither does he represent a man I’d find myself loving irl.

And that has nothing to do with “internalized homophobia” or “fragile masculinity”; I’ve literally never been ashamed of/uncomfortable with being gay (despite others’ best efforts) and I’m definitely not ~classically~ masculine. My problem isn’t with Dorian; it’s with how the fandom, and possibly the writers, think and talk about identity/identities (and the representation thereof) in the series altogether.

But I’m just a disgruntled philgrad student… so take this with a grain of salt, I suppose.

[fangirlingabout]

Since you are a big fan of cartoons what are your top 10 favorite cartoons of all time? Honorable mentions can be included

Oh! Oh, cool! You seriously don’t know how cool it is that someone would care to ask, thank you!

Also, sorry for the wait. Seriously, that was excessively sucky. Life likes to get busy at inconvenient times, you know?

But dang, that’s such a hard question… 

Only one way to do this right.

Dammit, Anon, This is Hard

I’m not the type of person to decide on ranks (or anything) very easily, so I’ll say this: some choices were easier than others.

I should also mention a lot of these choices are very personal, and if this were a more objective list of the best shows out there, it would be totally different. I also don’t pretend to always have the best taste, these really are just my favourites that I’ve seen. Sometimes I can recognize that one show is probably objectively better than one I like, but that won’t necessarily stop me from liking something. Basically, my list, my bias. 

Still, I’ll do my best to explain my choices for those of you who didn’t have the same experiences with these shows that I did. I assume you don’t live in my brain.

Honourable Mentions

Is it hard to believe that the honourable mentions section was harder to decide than the actual list?

There’s just so many shows I’ve enjoyed and I think deserve to be lauded. If you ask me, “Well, what about ____?! Where the hell was ____?!” it would probably fall in this category.

I’ll try to keep it short, though:

The Fairly Odd Parents - I don’t think you could’ve grown up in the early 2000s without encountering this show in some capacity, but I absolutely loved it growing up; I played FOP video games, I watched it every day after school, I even remember catching all the movies on TV whenever I could. It’s always had such a great sense of humour, combined with the jazzy stylistic choices that gave it that extra punch. More recent seasons aside, this one is a 2000s classic.

Over the Garden Wall - I watch this every October now. It’s absolutely spectacular. I think the only thing holding it back is sadly that it’s a miniseries—and it’s not like I would change that, the story needed to be told the way it was. But it’s become seasonal for me, so it’s a favourite but… only briefly.

Rick and Morty - Damn, I love this show. Just give it one more season and let the plot really start to kick in, it may start to climb this list

There are also plenty of shows that I think could be on here had I gotten to watch more of them, and some of those include:

Batman: The Animated Series

Danny Phantom

Sym-Bionic Titan 

And here are shows I once had a bit of an obsession with that in hindsight… was a bit unwarranted (again, I never claimed to have great taste):

Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi

Yin Yang Yo!

Total Drama Island/Action

With that out of the way, onto the list!

#10. South Park

What can I say about a comedy that’s antagonized censorship on TV 20 seasons? Well, for one, there are moments that genuinely reward you for caring about these characters for so long. For example, there’s a gut-punch of a two-parter, You’re Getting Old/Ass-Burgers that legitimately made fans question if the show was in danger of ending, with just how fatalistic it’s tone is.

They’ve even since made the transition from episodic to serialized season-long stories—to varying degrees of success, admittedly, but I don’t know if a show, especially one this well-established (this happened in season 18) has ever done that.

In a strange way, South Park’s a show that innovates. It quickly surpassed any other show on at the time for most edgy/boundary-pushing—to the point that its offensive humour wouldn’t be acceptable coming from anyone else but South Park (which isn’t to say I don’t understand when/if people have an issue with it, but… more on that in a sec)!

I’d also like to give special shoutout to the South Park Movie, and the recent South Park video games, the Stick of Truth and Fractured, but Whole—all three of which are jam-packed with South Park goodness.

Personal Reasons: When I was growing up this was the pinnacle in shows my mom didn’t want me to watch. And with what little of a rebellious streak I had, I took that to mean it needed my attention. 

I remember watching it late at night (which just made it more scandalous!) with my brother, and separately with my best friend at the time, Daniel. We loved that kind of raunchy, crude humour! And in hindsight, like I said, I know there’s been plenty of times when they’ve made jokes in poor taste, but I don’t know. Sometimes when you make fun of everyone equally, there can be room for some less tasteful jokes. Especially when being a boundry-pusher is a big part of your identity.

As the old saying goes, “It’s South Park: what did you expect?”

#9. Clone High

One of the more obscure choices on this list, but I’ve mentioned it from time to time for sure. Coming from the writing/directing team behind Lego: Batman, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and 21 Jump Street, Clone High was a short-lived 13-episode MTV comedy.

The premise was simple: clones of famous historical figures all go to high school together.

Done, simple as that. 

But what makes it so funny is how it parodies the high school drama genre while still existing as it’s own story with it’s own characters. Like, every episode is always announced as a “very special episode” and even in their short run, they managed to do the Drug episode, the holiday episode, the natural disaster episode, the dramatic Death episode, the class election episode—it just doesn’t let up.

Oh, and I’d like to mention Pan Pzza/Rebel Taxi did a stellar review that goes into the history surrounding the show along with some analysis of its content, so if I piqued you’re interest at all, you can find a more in-depth review over here.

Personal Reasons: This s a show my brother introduced me to. Watching videos or playing video games with my cool older brother was always awesome, so watching a show with him as tons of fun.

#8. Moral Orel

My god… this show is the absolute most brutal show I’ve ever loved. You can tell by my lists that I tend towards shows that deal with darker subjects in soft, even light-hearted ways, but this isn’t that kind of show.

Or, at least, the season that made it my 8th favourite show isn’t.

I should explain. Moral Orel was a show on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim that had a total of 3 seasons (with a prequel special that came out years after the fact), and for most of the first two seasons, it’s a vastly different show than in its third season.

From the second season’s finale onward, Moral Orel becomes one of the most bleak, bitter, heart-wrenchingly real shows on TV. It’s breath-takingly bitter.

The first two seasons largely center around the main character Orel Puppington and his religious adventures in his hometown of Moralton. It started as a parody of Christian cartoons, in particular the stop-motion/claymation Davey and Goliath. 

Basically, Orel would learn a lesson from an authority figure in town and misinterpret it to the extreme. It could make for some funny commentary now and again, but in truth it was nothing special.There were a few early episodes worth watching, like the Lord’s Prayer and The Best Christmas Ever, but if that’s all it had to offer, its charm would wear thin.

This, on the other hand, is no regular series.

The fact that it started out the way it did makes the reveal even more powerful. You see, those more upbeat first two seasons, where the morals are skewed and everything’s just a bit cheerier than it should be come crashing down when Orel’s father’s alcoholism is taken devastatingly seriously during a hunting trip in the two-part season finale “Nature” parts 1&2.

Nature marks a drastic turn in the series tonally. From there, the series shifts focus from just being about Orel to chronicling the lives of several members of the town in the aftermath and the days surrounding that infamous hunting trip. The third season even starts counting down each episode (Numb, for instance is 1 out of 13). 

And the reason for this is that as Orel lost faith in his father in that season finale, we, along with Orel, start to see all the people in his life in a different, sometimes disturbing light.

If I’m making it out to sound a bit on the unwatchable side, I understand, you don’t always want to watch something that will bring you down like that. But to sing its praises just a bit more, the reason it struck such a chord with me is because there’s such a humanity to it. There is hope somehow, and goodness in all this messed up stuff. 

Personal Reasons: I used to stay up late watching Adult Swim, or use the TV to fall asleep to. I managed to catch episodes now and again, so it hit me hard the first time I saw some of the darker or more bittersweet episodes. 

#7. Steven Universe

We jump from one of the harshest shows to one of the sweetest! And yeah, I was surprised this wasn’t higher, too

And maybe it could change as the series goes on, but in the meantime, wow is this a fantastic show! We’ve talked about it a number of times on FGA, but I don’t think that’s any reason to not sing it’s praises some more!

Premiering in 2013 on Cartoon Network, Steven Universe, as you probably know (because this is Tumblr), follows the titular Steven and his emotionally-driven life with the Crystal Gems, alien rebels from a far-off Homeworld. 

Properly referred to as “singing and crying,” Steven Universe slowly runs the gambit from gorgeously heartbreaking to sweetly uplifting, all the while feeling like a mellow, safe, and warm place to be.

Like many people have said in many different ways, it’s a show that explores relationships. All kinds of relationships. It’s made massive strides in LGBT+ representation in kids’ shows, presenting it without the pomp and circumstance of a “very special episode.”

The gradually unfolding plot has fans like me hooked, even if the slower pace and hiatus plague can leave us hanging for quite some time.

Personal Reasons: This is yet another show that I’ve gotten watch and talk about with my girlfriend, so I think I’ll always remember it fondly for that. Fangirling.

#6. Avatar: The Last Airbender

It’s what I consider to be the greatest show of all time… and it’s this far down on the list. There really is no justice in Bias Town.

One of the best purely serialized shows out on this list, Avatar is a perfect example of a simple three act story-structure. It tells a complete, satisfying story that needed no more and no less.

And in that time, it managed to find the perfect balance for everything. Rich, interesting world-building reflecting real-life cultures? Check. Fun plots that moved forward the overall story? Check. Likable complex characters that humanize the world so no one side is undeniably in the wrong? Check.

The only thing that took a while to grow on me was Avatar’s humour. Can’t explain why, but once I warmed up to it, there were episodes and moments that made me lose my shit.

It’s such a well-crafted story, and I could probably just go on and on about how well everything was developed, but sufficed to say, it would probably top my list for what’s objectively the best cartoon out there.

Personal Reasons: I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but I actually missed out on Avatar’s original run. I vaguely remember being interested by it, but never catching an episode in full.

Years later, I somehow stumbled across it by chance, and oh my god. Oh my god, you guys. I watched most of the second and third season in one weekend. I couldn’t stop.

#5. Spongebob Squarepants

In last year’s Nostalgia Month, I fangirled a little bit about Spongegbob, and if you read any of that, you’ll know I’ve always been a huge fan. It’s one of the cornerstone series of my generation (just take a look at the Ocean Man meme that was a thing for a while—that song is buried in the credits of the Spongebob Movie, so you would have had to sit through the credits to get that reference), along with Pokemon and Fairly Odd Parents, so again, I couldn’t not have some experience with it, but I was pretty much a super fan.

And there’s kind of a reason for that. I can’t say what it’s like now, but in its early seasons, it’s humour was surprisingly intelligent and stupidly funny. There’s definitely a difference between stupid characters and a stupid show, and so long as you can see that, you’ll find a charming undersea comedy that became a household name for a reason (at least initially).

Personal Reasons: God, where to start. For one, I have a fear of fish, but I love swimming and the sea. That fear developed in second grade, ironically around the time I would’ve been the deepest in my Spongebob phase. I think it helped, actually. There’s a reason I have a random anchor as a logo. 

And you know, there’s some shows that you love so much that they come to represent a part of your life. All my elementary school days and even into middle school, Spongebob was something I was an expert in. I had as much merch as I could afford to get, I watched it religiously (even the DVD boxsets), I made my first best friend that way— it just ruled my world for a long while there.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way. The nostalgia goggles are strapped on hard for this choice, but I couldn’t honestly tell you I don’t have a sincere place in my heart for it. And always will.

#4. Gravity Falls

You know how the 2010s starting kicking a lot of ass for animation? I think more than anything—more than even Adventure Time (which I do love)—this is the show that represents that to me. Not because it’s dated, but in fact the opposite: because it’s a modern classic that will forever feel timeless. Something truly spectacular that we’ll always look back on and remember as ours.

Gravity Falls takes influences from all the best stuff, but makes itself unique by being incredibly inventive. Like, it really does remind me of any Matt Groening show because of it’s sense of humour and even a bit of the world-building, but the mystery and heart are so magnificently its own. These things are the backbone that take the the already stellar comedy to a whole other level.

The best word for it is just as I said: magnificent.

From beginning to end, it’s undeniably so. It rewards close-viewings and theory-makers ten-fold, and that detail-orientated approach makes the experience that much richer and more, well, rewarding.

You knew it was coming, but hell, I can’t deny a show that succeeds in doing so many things I love so, so well. 

Personal Reasons: I’ll never forget the experience of watching Not What He Seems for the first few times, or really, a lot of the episodes. Watching the fandom come up with theories about the Stan twins a season in advance, and then seeing those theories made reality in the most spectacular, theatrical episode of the television I’ve ever watched blew me the fuck away.

And getting to talk about it here and with LittleNightwing just made it more of an interactive experience, which is exactly the kind of thing Alex Hirsch wanted.

I know I’ve said this too many times by now, but I even wrote part of an episode for Gravity Falls: Deep Woods (a storyboarded fan-series inspired by the show). When episode three eventually comes out, if they haven’t cut it out for time constraints, my name will be in the credits. And having my name associated with anything related to this show is just an honour.

#3. Futurama

I don’t even know what I can say about Futurama that hasn’t already been said, but whatever, I’m gonna try because I have to include it.

It started airing back in 1999, which was appropriate, because the series starts us out by travelling to the year 2999 on New Years, entering into the new millennium as we enter into this new series. And from there, this lovable portrayal of a future that somehow seems not too far from our present day becomes awesome.

Everything is a little crappy. That’s not a diss on the show, it’s just the reality of the year 3000. It’s not some dystopia, but it’s no utopia, either. It comes with all the problems and foibles of modern day, just with different technology, space travel, and alien races.

And don’t get me started on how inventive it can be. The writers staff behind that show is one of the most educated on television—quite literally, with “three Ph.D.s, seven masters degrees, and cumulatively had more than 50 years at Harvard.”

And they put all that to use to make sure the science behind that sci-fi could work. In fact, they not only created their own alien language for the show, but writer Ken Keeler devised an entirely new math equation to resolve a plot point for the episode “Prisoner of Benda.” In the field, it’s referred to as the Futurama theorem or the Keeler theorem, and has since inspired research.

So when I say next level nerdy, I mean next level nerdy.

Futurama uses this incredible scientific and mathematical power to parody the sci-fi genre with a great sense of humour and a Simpsonian sense of heart. Pretty much all of the main cast has at least one tear-jerker episode, but none so powerful as the infamous Jurrasic Bark, an episode dedicated to telling the story of our main character, Phillip J. Fry, and his dog Seymour. It will tear you apart. 

Personal Reasons: This is yet another series I grew up with, and I think it taught me a lot about storytelling. Episodes like Luck of the Fryrish, The Sting, or the aforementioned Jurrasic Bark end on a incredibly bittersweet note, and to really earn that, the writers build it up expertly.

There’s also episodes like the Emmy-winning Roswell that Ends Well that take these wacky sci-fi concept to insane new levels. Whether or not I can execute on that, it taught me to always push an idea further.

Plus, I followed the series from it’s original run to it’s first cancellation to the four straight-to-DVD movies (that I ADORED renting from Blockbuster) to it’s return and final ending in 2013. It’s been one hell of a ride.

#2. The Simpsons

And at this point, you probably know the whole list. But let’s go through it anyway.

The Simpsons, for me, really is one of the most brilliantly stupid comedies out there. It seems there are a number of comedies on this list that could be written off as just brainless, but I think there’s a charm to that for me. Something that clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously when it doesn’t have to. The Simpsons, in that way, has always been rather inviting to me. 

Despite it’s now nearly 30 year run, it never seems to have an ego about itself, even when some consider it the greatest comedy of all time (me).

There’s an endless amount of hilariously quotable episodes, and like any good comedy, it doesn’t skimp out of the character development or sentimentality. It’s certainly lost it’s touch for the most part, as is the case with a lot of running series, but every now and again, even in the later seasons, it still manages to surprise. 

I couldn’t explain it’s legacy if I tried. It’s currently the longest running animated series, and at this point, seems to have outlived the entire era it was so adept at parodying, but it’s still so legendary I can’t fault it! Even the impossible finally does happen and the show takes its final bow, I know this funny family will keep me laughing for years to come.

Personal Reasons: This started as another show my mom didn’t want me to want, but the reason I got to watch it so much and maybe the reason I love it so much is because my dad loved it.

From that point on, I started collecting the DVD boxsets of every season I could, and enjoying all the early seasons I was too young to watch when they originally aired.

And watching Simpsons reruns in whatever capacity I could became tradition. I still do to this day, even if it’s just online now. It���s become sort of a comfort show, it’s that familiar to me.

Plus, there’s the Movie, and games (The Simpsons Hit and Run is so much better than it has any right to be)—I even wrote an essay on The Simpsons back in high school. 

It’s just been the huge, life-long love for me that will never truly end because of how much it shaped me as a person (as silly as that sounds).

#1. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Shock! Awe! Everyone is stunned! People never would’ve seen this coming if they know me… 

Alright, so I’m predictable (I prefer the term “reliable” but considering how long it took to get this list out…), but it’s strangely so well-suited to everything I love. This entire section is full of personal reasons.

There’s fantastic characters to love (and obsess over); a heart-warming, light-hearted, cute, and ultimately loving tone that’s inexplicably never too saccharine even when it by all means should be; a fascinating fantasy world to dive into; a remarkable at times Disney-esque musical element; an eye-pleasingly soft animation style; an unashamed love of puns—I mean I could actually go on about this for a full year.

I really, really could… over on my main blog (sorry for the self-promo, but it’s relevant).

Year of the Pony, MLP Editorials (which are a big part of YotP)

I’ve dedicated this entire year to talking about My Little Pony in an event I’m calling Year of the Pony. There’s so far been something pretty much every week, themes for every month—I love this show a lot you guys. I really, really do.

That really is the reason I’m doing this event. I’ve been a fan of this show for five, going on six years, and it somehow became my favourite show of all time, even when there are shows out there that I think are objectively better. I’m trying to dissect why that is bit by bit.

For instance, here’s an upcoming two-parter:

These two characters are sisters, and long story short, one was forced to send the other to the moon. This was a story that introduced the series in the first two episodes, and has since been explored by the fandom in every way imaginable. So I have to ask questions that’ll give me a way to talk about how much and why I love this particular story element.

It’s not the greatest tragedy out there, sure, but I’ve seriously gotta figure out why this has struck such a chord with me, you know? 

Obnoxious self-promos aside, I really did fall and fall hard for this series I think because it was still unassuming by the time I got to it. The was a fandom, sure, but I didn’t know what to expect (whether these “bronies” were just using it for memes and liking it ironically or what), and that made it a genuine discovery for me. 

And it’s that very unassuming, unpretentious sweetness that continues to make me love it, even though it’s made a few mistakes along the way. I don’t think it’s a perfect series, but it’s definitely perfect for me. And what more could I ask for in a favourite show?

But that’s just my list. Feel free to tell my some of your favourites or take up the challenge to put out your own list and send it my way! Show me how much better your taste is than mine!

[onlineworkyou2b]

Disrupt the American political process from Russia

Some of the Facebook and Instagram ads linked to a Russian effort to disrupt the American political process

Russia's broad political disinformation battle on US internet based life was more sweeping than initially thought, with troll ranches attempting to demoralize dark voters and "obscure the lines among the real world and fiction" to help choose Donald Trump in 2016, as per reports discharged Monday by the Senate insight board of trustees. 

Also, the battle didn't end with Trump's rising to the White House. Troll ranches are as yet attempting to feed racial and political interests in America during a period of high political disunity. 

The two investigations are the most far reaching picture yet of the Russian impedance crusades on American web-based social networking. They add to the representation agents have been working since 2017 on Russia's impact — however Trump has prevaricated on whether the obstruction really occurred. 

Facebook, Google and Twitter declined to remark on the particulars of the reports. 

The reports were incorporated by the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge and by the Computational Propaganda Research Project, an examination by analysts at the University of Oxford and Graphika, a web-based social networking investigation firm. 

The Oxford report subtleties how Russians separated their messages to various gatherings, including debilitating dark voters from heading off to the surveys and stirring outrage on the right. 

"These crusades pushed a message that the most ideal approach to propel the reason for the African-American people group was to blacklist the race and spotlight on different issues rather," the analysts composed. 

In the meantime, "Informing to moderate and conservative voters tried to complete three things: rehash devoted and hostile to settler mottos; evoke shock with posts about liberal submission of 'others' to the detriment of US natives and urge them to vote in favor of Trump." 

The report from New Knowledge says there are still some live records fixing to the first Internet Research Agency, which was named in an arraignment from extraordinary insight Robert Mueller in February for a broad web based life crusade proposed to impact the 2016 presidential race. A portion of the records have a nearness on littler stages as the significant organizations have attempted to tidy up after the Russian movement was found. 

"With probably a portion of the Russian government's objectives accomplished despite minimal political or other pushback, it seems likely that the United States will keep on confronting Russian obstruction for years to come," the analysts composed. 

The New Knowledge report says that none of the internet based life organizations turned over total informational collections to Congress and some of them "may have distorted or sidestepped" in declaration about the obstruction by either purposefully or unexpectedly minimizing the extent of the issue. 

The Senate board has been researching Russian impedance via web-based networking media and past for just about two years. Knowledge panel Chairman Richard Burr said in an explanation that the information demonstrates how forcefully Russia attempted to partition Americans by race, religion and belief system and disintegrate trust in organizations. 

"Most troublingly, it demonstrates that these exercises have not ceased," said Burr, a North Carolina Republican. 

One noteworthy takeaway from the two examinations is the expansiveness of Russian obstruction that showed up on Instagram, which is claimed by Facebook and was not every now and again referenced when its parent organization affirmed on Capitol Hill. The examination says that as consideration was centered around Facebook and Twitter in 2017, the Russians moved quite a bit of their action to Instagram. 

The New Knowledge think about says that there were 187 million commitment with clients on Instagram, while there were 77 million on Facebook. 

"Instagram was a huge front in the IRA's impact task, something that Facebook administrators seem to have abstained from referencing in congressional declaration," the scientists composed. They included that "our evaluation is that Instagram is probably going to be a key battleground on a continuous premise." 

The Russian action went a long ways past the three tech organizations that gave data, achieving numerous littler destinations also. The New Knowledge report subtleties advanced endeavors to penetrate web diversions, program expansions and music applications. The Russians even utilized internet based life to energize clients of the amusement "Pokemon Go" — which was at pinnacle ubiquity in the months prior to the 2016 presidential race — to utilize politically disruptive usernames, for instance. 

The report examines considerably progressively unusual ways that the Russian records endeavored to associate with Americans and enroll resources, for example, stock with specific messages, explicit adherent solicitations, work offers and even help lines that could urge individuals to unconsciously unveil touchy data to Russia that could later be utilized against them. 

The Russians' endeavors to impact Americans via web-based networking media originally turned out to be broadly open in the fall of 2017. A while later, Mueller's prosecution spread out an immense, sorted out Russian exertion to influence political supposition. While the internet based life organizations had officially itemized a portion of the endeavors, the arraignment fixing genuine individuals to the task and named 13 Russians capable. 

Additionally outstanding is the examination's finding that WikiLeaks originator Julian Assange was positively treated in posts gone for both left-inclining and right-inclining clients. The New Knowledge report says there were various posts communicating support for Assange and Wikileaks, incorporating a few in October 2016 just before WikiLeaks discharged hacked messages from Hillary Clinton's battle. 

The Oxford examine noticed that tops in Internet Research Agency publicizing and natural action — or posts, offers and remarks by clients — frequently related with essential dates on the US schedule, emergencies and global occasions. 

The analysts from Oxford said that natural postings were substantially more expansive than ads, in spite of Facebook's sole spotlight on advertisements when the organization previously reported it had been endangered in 2017.

Different discoveries in the examinations: 

- During the seven day stretch of the presidential decision, presents coordinated on right-inclining clients meant to create outrage and doubt and alluded to voter misrepresentation, while presents focused on African-Americans to a great extent disregarded notices of the race until the latest possible time. 

- Establishment figures of the two gatherings, particularly Clinton, were all around panned. Indeed, even a tag focused to women's activists censured Clinton and advanced her essential rival, autonomous Bernie Sanders. 

- Several posts advanced the Russian motivation in Syria and Syrian President Bashar Assad. 

- IRA's posts centered around the United States began on Twitter as far back as 2013 and in the long run developed into the multiplatform procedure. 

- Russian action on Twitter was less composed around subjects like race or partisanship yet increasingly determined by neighborhood and recent developments and made utilization of intermittent popular culture references. 

- Facebook presents connected on the IRA "uncover a nuanced and profound information of American culture, media and influencers in every network the IRA focused on." Certain images showed up on pages focused to more youthful individuals yet not more established individuals. "The IRA was familiar with American trolling society," the specialists say.

[palinaprasasouk]

Nationalism Archaeology in Eastern Europe

When people think of the word "archaeology" an image of Indiana Jones wearing a pair of khakis cargo shorts, a vest of many pockets, and a large-brimmed hat while digging in the dirt for artifacts, comes to mind. The political ideologies affiliated with nationalism often does not lend the imagination to the adventures of archaeology, yet archaeology and history share the same family tree. What differentiates history and archaeology? History, a subjective documentation depends on written sources and archaeology depends on physical artifacts for accurate records of history. The ideologies of nationalism are complicated and answers surrounding questions to a definition will not be provided in the following research. Instead, its purpose persists in the manifestation of nationalism from nations, while applying the development of nationalism archaeology. First, by a discussion of the development of nationalism archaeology. Second, how ethnicities were decided when nation-states were developed. Third, excavation methods and fourth, the mass suicides myth at Masada. Fifth, how the Nazi party used archaeological excavations in their favor. Sixth, how Mussolini uncovered Rome and ruled Italy with an iron fist and finally, with a brief look at nationalism today in Israel, Germany, and Italy.

The emergence of Nationalism Archaeology

Archaeologists are both curators and interpreters of assembled memory as represented by the material record of past human populations. The importance of archaeological evidence to political systems is indicated by the persistence with which such evidence is used to afford authority to nationalist movements. Examples of that were observed in the nationalist development in Germany after WWI & II. The creation of ethnic identity in modern Germany is notably what the average person envisions when thinking of nationalist archaeology—Hitler vs Indiana Jones. An ethnic classification was identifiable in the late 19th century at the end of the Napoleonic wars, amass fascist changes in the early 20th century. The Industrial Revolution was nearing the end of its peak by 1840[1]. Meanwhile, though nationalism has a much older history, modern Eastern European nationalism was at the beginning of a new life during WWI. The pinnacle of Slavophobia occurred during WWII when Nazi Germany classified the Polish to be primitive people and vowed to exterminate almost all Slavs[2]. Nationalism and ethnic separatism were the results of the fears Europeans had towards the anticipated threat of cultural homogenization, the significance in archaeological research on regional developments, and the native developments in prehistory.

Ethnicity in the Formation of Nation-States

Ethnicity and nationalism are closely related, insofar, nationalism was based on true or assumed ethnic ties[3]. However, nationalism was more akin to ideological and political depth, such as the expressed desire of a people to establish and maintain sovereignty. When ethnicity became nationalist, the result was the rise of ethnonational. Consequently, was proven

threatening for the existence of the state and lead to ethnic conflict and fragmentation, such as the case of Yugoslavia[4]. The ethnic balance of former Yugoslavia has frequently caused conflict and political weakness since the Middle Ages. The volatile medieval kingdoms, frequently embellished in modern nationalist historiography, were ultimately replaced by the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires in the 15th and 17th centuries respectively and ruled until the end of World War I[5]. After a short period of political uncertainty, a united political entity surfaced in 1945 under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito, who enforced a form of socialist dictatorship independent from the Soviet Union.

An ethnic conflict erupted again in 1990, mainly between Albanians, Catholic Croats, Orthodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosnians, from the rise to nationalist excitement—the course of Yugoslavian decentralization is still in process with Kosovo, the sixth to claim independence from the federation. Modernistically, nationalist excitement in the Balkans appeared for the first time in the late 18th and 19th century against the Ottomans and the Austrians, when a similar movement was happening in other European regions. Parallel to these events, Balkan archaeology appeared and developed in this period as a political instrument under control of Slav patriots—medieval archaeology developed because of the medieval roots of ethnic rivalries[6].

The two eras of Yugoslav archaeology agreed to the two main political phases of the area. During the period in which the Serbs had a chief role in united Yugoslavia (1945-1990), politics engaged archaeology for supporting the idea of a pan-Slav reality. In the 1950s, many early Slavonic sites were excavated in northern Slovenia, in the identical place where archaeologists of the Ahnenerbe (the Nazi 'Ancestral Heritage Society') hunted for evidence of German occupation. This effort, to compare the abuse of history that justified German war crimes, was unavoidably approached with the same theoretical methodology. Concurrently, another project on Slavonic settlements was being finalized in the Yugoslav-occupied Zone B of the Trieste Territory, refuted by Italy[7]. Anew, following the first Albanian ferments in 1981, there was a sizable increase in excavations and surveys promoted by the Serbian Academy of Science and Art, which proved to be a long Serb occupation. [8]The archaeological documents produced by this institution have been the intellectual vindication for Slobodan Milosevic's genocide policies.

After the start of the second phase, each republic became independent. Archaeology was selected for the identification of ethnic-specific detail in the archaeological landscape—coincidentally, ethnic groups started identifying themselves with non-Slav cultures and symbols, seeking aspects which could wholly recognize them from the other Slavs, including the adoption of a different alphabet. Respectfully, two cases are distinctly relevant. The first one involved Slovenia and its development since the mid-1980s of native theories on the origin of Slovenians, allegedly to be either Etruscan or Venetian[9]. The second case came from the Republic of Macedonia: a new country whose name and flag caused contention with Greece. Macedonia was the name of an ancient civilization and three modern Greek regions. The naming of the Republic after them was an appropriation of present and past Greek cultural factors, despite a possible claim of land. Regarding the flag, the sixteen-pointed star of Vergina, traceable on many archaeological finds, was an obvious inclination to identify with Alexander's Macedonia[10].

Excavation Methods and Materials

Cultural art, clothing, physical structures, currency, tools, weapons, human remains, and other artifacts can tell us about the geography of a few certain ethnic groups; their lifestyles, religions, and even political systems. Cultural heritage was represented through the banknotes of Croatia, the landscape in Bosnia, and through the discovery of pyramids in Sarajevo. Egregious

misinterpretations of the archaeological record were made and improved by the theoretical methodology implemented recently in the Balkans. In this method, material culture (ceramic typologies and styles) was used to spot ethnic groups. Development in the data was explained through migrations or invasions, as a result, with the advent of a new people. The importance of gathered materials from ethnic groups was evidence of their existence. The result was the building of representational calendars, which determined 'impermeable' cultures in time and space, using ethnicity as an organizing standard[11]. Themes like ethnic and linguistic designs and territorial conflicts were often contacted by Yugoslav archaeologists. For instance, Draga Garasamin (1972) concluded that the Bronze Age evolved as a very important stage in the process of formation of the Paleobalkan peoples, their ethnogenesis, and the historical events that have left their imprint, in a sense on the historical evolution of the old Balkans[12]. [13]Scarcely isolated figures, such as the prehistorians France Stare and Stane Gabrovec and the medievalist Bogo Grafenauer, attempted and opposed this methodology, coordinating themselves with the position of most archaeologists in Western Europe and America.

In Slovenia and Croatia, where the conflict had been less messy, there was room for the development of the discipline, but positions and methods were abandoned. However, manipulation of the cultural heritage was not. One of the best devices for the dissipation of state ideology was the symbolism articulated on coins and banknotes: copious notes issued by countries all over the world have elements of their cultural heritage as the central theme. [14]The reverse of the 20 kuna banknote looks like a narrative of Croatian recent history, along with an act of control of the details depicted. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a similar reference to the historical landscape on the Bosnian variant of banknotes, where the typical and extensive medieval carved tombstones (stecci) are characterized. The role played by the cultural heritage in Bosnia is still heterogenous today, as mirrored by the current political and ethnic situation. The case of the multiethnic town of Pocitelj is symbolic: here the restoring of the historical Centre, led by the University of York, had attempted to abuse the archaeological excavations undertaken. Christian Croats prevented the reconstruction of a mosque destroyed because it was alleged to be rebuilt on the site of a Christian church, and any information supporting Christian roots of the settlement was cause for disputes and provocations[15]. A better-known reconstruction was of the Stari Most (Old Bridge) in Mostar, it was bombed and ruined for its symbolic value. Perhaps the most significant event was the 'discovery' of the pyramids of Visoko, near Sarajevo. Here, the amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic maintained the presence of an ancient great pyramid complex; the questionable and manipulated evidence upholding this discovery confirmed the skepticism from academics, and the entire case appeared to be an attempt to create a national monument for the Bosnians and to promote tourism[16].

The case of Yugoslav ethicists presented a contention in the process of archaeology, specifically in the way archaeologists should have interacted with politics and society. The pursuit for an impartial path proposed an impossible task. Archaeologists are humans and citizens of nation-states, so, they determined speculation about the past from their present situation. It remained the predicament that even the most professional archaeological interpretation can be commanded by politics or society, as the Pocitelj case indicated. Besides, in some socio-political contexts, when archaeology cultivated into a cognizant, independent discipline, a loss of interest and money from the public and the State was occasionally noticed. As Novakovic and Slapšak wrote, "Archaeology can avoid nationalism, but nationalism cannot do without archaeology," and despite any effort, archaeological work will always be political.

Nationalism requires the elaboration of a real or invented past...how archaeological data are manipulated for nationalist purposes. - Philip Kohl

The Myth of Mass Suicide at Masada

As mentioned earlier, there is no official definition of 'nationalism' and history is neither true nor false. During the creation or retelling of historical narratives, certain events can be told from bias, interpretation depends on individuals, and unintentional mistakes are made. One of the most well-known tales in Judaism is the tale of the group suicide of Masada. In 73/74 CE, nine hundred sixty Jewish men, women, and children committed suicide on top of the mountain of Masada near the Dead Sea in Israel in preference of being captured by the Romans. The fable, told by the Roman historian Josephus, is one of the most acclaimed from antiquity, but did it really happen? The late Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem excavated the site in the mid-1960s[17]. Yadin said that the objects found during his dig proved that the mass suicide occurred. In 1995 and 2002, Nachman Ben-Yehuda, a sociologist also at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, unearthed that Yadin had been flawed in his interpretations, possibly even intentionally for an imagined nationalist narrative to help the young state of Israel forge an identity for itself.

Masada also served as a warning about using or misusing archaeological evi­dence to reinforce a nationalistic agenda. The debate over Masada involved the reliability of Josephus’s account; the credibility of Yadin, conceivably the most recognized of all Israeli archaeolo­gists; and the influence of nationalism on the interpretation of archaeo­logical revelations. The conflicting interpretations from scholars raised more questions about the historical events that took place before other logical recoveries could tell a different story. Whom do we believe? How should we view this apparently tragic, heart-wrenching ancient site and event? Can evidence be amassed from thousands of years ago to establish the ancestry, legal properties, and birthright of peoples today?

The work that Yadin managed at Masada over two excavation sea­sons–from October 1963 to May 1964, and again from November 1964 to April 1965–was a breakthrough for archaeology in many ways. For instance, Yadin was the first to utilize international volunteers to help dig the site. The total numbers that took part are also impressive–Yadin maintained to have had no less than 300 volunteers digging at Masada at any moment during his excavations. About 50,000 cubic yards of dirt was sifted–the first time that all the dirt had been sifted at an excavation in Israel. Consequently, numerous small items were found that may have been missed contrarily, including hundreds of coins, pieces of pottery with inscriptions on them, and small pieces of jewelry such as rings and beads[18]. The coins permitted Yadin to date the remains that they were uncovering precisely–especially the coins that had been made just a few years earlier during the First Jewish Revolt.

It was not a mass suicide, it was a mass slaughter. Josephus, wrote to Rome using notes and daybooks from the present commanding officers, may have been ordered to whitewash the events. There was evidence that Josephus took the story that he told about the men killing their families (ten men killing the others), and finally, one man killing the final persons, from his own experience. Several years earlier, in 67 CE, during the first rebellion against Rome, Josephus was a Jewish general fighting the Romans at a site called Jotapata. They managed to hold off the Romans for forty-seven days, then he and forty others took refuge in a cave, where they decided to commit suicide. Josephus, however, did not commit suicide, he surrendered[19].

The false archaeological discoveries affected the nationalism of the State of Israel. The suicides were viewed as dignifying for the Israeli to take control of how they were going to die. When the country was not yet a nation, it was nationalistic, more so than being overpowered by the Romans. Yadin's version of what happened at Masada described the Roman Army, under the leadership of Julius Caesar, as unintelligent and weak. Roman military strategy demanded legionnaires to persist in the advantage whenever and wherever they acquired it, regardless of the time of day or night[20]. Control of the past provides a source of legitimization for control of the future” - Philip Kohl

Nazi's Creation of the 'Master Race'

Another notable myth, perhaps the most infamous, is the Nazi party's attempt to prove that Aryans are the master race. The Nazis had their own version of Yadin; Heinrich Himmler, assistant head of the Gestapo, chief of the SS, and the architect behind Hitler's plan to exterminate European Jews[21]. In 1935, Himmler founded the Abnenerbe, (as previously mentioned) a Nazi research institute whose purpose was to find new evidence of the accomplishments of German ancestors by using scientific methods. The institute studied rock engravings, ancient text, and folklore. Himmler would eventually create an Excavations Department to direct archaeological digs at major landmarks in Germany. SS men were trained in archaeology to recover the ancient Germanic past by digging. The Excavations Department brought new scientific comprehension to nationalist archaeology. The Abnenerbe included amateur archaeologists trained to analyze very small bits of ancient stone, bone, and ceramics.  Himmler hoped that would help regenerate the lives of Germany's ancestors before their first written documentation and to spread knowledge of the legendary "Nordic" race.

The Abnenerbe did not actually find honest evidence. Instead, prominent researchers distorted the truth and created evidence in support of Hitler's belief in a 'master class'. Hitler believed in a fictional Aryan "Nordic" race; tall, platinum blonde men and women from Northern Europe with the brilliance to create civilization. Archaeologists could not find physical evidence of a master race who gave birth to all humankind. Hitler claimed that most Germans were descendants of ancient Nordics. To please Hitler, Himmler hired young and intelligent novices to reveal a new portrait of the ancient world of Aryans delivering light to inferior races—the hired young men illustrated Hitler's claim that Aryans conceived civilization, therefore, are the master class.

The swastika is the most well-known symbol in the world, representing the evils of the Third Rule of Germany (Third Reich), and its lesser-known history appropriated by Adolf Hitler. It has been used as a symbol of 'good fortune' all around the world from Japan to India, England, Greece, and even Germany to name a few places. The oldest swastika was found in Ukraine, dated 12,000 years. Ironically, the earliest use of the swastika dates back 8,000 years to the Vinca Culture in the geographic area where now lies Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Croatia. Thousands of years later, Nazis would flip the symbol for 'good fortune' literally and metaphorically. In 1868, the German merchant and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann thought he had recovered the ancient Greek city of Troy, and so excavations followed a few years later. Over 18,000 swastika-like symbols were uncovered among pottery fragments on all archaeological levels of Troy. For Schliemann and the nationalists, that was evidence of continuity of race, therefore, the ancient people of Troy must have been Aryan[22]. The swastika was also present among the archaeological remains of the Germanic tribes discovered by Himmler's team, because of this connection nationalists jumped to the conclusion that the Germans and the Greeks were both descendants of the Aryans. The once ancient global symbol of purity was now a symbol of Nazi power, nationalist feelings, and set a boundary between non-German or non-Aryan identity and German.

Nationalists had already appropriated the religious symbol of good fortune, prosperity, and purity for Germans at the end of WWI before it was attached to the Nazi party. The anti-Semitics, Thule Society, sponsored the Nazi party and to gain more visibility. They designed a banner in the colors of the recently defeated Germany; black, white, and red with a modernized swastika at center. Hitler claimed, in Mein Kampf, to having designed the banner entirely on his own and adapted meaning to the colors and swastika on the banner; the red symbolized social ideology within the movement, white was for nationalism, and the swastika was the symbol of the struggle for the victory of Aryan men[23]. The banner successfully became the visual identity of the Nazi movement while the Nazis united the country with their racist Aryan ideology.

Patriotism and nationalism became interchangeable as the swastika saturated Germany. In 1933, Joseph Goebbels (Hitler's minister of propaganda) prohibited the unauthorized use of the hooked swastika. By 1933, the Nazi party's banner became the national flag of Germany until 1945[24]. Since the collapse of the Third Reich, public displays of the Nazi swastika and salute are illegal in Germany but are still used to represent white supremacist groups worldwide. Perhaps the evils of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were so abhorrent that the appropriation of the swastika can never be reversed, at least in the Western world.

Mussolini's Fascist Archaeology Projects

During the same time that the Nazi party was rising, Benito Mussolini and his fascist regime came to power in Italy in 1922[25]. The fascists Hitler and Mussolini both used archaeology to manipulate the minds of their countries' citizens. Hitler, by claiming that archaeological discoveries proved Germans to be descendants of the 'Master Race'. Mussolini, by rebuilding ancient Rome and signing his name across the city while doing so. When Mussolini came to power, his goal was to prove to the rest of the Western world that Italy could recover from WWI, pull itself out of political and economic decline, and encapsulate its strength and power. To do so, Mussolini reconstructed the political system into an authoritative totalitarian regime, promoted the rights of the agrarian population, heightened censorship, and became a part of the Axis of Evil with Hitler and Stalin.  Mussolini used excavations and reconstructions of ancient Roman archaeological sites, as well as new monumental architecture to transform the city of Rome into a physical setting to show that the Fascist state was the lineal descendant of the ancient Roman empire[26].  

In the twenty years that Mussolini ruled, he reorganized and redeveloped Rome by designing buildings, bridges, and roads, which strengthened the cities of Italy's fascist identity. He added momentous new public buildings that supported his fascist ideology with a strong national identity. Significant monuments were effective because they idolized both the Fascist regime and united the party to ancient Rome. Old Rome connected to the new Roman Empire was coined, "Mystical fervor".  The name indicated that renovations in Rome were extraordinary, not only for its original strength but chiefly for its resurrection and its endurance. The city was no longer expressions of the will of single individuals and political alchemies, but expressions of virtually subliminal strength. The inception of the racial politics added a biological aspect to the theme, perchance.  

One of many archaeological excavations ordered by Mussolini, the ancient sporting events venue, Circus Maximus, was full of rubble until Mussolini began to uncover the historic site. A series of exhibits were held at the Circus, which promoted nationalism through fascist art. In 1936, Mussolini's vision of interconnecting architectural form to fascism through a design of the EUR (Esposizione Universale Roma), a city outside of Rome, was fulfilled. The city plan used a style called Italian Rationalism, a functional system of wide roads organized in an orderly symmetrical style, rhythm, and proportion. The city has several outdoor sculptures, arches, colonnades, and an obelisk to summon the strong regional history and unite the people. Transit projects taken on by Mussolini included the major streets, bridges, and train stations of Via del Mar, Via dell'impero, Via della Conciliazione, Termi station, and the Ponte Ottobre[27]. The goal of these projects was to turn Rome into a fully modern efficient city with a strong cultural identity with clear visual bonds between historic landmarks. The existing Via dei Fori Imperiale, a four-lane boulevard at the heart of the city’s most prominent ancient excavations, is practically a monument. To those familiar with the history of the city, this road is more than just a central monument. It was one of the ways that fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, signed his name across the city. In one dramatic destructive act, he related himself to the ancient Roman emperors, modernized the city for the automobile, and created a massive open space for his crazed balcony speeches. Hitler was welcomed as if he were the Pope, along the avenue in 1938, celebrating the newfound alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

There are two eras of Rome; the republican Rome and the imperialist Rome. The republic preceded the civil wars, had people that were focused on the State life, and the State was defined as “totalitarian”. In the imperial time State Life disappeared, and with its disappearance, corruption began[28]. However, the empire offered the model of a stable global domination, of an ideal Rome that had, after the traumas of the civil wars, had recovered order and discipline. It was obvious after the second conquest of Ethiopia (1936); the dominant model could only be the imperial one. The conquest of Ethiopia represented the moment of the greatest success of a utopian Rome. The dictatorship now appeared justified by history, and the concept of the nation took on a Roman-imperial character.

Italy never censored Mussolini the way Germany condemned Hitler and the Nazis. Numerous Italians, under the influence of post-war efforts (supported by the United States) to purge the far left from political life, debated that it was possible to part all that was good about Mussolini in his first decade in power, from his “mistakes” later in the 1930s. The good that Italian residents refer to is the structural recovery of ancient Rome, housing complexes, hospitals, and schools that have not been demolished, despite Mussolini's signatures. Were the invasion and poisonous gassing of a fellow League of Nations member, Ethiopia, worth the sacrifice? He also allowed Italian Jews to be deported and killed, some of whom had supported Fascism. Mussolini dragged his country into WWII knowing that he did not have an army strong enough to defeat the British or the Russians. He was responsible for over 200k deaths in the war[29]. The death toll included when he was rescued by the Germans and Hitler placed in charge of a puppet government in North Italy, adding to the suffering of Italians. Perhaps a simplified history by some current Italians was a convenient consensus that allowed them to avoid the political dissonance of real debate about the legacy of Fascism.

Conclusion

The extensive archaeological history of nationalism and the deeply horrific crimes against humanity sometimes led to a conceptualization that race is biological; therefore, racism will always exist. When in fact, archaeological excavations and anthropological research in other areas of academia have proven that both race and gender are political constructs[30]. Today, nationalism in Eastern Europe looks like: Germany currently has laws censoring Nazi party propaganda, but at least one nationalist party is thriving. Founded by a former member of Angela Merkel's Democratic Union Party, Alexander Gauland led the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party into the German parliament. The AfD is the third strongest political party[31], after the Holocaust, Israel became a highly self-aware nationalistic society, where the Jewish autonomy of Zionism fused together with the new State of Israel. According to the definition in Article 6 Statute set by the International Crime Court, the extermination of the people in the West Bank is genocide. Approximately 85, 000, 000 people have died since the 1950 occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians[32]. The most alarming update comes from Italy's fascist group, CasaPound, who have grown from 23 offices to 106 since 2003. They are dangerous, not only for their popularity but because they are trying to win seats in parliament[33].

When seeing stories of nationalists and extremists today, it is common to feel a little panic and fear, no matter where a person is from. History has shown over and over how violent humans can be, but there is also the beauty that is often ignored. Today, a better understanding of the ideologies of nationalism has been learned throughout the course through studying: culture, tradition, national myths, politics and national leaders. The question is not whether racism can be eradicated, but what the future of nationalism could look like in the future and precedence for controlling harrowing political constructs.

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[2] Polish Victims, (United States Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2016), https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005473.

[3] Calhoun, C., "Nationality and Ethnicity," Annual Review of Sociology vol. 19 (1993): 211-39. Accessed 7 May 2018. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/sipa/U6800/readings-sm/calhoun.pdf.

[4] Shah, S. "Ethnic Conflict in Former Yugoslavia," Pakistan Institute of International Affairs 46, no. 1. (1993): 61-71, Accessed 4 May 2018, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41393412?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.

[5] Jelavich, B., History of the Balkans. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 3-47.

[6] Kaiser, A., Archaeology and ideology in southeast Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 99-119.

[7] Curta, F., Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 500-507.

[8] Kaiser, "Archaeology and Ideology" (see footnote 6).

[9] Novaković, P., and Slapšak, B., Is there national archaeology without nationalism? Archaeological tradition in Slovenia (London: UCL Press, 1996), 256-293.

[10] Kohl, P., "Nationalism and Archaeology: On the Constructions of Nations and the Reconstructions of the Remote Past," Annual Review of Anthropology 27 (1998): 223-246.

[11] Curta, F., "Southeastern Europe," (see footnote 7).

 [12] Kolaric, M., The Bronze Age of Serbia (Beograd: Narodni Muzej, 1972).

[13] Novaković and Slapšak, "Nationalism Archaeology?" (see footfoot 9).

[14] Kaiser, A., "Archaeology and ideology," (see footnote 6).

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[16] Hvaal, M., "The Mystery of Bosnia's Ancient Pyramids," Smithsonian Magazine, December 2009, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-mystery-of-bosnias-ancient-pyramids-148990462/, Accessed 7 May 2018.

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[31]

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[33] Jones, T., "The Fascist Movement that has Brough Mussolini Back to the Mainstream," The Guardian, February 2018, Accessed 12 May 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/22/casapound-italy-mussolini-fascism-mainstream.

[newstechreviews]

August 2020 saw no soca floats sliding along West London’s Ladbroke Grove. No pink feathered wings or giant plumes of headwear. The Notting Hill Carnival was canceled, like all mass gatherings in late COVID lockdown, the streets still spare, the air still choked with grief. No curry goat or jerk pan smoke rose up into the city trees. And the music, the great churning music of the Caribbean islands, of Black Britain, of Africa and the Americas, did not thump to the foundations of the neighborhood terraces, making them tremble.

All of this would have been part of a normal summer for Edward Enninful while growing up in the area in the 1980s. His mother Grace might look out of the window of her sewing room in their house right on the Carnival route, and see some manifestation of Trinidad going by, or a reggae crew, wrapped in amazing sculptures of bikini and shiny hosiery. Edward, one of six siblings, would stay out late and take it in, all that sound and spectacle, which for decades has been the triumphant annual pinnacle of London’s cultural and racial multiplicity.

It was this world that nurtured his creativity and helped shape the vision he has brought to the pages of British Vogue since being appointed editor in chief in 2017. “I was always othered,” Enninful says on a nostalgic walk through the streets of Ladbroke Grove, a much gentrified, still bohemian part of London, where he moved with his family from Ghana at the age of 13, “you know, gay, working-class, Black. So for me it was very important with Vogue to normalize the marginalized, because if you don’t see it, you don’t think it’s normal.”

Today, Enninful is the most powerful Black man in his industry, sitting at the intersection of fashion and media, two fields that are undergoing long-overdue change and scrambling to make up for years of negligence and malpractice. Since becoming the only Black editor in history to head any of the 26 Vogue magazines—the most influential publications in the multibillion-dollar global fashion trade—he has been tipped as the successor to Anna Wintour, the iconic editor of American Vogue and artistic director for Condé Nast. The privately held company is navigating, on top of an advertising market battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, public controversies around representation both in its offices and on its pages.

Wayne Tippetts—ShutterstockEnninful at London Fashion Week on Feb. 16, 2019.

Enninful’s vision for British Vogue comes at a critical moment for the international publisher. “I wanted to reflect what I saw here growing up, to show the world as this incredibly rich, cultured place. I wanted every woman to be able to find themselves in the magazine.” He chose the British model Adwoa Aboah to front his first issue, in 2017: “When others took steps, Edward took massive strides, showing the importance of our visibility and stories,” she says. Covers since have featured the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, Judi Dench (at 85, British Vogue’s oldest cover star), Madonna and soccer player Marcus Rashford, photographed for this year’s September issue by Misan Harriman, the first Black male photographer to shoot a British Vogue cover in its 104-year history. While other publications, including American Vogue, have reduced frequency during the pandemic, British Vogue has remained financially stable and is still producing 12 thick issues in 2020.

Under Enninful, British Vogue has morphed from a white-run glossy of the bourgeois oblivious into a diverse and inclusive on-point fashion platform, shaking up the imagery, tracking the contemporary pain. Its shelf presence is different—more substance, more political—and perhaps in part because of it, the shelf as a whole looks different. No more do Black women search mainstream newsstands in vain for visions of themselves. Now we are ubiquitous in my newsagent, in my corner shop, and it really wasn’t that hard; all it took was to give a Black man some power, to give someone with a gift, a voice and a view from the margin a seat at the table.

“My Blackness has never been a hindrance to me,” Enninful says. Yet he is no stranger to the passing abuses of systemic racism. On a Wednesday in mid-July, while entering British Vogue’s London headquarters, he was racially profiled by a security guard who told him to enter via the loading bay instead. “Just because our timelines and weekends are returning to normal, we cannot let the world return to how it was,” he wrote on Twitter. This summer, in the wake of worldwide Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, we are seeing a seismic reckoning across industries, scrutinizing who is doing what and who is not doing enough to bring about real change in equality and representation. “My problem is that there’s a lot of virtue-signaling going on,” he says. “But everyone’s listening now, and we need to take advantage of that. This is not the time for tiptoeing.”

We meet at Ladbroke Grove tube station in a late-summer noon. When anticipating an interview with the leader of a historic luxury fashion bible, it’s tempting to have inferior thoughts about your Nissan or your Clarks boot collection or your latest unlatest something, but Enninful, 48, is unassuming, arriving in a loose navy suit, pale blue shirt and shades, the only giveaway to his sartorial imperium the no socks with his brogues. He is warm and relaxed, bearing the close-shouldered tilt of the lifelong hard worker; he rises at 5 a.m. most days to meditate before work.

I-D: Nick Towers; Vogue Italia: Steven Meisel From left: a Fashion Week report by Enninful in I-D’s January 1995 issue; Naomi Campbell on Vogue Italia in July 2008.

These days he resides toward Lancaster Gate, on the posher side of Ladbroke Grove, with his long-term partner the filmmaker Alec Maxwell and their Boston terrier, Ru Enninful, who has his own Instagram account and whose daily walking was a saving grace during lockdown. But the London Underground is where Enninful’s journey into fashion began, one day on the train in a pair of ripped blue jeans, when he was spotted by stylist Simon Foxton as a potential model for i-D, the avant-garde British fashion magazine. Being only 16, a shy, sheltered kid who grew up in a Ghanaian army barracks and who was less than four years in the U.K., of course he had to ask his mother. Albeit a clothes fanatic herself, a professional seamstress and regular rifler (with Edward) through the markets of Porto-bello and Brixton for fabrics, Grace was wary of the hedonistic London style vortex, the enormity of the new land, and reluctant to release her son into its mouth. He begged. He wore her down: “I knew I couldn’t just walk away from this, that something special was going to come out of it.”

He never had the knack for modeling, he says with characteristic humility. “I was terrible at it. I hated the castings, all that objectifying. But I loved the process and the craft of creating an image.” He soon moved to the other side of the lens, assisting on shoots and assembling image concepts and narratives, a particular approach to styling that impressed i-D enough to hire him as their youngest ever fashion director at only 18, a post he held for the next 20 years. Without the courtesy designer clothes later at his fingertips, he would customize, shred, dye and bargain for the right look, using the skills he’d developed at home in the sewing room. “I realized that I could say a lot with fashion,” he says, “that it wasn’t just about clothes, but could tell a story of the times we’re in, about people’s experiences in life. And that freedom to portray the world as you saw it.”

What was innate to Enninful—this blend of skilled creativity with the perception of difference as normal, as both subject and audience—was relatively unique in an industry dominated by white, colonial notions of beauty and mainstream. Legendary Somali supermodel Iman remembers a 2014 W magazine shoot in which she, Naomi Campbell and Rihanna were cast by Enninful, the publication’s then style director, wearing Balmain, designed by Olivier Rousteing. “Until Edward appeared, no one at the mainstream fashion magazines would have cared to commission a portrait exclusively featuring three women of color, and furthermore who were all wearing clothes designed by a person of color,” she says. “He’s an editor in vocation and a reformer at heart, compelled to spur woefully needed social change.”

Courtesy Jamie Hawkesworth and Condé Nast Britain Train driver Narguis Horsford, on British Vogue’s July 2020 issue.

He shows me his various old haunts and abodes, the top-floor bedsit where he used to haul bags of styling gear up the stairs, the Lisboa and O’Porto cafés of Golborne Road—or “Little Morocco”—where he’d sit for hours chewing the fat with people like makeup artist Pat McGrath, Kate Moss, Nick Kamen and photographer David Sims. Name-drops fall from his lips like insignificant diamonds—stylists, photographers, celebrities—but he navigates his domain in a manner apparently uncommon among fashion’s gatekeepers. Winfrey says of him, “I have never experienced in all my dealings with people in that world anyone who was more kind and generous of spirit. I mean, it just doesn’t happen.”

Her shoot for the August 2018 cover of British Vogue left Winfrey feeling “empress-like,” and she ascribes his understanding of Black female beauty to his being raised by a Black mother. “Edward understands that images are political, that they say who and what matters,” she adds. Enninful’s father Crosby, a major in the Ghanaian army who was part of U.N. operations in Egypt and Lebanon, had thought that his bright, studious son would eventually grow out of his fascination with clothes and become a lawyer. But three months into an English literature degree at Goldsmiths, University of London, studying Hardy, Austen and the usual classics, thinking maybe he’d be a writer, or indeed a lawyer, Enninful quit to take up the position at i-D. His father did not speak to him for around 15 years, into the next century, until Grace suffered a stroke and entered a long illness. “Now that I’m older, I realize he just wanted to protect us. He’s come to understand that I had to follow my heart and forge my own path.”

He credits his parents for his strong work ethic—“drummed into you from a very early age by Black parents, that you have to work twice as hard”—and his Ghanaian heritage for his eye for color. His approach to fashion as narrative comes from the “childish games I would play with my mother,” creating characters around the clothes, sketching them out. “I can’t just shoot clothes off the runway,” he says. “There always has to be a character, and that character has to have an inner life.” Since Grace’s death three years ago, his father has lived alone by the Grand Union Canal and is very proud of his son, particularly of the Order of the British Empire awarded to him by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016 for his services to diversity in fashion. The Queen, incidentally, is high on Enninful’s list of Vogue cover dreams.

The British Vogue Enninful inherited from former editor in chief Alexandra Shulman three years ago was starkly different from today’s rendition. During her 25 years in charge, only 12 covers out of 306 featured Black women, and she left behind an almost entirely white workforce. Now the editorial team is 25% people of color—“I needed certain lieutenants in place,” he says—and similar shufflings are being called for over at Condé Nast in New York. Enninful is reluctant to tarnish names any further, maintaining that Shulman “represented her time, I represent mine,” and declining to comment on the U.S. headquarters.

Courtesy Edward Enninful A Polaroid of Enninful in the 1990s from his personal collection.

Enninful’s rise is particularly meaningful to people like André Leon Talley, former editor at large of American Vogue, where Enninful also worked as a contributing editor. Talley describes the new British Vogue as “extraordinary,” and was joyous at Enninful’s appointment. “He speaks for the unsung heroes, particularly those outside the privileged white world that Vogue originally stood for. He has changed what a fashion magazine should be.”

“I’m a custodian,” Enninful says of his role, sitting in a sumptuous alcove of the club bar at Electric House. “Vogue existed before I came, and it will still exist when I leave, but I knew that I had to go in there and do what I really believed in. It’s our responsibility as storytellers or image makers to try to disrupt the status quo.” Ironically, though, he does not see himself as an activist, rather as someone who is unafraid to tackle political issues and educate others, while remaining firmly within the Vogue lens. “They said Black girls on the cover don’t sell,” he says. “People thought diversity equals down-market, but we’ve shown that it’s just good for business.” British Vogue’s digital traffic is up 51% since Enninful took over. He previously edited the 2008 Black issue of Vogue Italia, which featured only Black models and Black women and sold out in the U.S. and the U.K. in just 72 hours.

Since the incident with the security guard in July—which Enninful reveals was not isolated and had happened before (the culprit, a third-party employee, was dismissed from headquarters)—building staff have been added to the company’s diversity-and-inclusion trainings. Enninful would also like to see financial aid put in place for middle management, “because we forget sometimes that the culture of a place does not allow you to go from being a student to the top.” In 2013, he tweeted about another incident, where he was seated in the second row at a Paris couture show while his white counterparts were placed in front. “I get racially profiled all the time,” he says, going right back to his first experience of being stopped and searched as a teenager, which “petrified” him. “When I was younger, I would’ve been hurt and withdrawn, but now I will let you know that this is not O.K. People tend to think that if you’re successful it eliminates you, but it can happen any day. The difference now is that I have the platform to speak about it and point it out. The only way we can smash systemic racism is by doing it together.”

Campbell Addy for TIMEBritish Vogue editor in chief Enninful in Ladbroke Grove, London, on Aug. 31.

Activism, then, is intrinsic. Fashion is altruism, as much as story and craft, as much as the will to capture beauty. For Enninful, there is no limitation to the radicalism possible through his line of work. Rather than the seemingly unattainable elements of style (the £350 zirconia ring, the £2,275 coat) obscuring the moral fiber of the message, the invitation to think and see more openly, the style instead leads you to it, perhaps even inviting you to assemble something similar within the boundaries of your real, more brutal, less elevated existence. “Relatable luxury,” he calls it, and though it’s difficult to imagine exactly how one might evoke a £2,275 coat without his customizing skills and magical thinking, I am inclined to accept the notion, partly because I saw soul singer Celeste in a £1,450 dress in the September issue and think I might give it a try. Anything is possible. “I still feel like I’m at the beginning,” he says with palpable optimism. “I feel the fire of something new.”

—With reporting by Cady Lang/New York and Madeline Roache/London

Evans is the author of Ordinary People, The Wonder and 26a

Cover photo: Styling: Susan Bender; Suit, sweater, shoes: Burberry