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A Writer Who Doesn't Understand 'Lolita,' And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'

Darcy Jimenez
Darcy Jimenez
A Writer Who Doesn't Understand 'Lolita,' And More Of This Week's 'One Main Character'
Including a prominent TV writer who thinks you should be allowed to speed in New York sometimes, as a treat.
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Every day, somebody says or does something that earns them the scorn of the internet. Here at Digg, as part of our mission to curate what the internet is talking about right now, we rounded up the main characters on Twitter from this past week and held them accountable for their actions.



This week, we've got an an academic who thinks not crossing the picket line is a privileged act, a TV writer who believes speeding is okay sometimes, an actor with a hot take about Marvel movies, and more.



Saturday

Sarah Liu

The character: Sarah Liu, political scientist, unprivileged academic

The plot: This summer's been all about strikes, and the American Political Science Association conference is taking place later this month in SoCal, where hotel workers are striking. Solidarity with striking works is usually seen as a noble cause — we all win together — however, this wasn't the case for Sarah Liu, an academic who was due to attend the conference.

"Those who are able to cancel — please be aware that it takes privilege to stand in complete solidarity with the workers," Liu wrote.



The repercussion: It's hard to take this tweet seriously, but I assure you that’s how Liu meant it. Yes, the point Liu's making about financial loss is valid, but framing it as a privilege when hotel staff are striking for better remuneration was looked at as disingenuous by many people.



Adwait Patil



Tuesday

@Mirandom88

The character: @Mirandom88, date enjoyer, loves a plan

The plot: We're in the age of sharing dating app screenshots, and Twitter user @Mirandom88 added to the discourse by sharing a date plan text from somebody to their partner (the text doesn't appear to be her own).

"Why aren’t all men like this?," she captioned the image, which showed a rather intense anniversary date schedule.



The repercussion: From rock climbing, to brunch, to "Oppenheimer," with an escape room in between, people were shocked and in awe of the proposed date plan.



Adwait Patil



Monday

Adam DeVine

The character: Adam DeVine, comedian, actor, not a fan of superhero movies

The plot: While talking to Theo Von on his podcast, actor and comedian Adam DeVine said something that was quickly turned into a dozen articles and took on a life of its own:


That’s it! They ruined it, pack it up. No more comedies. Also, check out his latest comedy, “Righteous Gemstones,” which he stars in.


The repercussion: File this entire mini-saga under the same category as "you can't be funny anymore" or "you can't make 'Blazing Saddles' today" or similarly ridiculous hot takes about comedy we've heard in recent years. While Adam DeVine's full comments are much more nuanced, Twitter isn't about the details. It's about tearing people to shreds over one quote taken out of context!



After this clarification, we understand where he's coming from. This isn't about the state of the industry, or how Hollywood no longer makes big picture comedies in the face of YouTube and TikTok and memes. It’s also not about vilifying his central point, about the all-in nature of spending on risk averse IP, or anything like that.

This is about hyperbolic statements in headlines that catch people's attention.



Jared Russo



Wednesday

David Simon

The character: David Simon, "The Wire" creator, NY hater

The plot: Simon got a $50 speeding ticket in NYC for zooming in a school zone, where he did 36 MPH instead of keeping to the 25 limit. He was annoyed because it was only 5:40 AM when he committed the offense, which apparently makes it fine. "Two-word clue: Yankees Suck," he concluded.



Simon's Twitter activity is not really worth getting into — unless there's NYC transit discourse involved.


The repercussion: You know you're a dunce when the average NYC enjoyer and transit nerd both dunk on you.



Adwait Patil



Monday

Jeffrey Davies

The character: Jeffrey Davies, author of an article about "overrated classics," published by Book Riot

The plot: On Monday, a website called Book Riot published an article listing eight literary classics that the author believed to be overrated. One of the books included was Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," which tells the story of Dolores Haze, a child who is kidnapped and abused by the novel's narrator, an adult man named Humbert Humbert. The author writes that "no amount of beautiful prose should be enough to get over a premise as problematic as that of 'Lolita'."



The repercussion: Many expressed frustration at the list's author having missed the point of the novel: Humbert is evil, his actions despicable, and Nabokov makes this abundantly clear to the reader — there is absolutely no doubt that the story's protagonist is also its villain. Others disagreed with the writer's claim that books with disturbing content matter should not be written or read — gratuitous violence is one thing, but life can be upsetting and ugly, and addressing controversial topics does not always equate to endorsement of them.

People on Twitter also took issue with the article using a particular book cover — one featuring a young girl — to accompany the review. Nabokov made it explicitly clear that he didn't want any girls to feature on the cover of his novel, and fans of his work believe that publishers choosing such artwork, against the author's wishes, only confuses and distracts people from the true meaning of the book.



Darcy Jimenez



———

Read the previous edition of our One Main Character column, which had a husband who thinks it's okay to trick his vegetarian wife into eating meat, a fashion TikToker with a bad take and someone who did not deserve a trip to Kyoto.

Comments

  1. Matt 8 months ago

    Academics often come from upper middle class backgrounds, so it the actual financial situation of workers would not be familiar territory.

  2. Frank_H 8 months ago

    Twitter has become Shitter.

  3. Edward Sung 9 months ago

    Jesus. Twitter—sorry, "X"—can't die soon enough.

    1. Emey, Herschel's 8th... 9 months ago

      Call it Xitter

  4. John Doe 9 months ago

    Jeffrey Davies also has "Schindler's List" at the top of his "Over-rated Movies" list and says it shouldn't be watched because of its positive portrayal of Oscar Schindler and the Holocaust.

    1. Ezio 9 months ago

      What's truly problematic in an entirely unironical sense of the word is that idiots like him get any amount of oxygen. Asking for his opinion on art is like asking a doormat to perform differential equations, except somehow even more pointless.

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