Sing me a new song. Tell me a new tale. Read me some new words.
You really don’t have my attention.
I can’t remember the last time I did a double-take so I could marvel at some creative genius. I haven’t enjoyed a thoughtful, introspective television program since HBO’s ‘Six Feet Under’ ended (alright, The Sopranos was pretty good too, but more on an educational than creative level). I can’t count how many song remakes and remixes I’ve heard on the radio in the last five years – but I know when I hear an electric guitar rocking out a ‘new’ version of Cindy Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ we are in a very bad place.
Call me cynical, call me jaded, but I believe that humanity has bled creativity dry and is now trying to pass off its recycled plasma as ‘the real deal’. In an age where scientists can clone life itself, writers and artists are doing a similar thing – cannibalizing each other’s past creations and infusing them with a slight twist, then pawning them off as ‘better than the original’.
Want to know the real reason behind the Reality TV craze? It’s a lot easier to just tape a lot of people being stupid on their own for entertainment than it is to think and create quality writing. Making fun of people never gets old (come on, you know the best part of ‘American Idol’ is when they show those terrible auditions…); laughing at people who hurt themselves never gets old (I think that’s the ONLY reason America’s Funniest Home Videos survives); and watching other people’s dreams get crushed so you feel better about your own failures is absolutely timeless.
But what about the children? How do they fare while we wade through the shallow pools presented to us? Surely there must be better things for the generations to come!
Well, at the ripe old age of 26, I remember a few things very distinctly – Ninja Turtles, He-Man, Strawberry Shortcake, Speed Racer, Transformers, Ghostbusters, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. I had the shirts. I had the backpacks. I had the puffy scratch-n-sniff stickers. And…wowee-zowee! It seems that I am buying these very same characters on t-shirts and backpacks for the younguns in the family every holiday! Oh yes, Alvin has a hoodie now, and the coloring in the new Ninja Turtles episodes is a lot more vibrant and crisp, but…c’mon. If I was only seeing these things in a Hot Topic, I’d most likely just chalk it all up to the 25-year-old emo kids still living at home desperately clinging to their childhoods.
But we know better.
I am not a creative person. Perhaps it may seem hypocritical for me to be sniping about these things here, since I don’t have the ability to do any better myself. However, my occupation is not creativity – I don’t get paid to have good ideas. I do pay for cable, DVDs, MP3s and books though, and as of late I really question whether or not I am getting my monies worth.
Even more importantly, I question how many of these modern artists have genuine talent or respect for the intelligence of the people paying into them. Perhaps they really don’t need to, because there are enough stupid people in the world with lots of money.
Just watch a reality show.
