Culture today is infected by sameness.
Sameness sells… By buying a vastly similar thing over and over, you are making your masters lazy. They no longer have to be innovative with your chains. If you appear to be content with your bondage they do not have to struggle to keep you in. If people were to stop buying into sameness, much greater possibilities could be reached. Even if they were merely in the culture and entertainment industry. Amazing things would be created, as opposed to just reasonable things. We would walk out of cinema’s every time and be in awe as opposed to once every 5-10 years when something miraculously spectacular is created. The truly spectacular is a rarity not because it has to be but because we remain content with sameness. If we expected a spectacular quality from all our entertainment the industry would have to oblige, but instead we are content with a mere distraction and not a marvel. There is the notion that if everything was amazing nothing would be, this is not so, we are just in a biased position of experiencing constant mediocrity that we believe the awesome has to be rare.
We are all guilty of this in some way. We are content in buying video games that are no longer original, the same story line with small adjustments. Movies that follow the same plot lines just with more effects and different characters. Clothing with a different pocket, or a handbag with a different logo that’s twice the price of one that is exactly the same minus the logo. It is as though everything we consume is the same sculpture with something added, or perhaps something chipped away. We are content with this but we do not have to be, we are slaves to sameness but we accept our fate. We as a society have an attitude of “It is just the way it is.” An outlook of hopelessness, or perhaps mere laziness, we should not be content with constantly being merely entertained. We are content that the art we buy into is part of an industry but we don’t always expect quality. The industries make exorbitant amounts and we feel content with walking out of a cinema and saying “that was good”. After all these are commodities not necessities, shouldn’t we expect more?
Every piece of clothing, music, film or art has a degree of sameness. As artist’s they are expected to rely on inspiration however it is the notion that nothing has been created which is worrying. Merely taking something and rehashing it, and calling it innovative and original is insulting. It’s insulting to the original creator and those who are deceived into believing its authenticity.
Just think about the true authenticity of the distractions you are passionate about. Whether it be clothing, film, television. Is any of it authentic and is it worthy of your patronage?
Does authenticity matter?
Do you feel like a sucker?
I do.
Jacks Philosophy Blog 