![]() ![]() I am guilty of entering a bookstore and purchasing titles - mindless of their cost - that I think I should read. Belonging to a class altogether different from goods like purses and shoes, books seem like a wholesome investment, promising the return of self-improvement. It is easy to divest their identity as a product from their function as a tool of learning and knowledge. We may wax poetic for the delicious materiality of feather soft pages, crumbly covers and inky text, but books are still objects they are goods for purchase in a capitalist economy. But I still wonder how we ought to judge the reign of Zoom bookshelf backgrounds. This pattern might appear benign, and perhaps it is less problematic than broadcasting in front of more garish displays of wealth and power. In a time of virtual connectivity, the consensus among intellectuals, experts, politicians and entertainers is such: to look smart is to appear in front of rows, stacks, sometimes whole libraries of books. It just seems like all smart people broadcasting from their home bunkers have decided that books are their ideal setting. It’s not that the account selectively comments on Zoom backgrounds with bookshelves, as one might be led to assume. Spend a minute scrolling through Room Rater and you’ll see that most of the featured backgrounds contain some kind of printed, bound and displayed literature. ![]() Library, books, bookcase - the pattern is inescapable. ![]() The tweets are undeniably funny, drawing humor from the bizarre shared reality of coronavirus pandemic daily life, but they are also pointing to something else in our culture, something that is perhaps deeper and more consequential than a 280-character review. The Twitter account Room Rater releases upwards of 20 Zoom background reviews every day, commenting on the home spaces from which newscasters and specialists broadcast on live television. ![]()
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