A couple of weeks ago, in order to placate the masses during a worldwide quanrantine, Facebook released their new “Avatar” system — a tool to allow users to create little cartoon characters of themselves for use in profile pics and stickers. Other technology companies have similar system. Apple has one built into its messaging system and Bitmoji uses this principle as its underlying business model. However, when Facebook made their announcement, some professional artists pushed back noting that if people want a custom profile pic, why not hire someone to make a unique one rather than just using a set of ubiquitous tools. Good Question! On this week’s show, Mav, Katya and Wayne are joined by two hosts of the Webcomic Alliance Podcast, Byron Wilkins and Dawn Griffin, to discuss the this issue as well as the difference between avatars and cartoon caricatures, why people might choose one over the other and how the whole thing relates to issues of race, identity, gender, culture, creativity and psychology. It turns out a whole lot more than you think goes into the simple act of making yourself in a video game or web app. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.
Citations and Links:
- This episode’s Call for Comments
- “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the I Function Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience” by Jacques Lacan
- Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
- Impacts of the Avatar Dream by D. Fox Harrell
- “Reimagining the Avatar Dream: Modeling Social Identity in Digital Media” by D. Fox Harrell and Chong-U Lim
- “The darker the skin, the harder the game: How South Park pretended to care about race” by Jeremy Winslow
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
- Check out Dawn’s Art: http://dawngriffinstudios.com
- Check out Byron’s Comic: http://1977thecomic.com
- Listen to Dawn & Byron’s podcast: http://webcomicalliance.com
- Get Dawn’s newest book: https://www.idafindshervoice.com
- Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick
- Follow Katya on Instagram: @justthatnerdkid
- Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017
- Follow Mav’s Personal Blog: http://chrismaverick.com
- Follow Wayne’s Personal Blog: http://wayne-wise.com
- Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast
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