Death of the Western Icon
Rollout
Lore
Micros
Scripture
Bio
Authenticity, Intention, and Meaning.
In my last article, I talked about how monoculture was merely a label to depict the trend in consumerism throughout the late 20th century—I want to expand on this.
During the “Golden Age of Hollywood”, simply creating a film with a good story would bring you large amounts of success in the industry. This was due to the technological (quality) expanse in the practice of film itself. Even throughout the 70’s when music supposedly “peaked”, you could make it as an artist by creating good music—there was no surreal intention needed to cultivate the attention of the masses.
Fast forward to now; we’ve exhausted all technical possibilities.
All the music we could make has been made. All the film we could make has been made. All the clothes we could make has been made.
What is there left for us to do? If we cannot create anything technically new, than how can we move forward? I like to look at it like this…
How many times have you said “hey how’s it going?” to someone at work, at the gym, or in any corner of the universe—probably more than you can count. Now how many of times did it lead to a memorable conversation—not that many.
To the few that you can recall—what made them memorable? Why are they ingrained into you?
The answer: it was personable.
You could ask the exact same question (the technical) to every single person on Earth, but not every answer will be memorable—why? Authenticity.
This logic applies to art.
When Timothée Chalamet said he was “in the pursuit of greatness”, I resonated with that. In all honesty, there are better actors than Timothée Chalamet, and to be real, I wasn’t a huge fan of Marty Supreme, but no matter of the technicality, I adore the film anyways because of Timothée Chalamet’s spoken word revealing his deeper intentions behind acting and being a figure in the media.
Another prime example of this is The Hellp. At first, I thought their music was weird and far from what culture needed, but as I tuned into their interviews, and watched Noah Dillons lectures, I realized they were elevating culture in ways most will remain oblivious to.
This idea applies to Kurt Cobain as well. Truthfully, I don’t listen to Nirvana, but Kurt Cobain—his ideals and perspectives shaped me as a human, and for that, there is love.
In summary; 100 years ago, creating art was authentic because the technology was NEW—technical production was authenticity itself. There was no need to give speeches about world views and ideologies—you were loved for simply creating art.
Now, the art on it’s own is not enough. Yes, there is still room to technically progress further, but in a digital landscape where a material monoculture no longer exists, conformation to genre/medium will do you more harm than good.