Monday, August 27, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Why Entertainment Sucks
Now, I don't mean ALL forms of entertainment. I'm mostly talking about what's referred to as "mainstream".
SHUT UP; I AM NOT A HIPSTER.
Well, maybe a little bit ?
I'm sure that, at some point in the recent past, you've complained about how the content quality of popular music/Tv/literature has decreased, since we were younger. Or, you may complain that one of your favourite artists (*cough* anyone in Young Money *cough*) have fallen off, since their earlier days. They "sold out", as it were. Now, we all know that nostalgia plays a HUGE part in this; everything seemed more awesome when we were kids, because we didn't know that things weren't awesome. (For example, I just re-watched Monster Rancher. Significantly less awesome than 10-year-old me led me to believe.) But, can it really be ALL nostalgia ? Are we ALREADY that old man sitting on his porch, complaining about kids and their loud music, and their baggy pants, and their crazy hair, and their... *falls asleep*
I say thee, NAY.
I've realized that mainstream entertainment IS, in fact, DUMBER.
Think about it; cartoons are less witty and subtle, popular music is easy to write and follows an extremely generic structure, you can predict the discourse of almost any movie once you've seen the trailer and the first 10 minutes, and even popular dances have been simplified from challenging things like Krump and Crip-walking to the Dougie. (Now, I'm not hating on the Dougie; I love it, but you KNOW it's not as hard as the Harlem Shake.)Yes, indeed; our entertainment culture has seemingly gone soft. Even artists who were one way five years ago are completely different today. And by "different" I mean "kinda lame, in comparison". It would seem that they exchange skill for fame. We tend to call this trade-offselling out. The gravest of artistic sins.
But WHY ?! Why would you throw your career away ?
Guess what, guys: it's OUR fault. We, as a society, make selling out the terrible thing that it is. "Shut your dirty mouth," you say, "I would NEVER tell my favourite artists to sell out. I loved their old stuff." Well calm down, my unreasonable friend; because it's true. We, the consumers, consume crappy stuff. This tells the producers of the things that we consume that, hey, we like crappy stuff. As a result, they tell our favourite artists "Hey, make some more crappy stuff. The mainstream viewers love it." And we DO. Not actively, but passively. We accept the crappy stuff, so it continues.
TL;DR: WE make selling out a bad thing by not demanding higher quality from the mainstream.
Moreover, as a society, we've moved from wanting to be smart to wanting to feel smart. This is where the you find real problem. We in Western society don't care if we're actually smart, as long as there are enough stupid people to whom we can feel superior.
Think About It:instead of watching... Let's say... Jeopardy, we (as a general populous)watch... Let's say... Jersey Shore. Do we envy the cast of Jersey Shore ? Do we look up to them ? Absolutely not. We watch shows with stupid people so we can go: "WOW, there're some STUPID people out there. I feel smart, by comparison." Shows with smart people will give the exact opposite feeling: "Wow, look how much these people know; I should better myself." That, while definitely the better thought, is depressing to think. We're lazy. Why work to feel smart, answering every other question on Jeopardy, when you can laugh at Snooki stumbling around a drunk mess ? This train of thought is why entertainment isn't mentally stimulating. We're enabling it, because it enables us.
So, next time you see an artist you like not perform at his or her best, say "Hey, I'm sorry that you had to dumb yourself down to make it in the mainstream, and actually have money; it's our fault, not yours."
Artists, we're sorry. Tv, we're sorry. Please forgive us, and go back to not sucking.
Peace In, Peace Out.
SHUT UP; I AM NOT A HIPSTER.
Well, maybe a little bit ?
I'm sure that, at some point in the recent past, you've complained about how the content quality of popular music/Tv/literature has decreased, since we were younger. Or, you may complain that one of your favourite artists (*cough* anyone in Young Money *cough*) have fallen off, since their earlier days. They "sold out", as it were. Now, we all know that nostalgia plays a HUGE part in this; everything seemed more awesome when we were kids, because we didn't know that things weren't awesome. (For example, I just re-watched Monster Rancher. Significantly less awesome than 10-year-old me led me to believe.) But, can it really be ALL nostalgia ? Are we ALREADY that old man sitting on his porch, complaining about kids and their loud music, and their baggy pants, and their crazy hair, and their... *falls asleep*
I say thee, NAY.
I've realized that mainstream entertainment IS, in fact, DUMBER.
Think about it; cartoons are less witty and subtle, popular music is easy to write and follows an extremely generic structure, you can predict the discourse of almost any movie once you've seen the trailer and the first 10 minutes, and even popular dances have been simplified from challenging things like Krump and Crip-walking to the Dougie. (Now, I'm not hating on the Dougie; I love it, but you KNOW it's not as hard as the Harlem Shake.)Yes, indeed; our entertainment culture has seemingly gone soft. Even artists who were one way five years ago are completely different today. And by "different" I mean "kinda lame, in comparison". It would seem that they exchange skill for fame. We tend to call this trade-off
But WHY ?! Why would you throw your career away ?
Guess what, guys: it's OUR fault. We, as a society, make selling out the terrible thing that it is. "Shut your dirty mouth," you say, "I would NEVER tell my favourite artists to sell out. I loved their old stuff." Well calm down, my unreasonable friend; because it's true. We, the consumers, consume crappy stuff. This tells the producers of the things that we consume that, hey, we like crappy stuff. As a result, they tell our favourite artists "Hey, make some more crappy stuff. The mainstream viewers love it." And we DO. Not actively, but passively. We accept the crappy stuff, so it continues.
TL;DR: WE make selling out a bad thing by not demanding higher quality from the mainstream.
Moreover, as a society, we've moved from wanting to be smart to wanting to feel smart. This is where the you find real problem. We in Western society don't care if we're actually smart, as long as there are enough stupid people to whom we can feel superior.
Think About It:instead of watching... Let's say... Jeopardy, we (as a general populous)watch... Let's say... Jersey Shore. Do we envy the cast of Jersey Shore ? Do we look up to them ? Absolutely not. We watch shows with stupid people so we can go: "WOW, there're some STUPID people out there. I feel smart, by comparison." Shows with smart people will give the exact opposite feeling: "Wow, look how much these people know; I should better myself." That, while definitely the better thought, is depressing to think. We're lazy. Why work to feel smart, answering every other question on Jeopardy, when you can laugh at Snooki stumbling around a drunk mess ? This train of thought is why entertainment isn't mentally stimulating. We're enabling it, because it enables us.
So, next time you see an artist you like not perform at his or her best, say "Hey, I'm sorry that you had to dumb yourself down to make it in the mainstream, and actually have money; it's our fault, not yours."
Artists, we're sorry. Tv, we're sorry. Please forgive us, and go back to not sucking.
Peace In, Peace Out.
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