Jason Mittell

@jmittell.bsky.social

6.7K followers 1.2K following 2K posts

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 .. more

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Jason Mittell is a professor of American studies and film and media culture at Middlebury College whose research interests include the history of television, media, culture, new media, and digital humanities. He is author of four books, Genre and Television (2004), Television and American Culture (2009), Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling, and Narrative Theory and Adaptation. He also co-edited How To Watch Television and co-authored The Videographic Essay: Practice and Pedagogy. His digital-humanities activities focus primarily on videographic media criticism and, in 2015, he co-founded the first "Scholarship in Sound & Image" workshop, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Moreover, he is journal manager and co-editor of [in]Transition: Journal of Videographic Film & Moving Studies, published by the Open Library of Humanities and supported by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. .. more

Communication & Media Studies 39%

Art 14%

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Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · Nov 10

There wasn't a good list of accounts related to video essays - so I made this starter pack! Who did I miss? Who do you know who should join Bluesky to share & talk about video essays?
go.bsky.app/PtthhCc

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 9h

But that would require acknowledging that anti-racism is a reaction to racism, which clearly makes no sense

Reposted by Jason Mittell

She Guevara @sheg7.bsky.social · 10h

What are you talking about?

Why would a pervert go to the trouble of wearing a dress? Surely he would just walk in looking like a man and say "i was born female and transitioned to male" and nobody can ask him to leave.

You guys made it easier for perverts with your nonsense.

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 1d

I really wonder how his admin colleagues and Columbia's tech donors react to their Dean for AI Initiatives publishing this!

Reposted by Jason Mittell, Randall A. Kramer

Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 2d

Glad to see a Columbia administrator speaking the plain sense about AI so many college leaders refuse to contend with. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/o...

Opinion | A.I. Companies Are Eating Higher Education

www.nytimes.com

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

This is the perfect line of questioning to reveal that, even to "an expert" who wrote a book on "anti-white racism", defining "white culture" is impossible on its own terms without comparing to Black, Latino, etc. identity.

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 2d

Trump nominated a legit white nationalist to a top post at the State Department. I asked him some basic questions about his belief in the “erasure of white culture”. Watch this embarrassing, fumbling answer. Like he has never before been asked to explain his views.

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 2d

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

It was a pretty memorable & vivid metaphor

Reposted by Jason Mittell, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 2d

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities announce end to Minnesota immigration crackdown that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths.

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

Got it - yes, I thought "fatal flaw" referred to overall impact, not intrinsic functionality. I don't play for social media points!

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

And in the 1940s, saying "nuclear bombs are fatally flawed and should not exist, so ignore the hype & propaganda and shut down the project" was totally legit and probably the right call. 80 years later, their existence is not up for debate. We're at that earlier stage with AI now.

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

I agree that anti- folks shouldn't ignore that there are legit uses, but the boosters cannot treat the massive negatives as just "downsides" on a pro/con list - they are potentially catastrophic at both macro & micro scales. How does me saying "sure, it's useful to automate coding" change anything?

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

My comment (sorry for the conversational sleep break) was focused on "fatal flaw" as the negative characterization for anti-AI, as I believe there are fatal flaws, while also understanding there are legit uses. The comparative impact of those seem so weighed toward anti- that legit uses become moot.

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

Good faith. I do think the potential economic & environmental risks outweigh the "things it's good at" potential, and which we lived in a world that there were brakes or guardrails on runaway techno-capitalist hype

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 2d

Does destroying the economy and/or environment count as a "fatal flaw"?

Reposted by Jason Mittell

Vulture @vulture.com · 2d

On ‘Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,’ he transcended his most famous role without ever leaving it behind.

James Van Der Beek’s Best Joke Was Himself

On ‘Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23,’ he transcended his most famous role without ever leaving it behind.

www.vulture.com

Reposted by Jason Mittell

Representative Becca Balint @balint.house.gov · 3d

AG Pam Bondi brought a portfolio of degrading insults before the House Judiciary Committee today, but failed to bring evidence, answers, or accountability.

Today’s hearing confirmed that this DOJ protects pedophiles and sex offenders in power, not the American people.

Reposted by Jason Mittell

Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · 3d

RIP Bud Cort. How else would you even pay tribute to him.

Reposted by Jason Mittell

Soylent D Cracker🏳️‍🌈 @cinemacultist.bsky.social · 3d

SHE REMOVED THEIR WEDDING PHOTO LMAOOOOOO
Oh she HATED his guts

Reposted by Jason Mittell

Anonymous @opdeatheaters.bsky.social · 4d

US Rep. Balint after reviewing unredacted Epstein files:

"They are a bunch of sick fucks. So many people knew." She confirmed Trump lied about kicking Epstein from Mar-a-Lago. Other files show the relationship continued for years.

#OpDeathEaters #EpsteinCoverup #EpsteinFiles

Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Anna O. Law, Jason Mittell , and 31 more Meredith Broussard, Anna O. Law, Jason Mittell, Amanda Lotz, Mary Bosworth, Nandita Sharma, Margaret Mitchell, Will Jennings, Peter Thorne, Steven French, David Feldman, Martin Tomko, Peter Campbell, Jacob Montgomery, Joseph Schafer, Paul E. Smaldino, Linda Martín Alcoff, Michelle Everson, Melanie C. Green, Michael Zimmer, Stephen D. Murphy, Graham Webster, Juan Moreno‐Cruz, Samantha Brennan, Michael D. McDonald, Jessica Vitak, Woodrow Hartzog, Sam Kamin, Meredith Farkas, Magda Teter, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Evan Roberts, David Neilson, Kevin Grant

WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 4d

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Rep. Delia Ramirez to DHS officials: "I have as much respect for you as I do for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color. I have no respect for the inheritors of the Klanhood and the slave patrol. Those activities were criminal and so are yours."

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 4d

For my Television & American Culture course, I like to bring in a couple of Super Bowl ads to analyze as a class. Looking through them, I found them mostly bland & uninteresting, with not much to say about them.

Then I watched the extended cut of the Instacart bananas ad...

For Papa! | Instacart Big Game Commercial with Ben Stiller and Benson Boone directed by Spike Jonze

YouTube video by Instacart

www.youtube.com

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 5d

We visited the Scotland parliament last year, and they had a big display advocating for LBGTQ+ rights and celebrating some of their laws, so I presume they've done things beyond the UK

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 5d

Are they worse than the US? Scotland is much better than England on this

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 5d

Just reading your comment means that the "Save more money at Menards" jingle will be on mental repeat for a week. Thanks?

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 5d

Because he delivers sufficient optimism to drive stock prices up. That's all that matters to folks in that orbit.

Reposted by Jason Mittell

The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 5d

‘Absolute hell’: Irish man with valid US work permit held by Ice since September

Seamus Culleton has been in a detention facility in Texas for nearly five months despite having no criminal record

www.irishtimes.com

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 6d

A desperate plea sent to me by a Minneapolis resident who's been on the front lines since the beginning of the ICE occupation:

Just a quick update from the Twin Cities. (Please forgive the unsolicited message). THINGS ARE NOT BETTER IN MINNEAPOLIS. The media is mostly moving on, Trump is focused on other stuff, BUT NOTHING HAS CHANGED ON THE GROUND. More than 2,000 DHS thugs continue to roam the streets, abducting people 24/7, assaulting legal observers with impunity, and routinely denying 1st, 4th, and 5th amendment rights. Drones and helicopters are overhead every day. Hundreds and hundreds of terrified families have not left their homes since mid-December ... relying on the community to bring them food and help with rent and other necessities. (Those people are NOT violent drug cartel sex offending murderers, as DHS would tell you. Most are legal residents or citizens.) If anything, things have just become more stressful and intractable (think trench warfare as a suitable metaphor): The resistance is better organized and numerous, but DHS has become more clever and better at disguise... and the county sheriff's office is increasingly supporting them . Do not let anyone tell you that Homans (the new person in charge of the occupation) is making anything better. Do not let anyone tell you that 700 ICE agents leaving the city has made much of a difference; the remaining force (again, ~2,000) is still larger than the entire city's police force (which is legally unable to do anything). Please call your congressional reps ... especially if there is any chance the administration might listen to them.

Reposted by Jason Mittell

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 6d

“There is no one figurehead that’s going to save us from authoritarianism. What I’m seeing every day here is thousands of people finding the way to plug in and do what they can.”

Six vital lessons from Minnesota’s general strike

Minneapolis organizers weigh in on how to make the movement go national.

www.motherjones.com

Jason Mittell @jmittell.bsky.social · 7d

It does seem to mostly cluster in certain fields that have more public-facing or industrial opportunities. Or at least I was fortunate that the superstars in my grad department were actually engaged in teaching and mentorship.

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