Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
Rami Malek plays Elliot Alderson in Mr Robot. Photo: Facebook
“Mr. Robot” and the Angry Young Man – by David Haglund, The New Yorker
“Eliott is clearly identified, then, as an Angry Young Man, a figure familiar from literature and the movies (and college dormitories) but seen less often on television. You could argue that the beloved antiheroes of the last fifteen years—Tony Soprano, Don Draper, Walter White—have some relation to this archetype, but those men are grown-ups, with families; they may be at odds with society on some level, but they don’t seem to see society itself as the problem.”
“Where you from?” – by Jessica Hansell, E-Tangata
“I remember being at a staff party and a Māori co-worker came up to me. “Why do you sit on the other side of the office with all the Coconuts? They all look pretty shady.” “Yeah girl, they look like you,” I said. For someone who preached the importance of whakapapa and decolonisation, I was blown away by her irony. Pākeha racism I knew like my phone number, but these contradictory attitudes were something I’d never really encountered.”
The Meaning of Serena Williams – by Claudia Rankine, NY Times
“For black people, there is an unspoken script that demands the humble absorption of racist assaults, no matter the scale, because whites need to believe that it’s no big deal. But Serena refuses to keep to that script. Somehow, along the way, she made a decision to be excellent while still being Serena.”
Why One Direction's gap year should worry you – even if you can't stand them – by Eamonn Forde, The Guardian
“One Direction’s “hiatus” in 2016 will inevitably be traumatic for their fans, but manna from heaven for those who enjoy sneering at lachrymose teenagers for possessing a taste in music they think is vastly inferior to their own. The other story here, however, is that it is also going to be equal parts painful and costly for the businesses that surround and rely on the group for a significant amount of their income.”
Government contempt too overwhelming to ignore – by Dita De Boni, NZ Herald
“People have asked me over the years why my columns have become more strident in tone; more "biased against" the Government. The answer's that the examples of contempt for the public, hypocrisy, and flat-out bulls***tery have become too overwhelming to ignore.”
How queer rappers are approaching sex differently - by Mathias Rosenzweig, i-D
“The fact that these rappers are queer inherently deviates their approach to sexuality and gender relations. They've invented a world essentially free of male chauvinism—or, at least more free than the straight world. This is due in part to queer rappers reappropriating vernacular traditionally used by hetero artists but within a different context, wherein gender roles have become nearly nonexistent.”
A Highly Scientific, Real-Life Exploration Into How Anyone Could Possibly Like J. Cole – by Shea Serrano, Grantland
“On Friday night, I hoped for a very specific thing: that a man or a woman would be able to explain to me why J. Cole is an interesting, exciting rapper. And so I went to a place where I thought it would be easy to find many people who held that opinion. A simple joke to make here would be to say that I went to “a morgue” or “a sleep factory” or “a hospital for people who were born without ears,” but none of those are places I went.”
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