- Joined
- Sep 24, 2016
- Messages
- 482
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- 8
This might sound cheesy. I don't care. Troll me all you want. Dogpile me, if you'd like.
After watching The Last Jedi, I've come to realize that our culture is being completely decimated by an increasingly centralized entertainment industry. With the new merger between Fox and Disney, it's only going to get worse.
For those of us who feel let down, we have to start making our own art. We have to take a more active role in shaping this culture, because the corporations who've taken the wheel don't care about anything but profit. There's no quality control. I thought the era of centralized entertainment was over thanks to the internet. I thought the days of Cultural Gatekeepers were over, when mp3s became downloadable so that the radio stations couldn't force me to listen to garbage. The opposite has happened. In a world where everyone can publish anything, where you're inundated with more information every day than you could possibly consume in a lifetime, the only way we can find common cultural artifacts that bring us together, is via large corporate entertainment because they have the loudest voice. We're drowning in a sea of information, and large companies like Disney and... well, pretty much Disney now, are the only light tower guiding us to shore. But it leads to a landfill.
I don't believe that anyone owes me, or anyone else anything. However, there's obviously a demographic for adults who want graphic design incorporated into an adult oriented narrative. I don't mean Deadpool. Not "edgy" in a sh@#joke sense, although that's alright once in a while. As adults, I think it' s safe to say that if you're on this site, we don't want to abandon everything that made our childhood icons great. Some of us obviously want to evolve them, in a way Disney won't accommodate. Instead of just complaining about it, lets solve the problem.
Lets make our own movies. I'm serious. Those of us who, as grown men and women, are spending $300 on an action figure, working jobs we need to escape from to the point where we'll show up to sub-par superhero movies and insulting Star Wars reincarnations... we have the means and the motive. It's time to take back this culture from corporations that are completely out of touch.
You think I'm being grandiose? How many of you have been sculpting custom action figures, selling limited runs of figures for intellectual property you don't own. I'm not complaining... but forget action figures for a while. Sculpt masks, helmets and armor. Create characters you own, and create action figures to promote your own ideas. If you can write, start writing scripts. I know it seems impossible. I mean, you're just you and I'm just me. We're not George Lucas. Forget all that. Forget fame and wealth. Just make art for the sake of having it exist. To have something that doesn't suck. I think those of us with no hope of wealth or fame from the entertainment industry, who work to subsist and have families... we're going to have to make the time to save our culture from the likes of Kathleen Kennedy.
It's been done before. Punk rock was made for dive bars, and crowds of 10 people. It didn't take technical skill or corporate backing to create art that reshaped our culture. It just took passion, and a desire to deviate from the garbage being thrown at people. If you're into hip hop, the same can be said for old school rap. You think NWA knew they'd be successful, while hustling in Compton? When I was a kid in the late 80's I bought their first album, visiting the Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. with my dad. I asked someone who worked there if they could recommend any local groups because I'm from Canada. I made so many cassette copies of that album, it probably got re-recorded 100 times.
Cameras are cheap. Computers are cheap. It won't have the production value of Disney, but we can work around that. We can build a style around our means, low budget, by pooling our resources from all over the world. We should create something for ourselves instead of waiting for the next corporate turd to be thrown at us from above.
Don't have any relevant skills? GOOD. I don't care how old you are, it's not too late. Start learning now. Start sculpting or writing or filming things. Learn, then find people online to work with. Let's show Disney that we, the three chord wonders of pop culture fandom, can overthrow the Prog Rock that is their soulless, elaborate waste of time. Disney is Disco. They're hippies in a world that needs Black Sabbath. If we don't create it, I'm starting to think that no one else will.
This isn't some sort of cheesy manifesto. It's an actual proposal. I want to make art with you. I want you to make art with each other. If you hate The Last Jedi as much as I did, I think it's time to alter our behavior and do something about it. Not fan fiction. Something new, that Disney can't own.
After watching The Last Jedi, I've come to realize that our culture is being completely decimated by an increasingly centralized entertainment industry. With the new merger between Fox and Disney, it's only going to get worse.
For those of us who feel let down, we have to start making our own art. We have to take a more active role in shaping this culture, because the corporations who've taken the wheel don't care about anything but profit. There's no quality control. I thought the era of centralized entertainment was over thanks to the internet. I thought the days of Cultural Gatekeepers were over, when mp3s became downloadable so that the radio stations couldn't force me to listen to garbage. The opposite has happened. In a world where everyone can publish anything, where you're inundated with more information every day than you could possibly consume in a lifetime, the only way we can find common cultural artifacts that bring us together, is via large corporate entertainment because they have the loudest voice. We're drowning in a sea of information, and large companies like Disney and... well, pretty much Disney now, are the only light tower guiding us to shore. But it leads to a landfill.
I don't believe that anyone owes me, or anyone else anything. However, there's obviously a demographic for adults who want graphic design incorporated into an adult oriented narrative. I don't mean Deadpool. Not "edgy" in a sh@#joke sense, although that's alright once in a while. As adults, I think it' s safe to say that if you're on this site, we don't want to abandon everything that made our childhood icons great. Some of us obviously want to evolve them, in a way Disney won't accommodate. Instead of just complaining about it, lets solve the problem.
Lets make our own movies. I'm serious. Those of us who, as grown men and women, are spending $300 on an action figure, working jobs we need to escape from to the point where we'll show up to sub-par superhero movies and insulting Star Wars reincarnations... we have the means and the motive. It's time to take back this culture from corporations that are completely out of touch.
You think I'm being grandiose? How many of you have been sculpting custom action figures, selling limited runs of figures for intellectual property you don't own. I'm not complaining... but forget action figures for a while. Sculpt masks, helmets and armor. Create characters you own, and create action figures to promote your own ideas. If you can write, start writing scripts. I know it seems impossible. I mean, you're just you and I'm just me. We're not George Lucas. Forget all that. Forget fame and wealth. Just make art for the sake of having it exist. To have something that doesn't suck. I think those of us with no hope of wealth or fame from the entertainment industry, who work to subsist and have families... we're going to have to make the time to save our culture from the likes of Kathleen Kennedy.
It's been done before. Punk rock was made for dive bars, and crowds of 10 people. It didn't take technical skill or corporate backing to create art that reshaped our culture. It just took passion, and a desire to deviate from the garbage being thrown at people. If you're into hip hop, the same can be said for old school rap. You think NWA knew they'd be successful, while hustling in Compton? When I was a kid in the late 80's I bought their first album, visiting the Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. with my dad. I asked someone who worked there if they could recommend any local groups because I'm from Canada. I made so many cassette copies of that album, it probably got re-recorded 100 times.
Cameras are cheap. Computers are cheap. It won't have the production value of Disney, but we can work around that. We can build a style around our means, low budget, by pooling our resources from all over the world. We should create something for ourselves instead of waiting for the next corporate turd to be thrown at us from above.
Don't have any relevant skills? GOOD. I don't care how old you are, it's not too late. Start learning now. Start sculpting or writing or filming things. Learn, then find people online to work with. Let's show Disney that we, the three chord wonders of pop culture fandom, can overthrow the Prog Rock that is their soulless, elaborate waste of time. Disney is Disco. They're hippies in a world that needs Black Sabbath. If we don't create it, I'm starting to think that no one else will.
This isn't some sort of cheesy manifesto. It's an actual proposal. I want to make art with you. I want you to make art with each other. If you hate The Last Jedi as much as I did, I think it's time to alter our behavior and do something about it. Not fan fiction. Something new, that Disney can't own.