jenny g. zhang
@jennygzhang.bsky.social
writer, editor at [redacted], previously @gawker @eater. i am not jenny zhang
jennygzhang.substack.com
jennygzhang.com
jennygzhang.substack.com
jennygzhang.com
Pinned
jenny g. zhang
@jennygzhang.bsky.social
· Jan 27
Media's unspoken "talent" hierarchy
One of the industry's indelicate truths: There are those who are considered “talent,” and those who are not.
jennygzhang.substack.com
I’m bringing my newsletter back to bitch about media, culture, the internet, and more each month. First: on the media industry’s unspoken “talent” hierarchy, what that looks like these days, and my own naked, self-serving ambition to get back in the game jennygzhang.substack.com/p/media-indu...
crazy how america is adopting the worst measures of what we always decry in countries like china (censorship, attacks on political freedom), with literally none of the good things (public safety, no gun violence, renewable energy, mass poverty reduction efforts). flop era is real
September 18, 2025 at 4:25 PM
crazy how america is adopting the worst measures of what we always decry in countries like china (censorship, attacks on political freedom), with literally none of the good things (public safety, no gun violence, renewable energy, mass poverty reduction efforts). flop era is real
Reposted by jenny g. zhang
“Surprise: Chinese people aren’t a monolith, and they aren’t all driven by a red-tinted bloodlust for national dominance.”
great piece @jennygzhang.bsky.social
great piece @jennygzhang.bsky.social
one of the best film reviews I've read in a while, I miss when more places published work like this.
“It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don’t even have the thought of America cross their minds,” @jennygzhang.bsky.social writes slate.com/culture/2025...
“It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don’t even have the thought of America cross their minds,” @jennygzhang.bsky.social writes slate.com/culture/2025...
A24’s Latest Has Already Made More Money Than Any Star Wars Movie. I Bet You’ve Never Heard Of It.
It isn’t even here yet, and it’s already misunderstood.
slate.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:52 PM
“Surprise: Chinese people aren’t a monolith, and they aren’t all driven by a red-tinted bloodlust for national dominance.”
great piece @jennygzhang.bsky.social
great piece @jennygzhang.bsky.social
the chinese blockbuster ne zha 2, the english dub of which opens in theaters today, is an interesting case study in how western media still regards anything chinese with suspicion. wrote about this phenomenon, and the movie itself, for @slate.com slate.com/culture/2025...
A24’s Latest Has Already Made More Money Than Any Star Wars Movie. I Bet You’ve Never Heard Of It.
It isn’t even here yet, and it’s already misunderstood.
slate.com
August 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
the chinese blockbuster ne zha 2, the english dub of which opens in theaters today, is an interesting case study in how western media still regards anything chinese with suspicion. wrote about this phenomenon, and the movie itself, for @slate.com slate.com/culture/2025...
Reposted by jenny g. zhang
one of the best film reviews I've read in a while, I miss when more places published work like this.
“It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don’t even have the thought of America cross their minds,” @jennygzhang.bsky.social writes slate.com/culture/2025...
“It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don’t even have the thought of America cross their minds,” @jennygzhang.bsky.social writes slate.com/culture/2025...
A24’s Latest Has Already Made More Money Than Any Star Wars Movie. I Bet You’ve Never Heard Of It.
It isn’t even here yet, and it’s already misunderstood.
slate.com
August 21, 2025 at 2:27 AM
one of the best film reviews I've read in a while, I miss when more places published work like this.
“It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don’t even have the thought of America cross their minds,” @jennygzhang.bsky.social writes slate.com/culture/2025...
“It may shock some Americans to learn that many Chinese people, on many days, don’t even have the thought of America cross their minds,” @jennygzhang.bsky.social writes slate.com/culture/2025...
has your big brain ever considered the possibility that a publication worsening in quality is the direct result of shitty owners cutting that publication's resources in half and decimating headcount, freelancer budgets, and all the myriad things that go into creating something "reliably good"
idk I haven't found eater reliably good for a while so it might not be their shitty owner
August 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
has your big brain ever considered the possibility that a publication worsening in quality is the direct result of shitty owners cutting that publication's resources in half and decimating headcount, freelancer budgets, and all the myriad things that go into creating something "reliably good"
sort of at peace knowing that my sydney sweeney piece has ticked off both libs declaring that a denim brand is a nazi and small business owners named dale who insist i'm jealous of sydney and racist toward white people. that's how you know you've hit the perfect equilibrium
July 29, 2025 at 10:09 PM
sort of at peace knowing that my sydney sweeney piece has ticked off both libs declaring that a denim brand is a nazi and small business owners named dale who insist i'm jealous of sydney and racist toward white people. that's how you know you've hit the perfect equilibrium
wrote about the sydney sweeney inflection point and how celebrity can cheapen and tarnish slate.com/life/2025/07...
Sydney Sweeney Has Caused an Uproar. It Was Always Going to Come to This.
It was inevitable.
slate.com
July 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM
wrote about the sydney sweeney inflection point and how celebrity can cheapen and tarnish slate.com/life/2025/07...
wrote about really ruined love island usa this year: the specter of "america," which haunted nearly every decision and dynamic inside that villa
slate.com/culture/2025...
slate.com/culture/2025...
July 14, 2025 at 9:35 PM
wrote about really ruined love island usa this year: the specter of "america," which haunted nearly every decision and dynamic inside that villa
slate.com/culture/2025...
slate.com/culture/2025...
the state of reality TV and fervent fandom slate.com/culture/2025...
July 8, 2025 at 2:44 AM
the state of reality TV and fervent fandom slate.com/culture/2025...
wrote about the biggest news cycle of this day and age... love island usa and the sheer ugly wreckage of what is happening with reality tv and the internet slate.com/culture/2025...
The Controversy Over This Summer’s Hottest Show Just Keeps Getting Uglier
A reality show kicked off a contestant over a racial slur. What’s happened since hasn’t been pretty.
slate.com
July 7, 2025 at 9:26 PM
wrote about the biggest news cycle of this day and age... love island usa and the sheer ugly wreckage of what is happening with reality tv and the internet slate.com/culture/2025...
getting a million writer pitches now that are all basically "i asked AI to ___." i'm telling you this for your own good: ENOUGH
July 1, 2025 at 4:41 PM
getting a million writer pitches now that are all basically "i asked AI to ___." i'm telling you this for your own good: ENOUGH
Reposted by jenny g. zhang
Our grand Andor mini-series is finally complete! Shoutout to @jennygzhang.bsky.social, @pauladlerstein.bsky.social, @davidaustinwalsh.bsky.social, @davidklion.bsky.social, and Matt Duss for helping us explore every political nook and cranny of the Andor universe www.bangbangpod.com/p/the-comple...
The Complete Andor Mini-Series
Our grand Andor mini-series is finally complete!
www.bangbangpod.com
June 28, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Our grand Andor mini-series is finally complete! Shoutout to @jennygzhang.bsky.social, @pauladlerstein.bsky.social, @davidaustinwalsh.bsky.social, @davidklion.bsky.social, and Matt Duss for helping us explore every political nook and cranny of the Andor universe www.bangbangpod.com/p/the-comple...
reason no. 983 to abolish comedians: this email blast promoting a podcast and standup show from some guy who indiscriminately added every single person whose contact info wasn't properly bcc'd on a writers guild event notification
June 30, 2025 at 6:20 PM
reason no. 983 to abolish comedians: this email blast promoting a podcast and standup show from some guy who indiscriminately added every single person whose contact info wasn't properly bcc'd on a writers guild event notification
the girls are fightinggg
June 5, 2025 at 6:46 PM
the girls are fightinggg
someone should invent a way for it to be vacation every day
May 30, 2025 at 8:09 PM
someone should invent a way for it to be vacation every day
what it's like on the factory line, by Franklin Schneider, genuinely (probably) one of the best writers to ever do it slate.com/life/2025/05...
Trump Is Selling One Job as America’s Future. I Did It—and It’s Absolutely Miserable.
Bringing back the punishing factory floor to make America great again is like giving yourself severe acne to recapture your youth.
slate.com
May 30, 2025 at 7:30 PM
what it's like on the factory line, by Franklin Schneider, genuinely (probably) one of the best writers to ever do it slate.com/life/2025/05...
speaking of diaspora lit, reviewed a book about fruit / asian identity for @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...
Review | This book strips away the orange peel to ask what fruit means
In “Foreign Fruit,” Katie Goh looks into the history and personal significance of oranges.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM
speaking of diaspora lit, reviewed a book about fruit / asian identity for @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/0...
excited to be one of the few remaining humans with a functioning brain and critical thinking skills in 20 years nymag.com/intelligence...
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College
ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.
nymag.com
May 7, 2025 at 2:58 PM
excited to be one of the few remaining humans with a functioning brain and critical thinking skills in 20 years nymag.com/intelligence...
Reposted by jenny g. zhang
Wow sounds awesome! Definitely gotta check that out, especially since they are apparently firing everybody who made Polygon good
www.theverge.com/news/659575/...
www.theverge.com/news/659575/...
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Wow sounds awesome! Definitely gotta check that out, especially since they are apparently firing everybody who made Polygon good
www.theverge.com/news/659575/...
www.theverge.com/news/659575/...
went on bang-bang pod to talk about andor (again!)
Listen to the episode (www.bangbangpod.com/p/andor-2022...) & check out @bangbang1492.bsky.social for more episodes reviewing movie/TV about war/social conflict from an anti-imperialist lens!
Andor (2022), Episodes 4–6 w/ Jenny G. Zhang and Paul Adlerstein | Ep. 22
The pod returns to Andor with Slate culture editor Jenny G.
www.bangbangpod.com
April 30, 2025 at 7:46 PM
went on bang-bang pod to talk about andor (again!)
Reposted by jenny g. zhang
I had a long chat with Jenny about SEE FRIENDSHIP and the process of writing it while working in journalism — sorry to quote myself but here's a bit I will emphasize over and over:
April 21, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I had a long chat with Jenny about SEE FRIENDSHIP and the process of writing it while working in journalism — sorry to quote myself but here's a bit I will emphasize over and over:
should i write a book? should you? should anyone? i asked Real Novelist @jeremygordon.bsky.social, who said that, realistically, the world doesn’t need any more novels, but there are still reasons to do so if you so choose jennygzhang.substack.com/p/should-i-w...
Should I write a book? Should you?
A candid interview with author Jeremy Gordon about what writing a novel did to and for him.
jennygzhang.substack.com
April 21, 2025 at 7:47 PM
should i write a book? should you? should anyone? i asked Real Novelist @jeremygordon.bsky.social, who said that, realistically, the world doesn’t need any more novels, but there are still reasons to do so if you so choose jennygzhang.substack.com/p/should-i-w...