Emojis are such a standard part of our text communications, it's hard to believe they've existed for less than 25 years. We can choose from thousands of emojis with the click of a button, but how many of us have given thought to how these emoji came to be on our screens? The Emoji Story provides interesting insight into the process of emoji creation and regulation, as well as the ever-evolving nature of this new linguistic phenomenon.
Contrary to its name, Directors Cheney and Shane's documentary is less the story of the emoji itself and more the story of the place emoji have in our world today. Over time, emoji usage has evolved from simple expression of emotional state to complex, language-like expression. Our emoji vocabulary has grown, but is it diverse enough for its global users?
The Emoji Story focuses on three potential emojis as their creators go through the process of presenting their ideas for approval to the Unicode Consortium. Each emoji holds social or cultural meaning for its creators who want to be able to fully express themselves in this emergent emoji language.
The most interesting aspect of the film is seeing the inner workings of the Unicode Consortium's emoji approval process. Made up of representatives from the major tech players of the industry, the consortium accepts only 60 emojis per year. This small group of Silicon Valley elites controls the emoji vocabulary available to us all, which could explain some notable emoji gaps. Various skin tones weren't available until 2015, and female emojis other than princess, dancer, and playboy bunny weren't available until 2016.
Although representation is the core issue of the film, it also touches on the history and future of emojis. The Emoji Story fittingly starts and ends with emoji creator Shigetaka Kurita who had the simple vision of emoji providing happiness. His original set contained less than 150 emojis. Now, there are thousands with more added every year. Some worry the set will grow overly large and chaotic, while others think the more emojis there are, the better we can express ourselves. Only time will tell, but one thing is certain – the emoji will surely continue to develop in surprising ways because as Kurita said, they belong to everyone now. Recommended. Aud: C, P.