Friday, March 12, 2010

The most unoriginal work of originality!


Mankind has been around for a really long time by now. We have been discovering new thing for as long as we have been around, but when will we reach the limit of discovery? This is particularly a problem when it comes to the different forms of entertainment. Is it possible that the day will come when it is impossible to create an original movie, or record an original album, or even make an original video game?

Lets think about music for a little bit here. Music was once just sounds that people made with random objects that were combined to make a performance. Over time instruments were build and played. One day someone created a written language in order to increase the complexity of the music and enabled pieces of music to stand the test of time and age. Fast-forward a few years into the modern age. We now have advanced recording equipment, a vast variety of musical instruments, and many genres of music to choose from. How long until humans hit ever sound possible that is pleasing to the ear? How long until sound synthesizers will be used to their limit and all combination of sounds have used at least once? I feel like we have to be getting pretty close after listening to some of the songs that the masses are declaring as good. A few years ago a new song was released and made the artist known as Soulja Boy a wild sensation. The songs that I have heard quoted most are “Crank That”, and “Yahhh!”. It is interesting how people like it when an unintelligent, malnourished guy who wears clothes that could fit someone who weighs 400 pounds, babbles into a microphone. In his defense, the dance he made up is kind of cool. I must bring up the band Nickleback as well. Here is a band that is popular because they are so unoriginal that people just naturally like them. There is not too much talent in Nickleback, but it doesn’t matter, it is easy to like them because they are so extraordinarily ordinary. I often find that people who are not huge fans of music tend to like these guys. So my point here is that you can’t help but wonder what is next what babbles and unoriginality are wildly popular. How long can artists keep coming up with new, creative ways to keep making sounds that people want to buy?

We can’t forget movies in this line of discussion either or “motion pictures” as they were originally called. I will also include books into this area due to them starting to overlap. People make movies about historic events, the future, parallels of the present and wild fictional stories. So many characters have been created through books and movies you have to wonder when no more new people can be created. We have our heroes, superheroes, their counterparts, depressed people, happy people, crazy people, and everyone in-between. The reason I feel that new ideas in film may one day end is from the high frequency of film remakes. Of course we have the new takes on the old ideas like the classic werewolves versus vampires portrayed in the Twilight series. Never before have we seen a Vampire that glitters in the sun. When it comes down to it, if you study film for a few years you can guess the plot of most films from the opening credits and the trailer. And I imagine one day we will run out of historic events that are interesting enough to put onto the big screen. If I am still around when that day comes I will make a two hour movie of a black screen, and the climax will be in the last 20 seconds when there is a massive bang and matter spawns. Or I guess I can make a movie where a guy is just sitting for a really, really long time, then one day he gets up and says to himself with a deep voice “wow I have been here forever, let me go ahead and make some light. Oh that was kind of cool, lets make some rocks that I can put stuff on so the light shines on them. The ending can be a woman handing a dude an apple.

I’m sure there are infinite amounts of other examples out there. The fact of the matter is I really don’t feel like researching the topic and hopefully I will never develop such a mundane life to want research such a thing

So I think the best question to ask here is; is there a limit to originality?


Questions, Comments, Concerns?


FYI - The picture above this article displays one of the first computer mouses ever made.(As far as I know)

1 comment:

KittyKaburu said...

If you make that movie....you should charge twice the normal amount of admission because people will buy tickets for it. And have Johnny Depp be the guy sitting there for awhile...so he can advertise for it. If wrinkly old johnny depp is in it...it will be famous.