Tears, Joy, and Expressions: A New Book on Emojis—Illustrated Yet Imperfect

Face with Tears of Joy
Keith Houston (WW Norton)

If a picture can convey a thousand words, what role does an emoji play in our evolving vocabulary? In Face with Tears of Joy: The Natural History of Emojis, Keith Houston delves into the intriguing tales behind these peculiar symbols and explores how they have become a staple in our everyday conversations.

An understanding of their origins and dominance in our communication is essential. Houston navigates through the early days, uncovering insights that trace their lineage back a decade earlier than the commonly accepted timeline.

It’s an astute investigation. By extending the emoji lineage to specifics of niche Japanese tech from the 1980s, Houston offers new perspectives, suggesting a timeline closer to the millennium than previously recognized.

Clearly, the work is well-researched, evident from Houston’s review of the intricacies during various subcommittees of the Unicode Consortium.

What makes emojis such a significant cultural phenomenon? While Houston lays out a timeline of these images, he grapples with larger philosophical questions about how countless interpretations of commonly used images converge into a shared societal and cultural understanding.

One notable section shares how Facebook users reacted to a video of the 2017 terrorist attacks on London’s Westminster Bridge. When users sought to respond, the platform defaulted to just one of six emojis, none of which seemed particularly appropriate. Houston’s observations here are profoundly insightful.

Unfortunately, throughout the book, Houston veers away from delving into such enriching insights and experiments. He also fails to delve deeply into a Unicode meeting discussion over the merits of adding emojis like tacos and other popular items to countless smartphones globally. Instead, we get a list-style overview of events as they occurred.

This chronological format holds significance, but it’s also replicated in a roughly twelve-page timeline at the book’s conclusion. I found myself reading the bullet points and questioning if I could’ve learned just as much about the emojis and their history without perusing the preceding 180 pages.

That’s unfortunate. Houston contends that emojis warrant thorough and thoughtful exploration, and their cultural ramifications should be taken seriously. It’s unclear why specific details are highlighted while others are overlooked. For instance, he mentions presenting users with images of reality TV stars displaying various emotions related to Kim Kardashian’s 2015 Kimoji app in media reports but cites a staggering figure of 9,000 downloads per millisecond at its peak, countering reality with 9,000 downloads per second. What relevance does this bear beyond mere anecdote?

Nevertheless, there are engaging pieces and illuminating insights about this relatively new mode of communication. Houston reveals stories about early typewriter artists who ingeniously transformed keystrokes into beautiful representations, setting the stage for contemporary emojis.

Overall, Face with Tears of Joy is an in-depth and often enlightening read. However, I frequently felt it was padded with content that could’ve been far more meaningfully enriched with analyses exploring the “why” and “what” behind emoji usage over the last two decades.

Ultimately, Houston’s work serves as a valuable starting point for dissecting the cultural significance of emojis. I look forward to future explorations on this topic.

Chris Stokell Walker is a technology writer based in Newcastle, UK

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