A Measured Look at the Lindsay Ellis Controversy

There’s plenty to suggest it was an honest mistake rather than premeditated malice.

Because social media’s topmost concern is engagement — however positive or negative it may be — expressing oneself unfiltered is a surefire way to break from tentative peace into all-out conflict for what rarely seems in hindsight like very much. It’s what happened to YouTuber Lindsay Ellis last night after she suggested that a great amount of Asian-inspired YA fiction bore great resemblance to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ — the actual statement being actually a lot less clear-cut than you’d otherwise be led to believe — but even after an apology, one admittedly delivered in a less-than-perfect way, the YouTuber decided to cut her losses short and decommissioned her Twitter account for the time being — if precedent is any indication, Lindsay will be back after the kindling beneath her ass ceases to burn, but what led to her departure warrants close examination still.

The ill-fated tweet in question. Courtesy of @grillmasterjet on Twitter.

The underlying critique of many who took issue with Lindsay’s comment was the insinuation that cultural produce coming from Southeast Asian influences — especially what’s targeted at Western audiences outside of traditional anime — is formulaic, often ascribing to the tropes codified in the unlikely success story that was The Last…