It seems that every era before now, has had its own unique sense of style, creativity and originality. In art and design, the way we dress, the music we listen to and pretty much everything else. As time has progressed the eras of style have become shorter and shorter. For the last century, each era of style has averaged only a decade in length. The 1950’s were different to the sixties which were different to the 70’s and so on. And let’s not even talk about what went wrong with the style in the 80’s (at least it was original.) The fact is that each of these era’s of style have had their own unique look, feel and sound, that are very identifiable as belonging to that particular era.
So what has gone wrong in the naughties, this first decade of the new millennium?
It seems today that everywhere you look there are old styles being rehashed. People are wearing a mix of clothes that are based on styles from at least the last five eras, possibly more. It seems that every movie at the cinema and every song in the charts is a remake of an old one. There is very little that is new.
So where has all the originality gone? Everything has become so bland, as passion, creativity and originality, seem to be fading into obscurity.
Even food hasn’t escaped the nothingness that is consuming our culture. I can’t remember the last time I tasted real bread, made by a real baker. Most of the bakeries these days get their pre-mixed bags delivered so that all they have to do is add water and bake. Basically you’re getting the same bread at almost every bakery in the country.
The supermarkets all seem to stock the same stuff. Two minute noodles, microwave pizzas, cold meats… All of them designed to have just enough flavor to be edible to people with a palette for rich foods, while not offending those who actually enjoy blandness. Designed for the biggest consumer base, instead of really working to satisfy one niche group.
It seems we have left our identities, our passion, our very souls, way back in the twentieth century.
There is, of course, a reason that this has happened. And that is the pursuit of money. Greed to be more specific. Almost everything these days has become controlled by the banker’s, the corporate CEO’s, the lawyers and the accountants. The problem is that they are telling the creatives (the artists, designers, musicians, writers, architects, food creators, etc) what to do.
So why is this a bad thing? I’m the first to admit that us artistic types, can often achieve very little of use, when left to our own devices. It’s often a good thing to have someone to manage and give direction. The problem lies with the greed factor.
These corporatey types are so scared of not making money, or worse yet, loosing it, that they no longer want to take the risk of trying new things. They want to be assured of making a profit. So they look into the past to see what worked and then tell the creatives to remake it. Surely if it worked once it’ll work again.
The thing is, it usually does. There are new generations growing up, who were not around to see the clothes or hear the music or watch the film the first time it around. To them it is new and exciting.
So what then is the problem?
Well, if we continue down this path we could eventually, just breed the artisans out of our world. The creatives would be considered those who can take something old and repackage it. There will be no room for original, passionate, free thinking expression. As I’m sure Billy Connolly would put it “We’ll be living in a beige world.”
This is a world that I for one, have no desire to be part of. If I can end with one small bit of advise, or maybe a request, to all who may read this. Find your passion, express your thoughts, seek out originality and help keep our world, one of fresh, vibrant colours.
