Last Thursday was fan-frikken-tastic. I had a mountain of work to do from the holiday break and I got through all of it. Not just some minimal portion, but all of it. I was searching for work to do by the end of the day. (This turned out to be a good thing because Friday and Monday of this week were "insane in the membrane" to quote Cypress Hill... and I did, confessing my child-of-the-90's-ness) Ok. So Last Thursday=awesome.
TODAY!!!
Existential. One of my compatriots broke down and went to see Avatar (bleh) last night. He came in and told me all about how I must go see it. I now... tentatively... agree. I should go see it because from what he says it has already carved a place in the cannon. But! He cautioned me "it gets no points in originality of plot."
The plot, if you could not tell from the trailer is either Pocahontas or Dances With Wolves http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/01/03/james-camerons-pocahontas-avatar/
All of the names in the movie are EXTREMELY FAMILIAR. Avatar as in - do you wanna date my, the last airbender, the thing you find at the top of your screen on your screen on yahoo etc. etc. However, this I can forgive. It makes sense since it is alluding to the fact that the main guy has an avatar of himself that he becomes blah, blah, blah.
Na'Vi - The race of smurf-like, lion faced blue people who evoke the memory of Mystique from X-men....(Rebecca Romijn ftw) Na'Vi, as in Navi, as in "HEY LISTEN". Na'Vi as in Navigation as in moral compass... whatever...
Pandora - The place the Na'Vi live... just... yeah.
He goes on to inform me that a lot of the art in the movie was ripped off of album covers that Roger Dean did for the band "Yes" among other works of art. Other people came to the same conclusion http://blog.signalnoise.com/2010/01/06/avatar-vs-roger-dean/
Now. It got us to talking about originality in art. How everything is a copy of a rip-off of a remake. Nothing is stand out and stand alone.
:: Copied from chat log ::
| Him | someone else came to the same conclusion: http://blog.signalnoise.com/2010/01/06/avatar-vs-roger-dean/ | |
| Me | there is nothing new to be created in the world... everything is a rip off of a rip off of a rip off... *sigh* I may have to go cut myself | |
| Him | well, some of this is true | |
| Him | firefly was pretty original | |
| Me | it was a western in space... which isn't as original as it sounds since we have been calling space "the final frontier" since Start Trek | |
| Me | .... Start Trek... the last original work | |
| Him | yes, but westerns for the most part are rip-offs of japanese samurai films from the 40s | |
| Me | Hmmm. | |
| Him | and star trek is technically a rip-off of morality plays from the midievil period | |
| Him | i can validate your statement about nothing being original, but i don't think that's the case | |
| Me | The original series always reminded me of greek plays... with the big masks. | |
| Him | hell, that too! bamn, you're on it |
So I suppose I have had this conversation before. I can recall having it several times in college. However, I can never pinpoint the moment that can be defined as the last original moment. Innovation began at fire and ended at the wheel. Everything else is an improvement upon that structure. There is nothing new in the universe, there is no point in striving toward new and interesting thoughts, ideas or art.
Then the only reason to create is the need to do things for yourself. To personally learn what can be done with paints and keystrokes. An entirely masturbatory measure.
However since there is no reason to be original since it is impossible then there is no shame in committing act that everything indie in your soul tells you not to do. SO! I can feel free to see Avatar for no other reason than it is a film that should cause me some enjoyment. This also gives me license to listen to Lady Gaga and Basshunter back to back, oh yeah!
Once you are free from the need to be oritional you are free to be yourslef... A copy, of a copy of a copy through eterntity.
1 comment:
I think that the greatest challenge that we, by we I mean us not the cosmic "we", is that we know that we have vision but that it is some how locked away in our minds. We have glances at it through the seemingly impenetrable fence that is lives behind but can never reach out and grasp a large handful. I think one of the most interesting things about us is that when we sit down and talk we always make these glimmers brighter. I think that you and I are people that need to talk with others so that we can bring ideas fully into fruition. This is a problem though when we know that the people that we are talking to are not on the same page, so we spend countless hours cultivating that correctness only to have it collapse under the weight of the leer-jet effect. So the only reason why anything can be original these days, it adaptation. People get points for being able to adapt, which frankly pisses me off because sometimes saying no and being an asshole is what a person really should do.
There is no need for you to not listen to Lady Gaga and Basshunter back to back, you are a multi genre and faceted human being. Tragically that sucks often because you are more open and then get shat on for it.
Ah yes the ripe smell of Emo Thursday.
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