Joy to the World

Over at New York magazine, Adam Sternbergh’s written an intricate, affecting, and (honest to god) shocking elegy in awe of the emoji. If he comes to a single conclusion, it’s that every single one of them is here to stay:

Over 470 million Joy emoji are being sent back and forth on Twitter right now—which makes the Joy emoji the No. 1 most popular emoji on Twitter (it tends to compete for the top spot with the Heart). Lovers have successfully wooed one another with emoji. Recruiters for ISIS are using emoji in their friendly sounding, ISIS-promoting tweets. Someone put together a song-length emoji-translation video of Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love,” while someone else translated R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” into emoji, while someone else translated all of Moby-Dick (titled, inevitably, Emoji Dick).

Share
Tweet
Share

Bryan Washington has written for Puerto Del Sol, Ninth Letter, and Midnight Breakfast, among others; he's also the recipient of a Houstonia Fellowship. He lives around New Orleans.

You May Also Like

The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

We believe that literature builds community—and if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Get your Rumpus merch in our online store. Subscribe to receive Letters in the Mail from authors, join us by becoming a monthly or yearly Member and/or make a tax-deductible donation here.

We support independent bookstores! 10% of sales on any titles purchased through our Bookshop.org page or affiliate links benefits the magazine.

The Rumpus in your Inbox!
The Rumpus
© 2023, The Rumpus.

The Rumpus needs your help. We need to raise $25,000 $10,000 to fill our funding gap for 2024.

Our home base is Asheville, NC and Hurricane Helene severely impacted our ability to host events, launch new initiatives, and caused other significant financial setbacks this fall.

Can you support us at any level by Dec. 31? Every dollar counts and is a sign that our readers collectively value creative labor and independent publishing.

YEs, I'd like to help!

Sign up for the weekly Rumpus

Once a week, we'll send you a roundup of what's new on the magazine, invites to upcoming events, open calls for submissions, and more!

Total
0
Share