Jason Mittell
@jmittell.bsky.social
Media studies professor at Middlebury College; video essayist & author of videographic book on Breaking Bad; author of written books on TV, narrative theory, etc.; journal manager of @intransition.bsky.social . [he/him] https://linktr.ee/jmittell
Convinced that this instrument was made for the Nigel Tufnel of 19th century Milan:
November 21, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Convinced that this instrument was made for the Nigel Tufnel of 19th century Milan:
I’m a gray-haired, upper-middle-aged, arguably-esteemed professor and father of adult children. And yet, walking down a street in Berlin, I instantly become a 12-year-old boy:
October 31, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I’m a gray-haired, upper-middle-aged, arguably-esteemed professor and father of adult children. And yet, walking down a street in Berlin, I instantly become a 12-year-old boy:
Had a wonderful time today in Berlin at the Serial Encounters symposium in honor of @fkelleter.bsky.social ! I talked about his contributions to theories of seriality and influence on my own work - but I did make a slide for the hypothetical paper I wish I'd given!
October 30, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Had a wonderful time today in Berlin at the Serial Encounters symposium in honor of @fkelleter.bsky.social ! I talked about his contributions to theories of seriality and influence on my own work - but I did make a slide for the hypothetical paper I wish I'd given!
At Cemetery du Père-Lachaise in Paris today, I checked out Pierre Bourdieu's final habitus. Everyone at Père-Lachaise belongs to the elite, but among the thousands of graves there, he's clearly exhibiting middling cultural and economic capital.
September 28, 2025 at 4:55 PM
At Cemetery du Père-Lachaise in Paris today, I checked out Pierre Bourdieu's final habitus. Everyone at Père-Lachaise belongs to the elite, but among the thousands of graves there, he's clearly exhibiting middling cultural and economic capital.
Something you don't expect to see wondering around Trondheim, Norway: a record store & label named after a Gen X icon of US weirdness!
September 3, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Something you don't expect to see wondering around Trondheim, Norway: a record store & label named after a Gen X icon of US weirdness!
Seeing Lucy Dacus at Shelburne Museum, where there is the lowest concentration of fellow old straight guys than any concert I’ve ever been to in Vermont!
August 3, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Seeing Lucy Dacus at Shelburne Museum, where there is the lowest concentration of fellow old straight guys than any concert I’ve ever been to in Vermont!
So much to be horrified by in this story, but I was stopped short by imagining the fatal damage that could be done by using AI in the course "Know Your Recreational Drugs."
June 8, 2025 at 7:38 PM
So much to be horrified by in this story, but I was stopped short by imagining the fatal damage that could be done by using AI in the course "Know Your Recreational Drugs."
I feel like we've reached the point that we just need to reboot the web and recreate the bespoke online era of the late-90s, where we at least knew that a human had put in the work to write and do basic fact-checking on whatever we read, rather than automated bullshit like this:
May 21, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I feel like we've reached the point that we just need to reboot the web and recreate the bespoke online era of the late-90s, where we at least knew that a human had put in the work to write and do basic fact-checking on whatever we read, rather than automated bullshit like this:
Could there be anything more on-brand than the second search result for "Microsoft Teams" being this?
May 20, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Could there be anything more on-brand than the second search result for "Microsoft Teams" being this?
Karen Allen is 100% the correct answer, but I'll throw in a yet-unmentioned wildcard: Terri Garr in Close Encounters. (The part is not sexy, but it's Terri Garr...)
May 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Karen Allen is 100% the correct answer, but I'll throw in a yet-unmentioned wildcard: Terri Garr in Close Encounters. (The part is not sexy, but it's Terri Garr...)
If you're not subscribed to the print version of @theonion.com, this is the brilliant content you're missing:
May 1, 2025 at 9:40 PM
If you're not subscribed to the print version of @theonion.com, this is the brilliant content you're missing:
For a game to reject LUDIC as a word seems almost self-hating.
#NYTSpellingBee
#NYTSpellingBee
April 23, 2025 at 11:53 PM
For a game to reject LUDIC as a word seems almost self-hating.
#NYTSpellingBee
#NYTSpellingBee
The most insightful piece of journalism of the 21st century:
![The [Bush] aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors… and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
– Ron Suskind in New York Times, 2004](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rcj36q5se23hja36kubiozkr/bafkreigsrf3tdornqkkshppr5tcjdgo3jsqky4zket63zj7rxekqzfvq4a@jpeg)
April 12, 2025 at 12:40 PM
The most insightful piece of journalism of the 21st century:
David Brooks drops the ultimate self-own headline:
April 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
David Brooks drops the ultimate self-own headline:
We can get some wicked winds here, knocking down trees and flipping our old trampoline! Last winter I caught this image of the wind attacking our solar panels:
March 31, 2025 at 9:57 PM
We can get some wicked winds here, knocking down trees and flipping our old trampoline! Last winter I caught this image of the wind attacking our solar panels:
This snarky account of Junior's rise in political prominence is somewhat interesting, but mostly in offering the best (and most troubling) explanation I've read of why they are so fixated on taking over Greenland and Canada:
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
March 30, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This snarky account of Junior's rise in political prominence is somewhat interesting, but mostly in offering the best (and most troubling) explanation I've read of why they are so fixated on taking over Greenland and Canada:
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
Share some of the best eyes in movies. 👀
March 16, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Share some of the best eyes in movies. 👀
As someone currently researching reflexivity in contemporary media, I'm quite excited for this series - but in browsing its IMDB page, I found this credit which seems like it was created bespoke just to appeal directly to me!
March 15, 2025 at 2:28 PM
As someone currently researching reflexivity in contemporary media, I'm quite excited for this series - but in browsing its IMDB page, I found this credit which seems like it was created bespoke just to appeal directly to me!
Case in point - look at these comparative bios. Who has "merit" here?
March 15, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Case in point - look at these comparative bios. Who has "merit" here?
Astoundingly opaque use of language here in Hulu's update to subscriber agreement, "clarifying" that even if you're paying more for "ad free" or "no ads" tiers, "circumstances may require" there to be ads! They forgot to explain that said circumstances are "the bottomless desire to maximize profit."
February 20, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Astoundingly opaque use of language here in Hulu's update to subscriber agreement, "clarifying" that even if you're paying more for "ad free" or "no ads" tiers, "circumstances may require" there to be ads! They forgot to explain that said circumstances are "the bottomless desire to maximize profit."
Advertise your account using one Simpsons image:
February 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Advertise your account using one Simpsons image:
Two presidential terms summed up in two iconic images:
February 12, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Two presidential terms summed up in two iconic images:
Sometimes the dictionary offers just the right amount of reflexive cleverness to sustain you through tough times:
February 11, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Sometimes the dictionary offers just the right amount of reflexive cleverness to sustain you through tough times: