it's sunday, I'll now talk about art
So just now I stumbled across this link: Paul Gross doesn't even bother to attend Genies. I found this poignant for a lot of reasons. (The Genies are the Canadian version of the Oscars.)
In Canada there's a lot of effort put into the home grown industry. A big part of that focuses on the "brain drain"--which is losing talent to the American market. So you have a system that focuses on art vs commodity and at the same time there's a tension there because it is actually acknowledged that one has to make material like television that's mostly filler. Like in all smaller markets, there's a perennial discussion about how to get Canadians to consume Canadian material (Cancon). It's not always easy.
This sets up a very different mentality than in the American scene. There's a lot of emphasis put on artistic vision, for example. David Cronenberg is Canadian, btw. All the other people similar to him I could name, you won't know unless you're Canadian or you have a Canada fetish. However, I bet you know Norman Jewison, Seth Rogan, and James Cameron.
On the flipside of that artist mentality you have someone like Paul Gross who has relentlessly worked to make "accessible" media his entire career. Him being in LA and not bothering to attend the Genies is LOL worthy in a major way. His damned film swept the awards, and he's probably negotiating to make "Wally the Walrus" or something ridiculous in the American market. That is to say, Paul Gross is very American. Maybe it's because he's from Alberta, I don't know. (This is a Canadian stereotype, Americans and other non-Canadians.)
These issues are always at the forefront of my mind for a lot of obvious reasons. One that is not so obvious is that I have someone in my life who is of this "art for its own sake" mentality and we're constantly running into fundamental loggerheads over such things are marketability and why one needs to, say, make a movie about nihilism and the bleakness of existence when one could be writing Wally the Walrus. Regular readers: the is ME arguing for Wally the Walrus. I know that's a bit confusing as the themes you see here are often not very cheerful, but that's sort of my point. I write fanfic as a way of having absolute creative control where I don't have to write to the dictates of the market or live up to reader/consumer expectations. I think when you attempt to be a professional then you're writing to an audience who (theoretically) paid to consume your material and you have to keep that in mind.
This (I am told often) makes me stereotypically American. Maybe it does. I think it makes me practical. Wally the Walrus will buy you a house in the Hills, "How I Killed My Inner Light" might get you on the festival circuit, but do you want to hang out with those people anyway?
Maybe if I had been in any other field than philosophy I'd have more tolerance for people talking about "art." I got enough of that over beer at 2 am in in cafes I don't need to do it at cocktail parties with some guy in distressed jeans and a $300 haircut.
Anyway, sometimes I take it for granted that people know exactly the same things as I do. Yesterday I discovered that this concept of fostering an indigenous media market in non-American markets was not universally known. To some extent, I've found that there's a certain social stigma heaped on people who actually desire to sell their material outside of the Canadian market. It's a shaming effect. What, you plan to leave? Oooooooohhhhhh. That's actually quite natural when the government and private foundations have spent so much time, money, and effort encouraging people to stay. So anyone who leaves is seen as mercenary and a sell out, while staying and living on subsistence wages is considered noble and desirable. This is a normal trope in the arts and has been around probably since someone called the writer of Gilgamesh a sell out for putting in all that violence and making the text so easy for consumers.
What is one to do with this catch 22? Nothing. This is just the way this system works. One has to decide what one finds the most important--the "respect" of your peers (keeping in mind they're poaching your ideas and fucking your girlfriend behind your back) or a pay check. This is a piece of rhetoric and my views are clear throughout this text.
And I don't even LIKE Paul Gross! (And the reason that his film won all those awards is probably because of the script--which is so typically small market, anti-American storytelling. So TRIUMPH, Paul, I offer you the proper lauding for that, you beat them at their own game.)
In Canada there's a lot of effort put into the home grown industry. A big part of that focuses on the "brain drain"--which is losing talent to the American market. So you have a system that focuses on art vs commodity and at the same time there's a tension there because it is actually acknowledged that one has to make material like television that's mostly filler. Like in all smaller markets, there's a perennial discussion about how to get Canadians to consume Canadian material (Cancon). It's not always easy.
This sets up a very different mentality than in the American scene. There's a lot of emphasis put on artistic vision, for example. David Cronenberg is Canadian, btw. All the other people similar to him I could name, you won't know unless you're Canadian or you have a Canada fetish. However, I bet you know Norman Jewison, Seth Rogan, and James Cameron.
On the flipside of that artist mentality you have someone like Paul Gross who has relentlessly worked to make "accessible" media his entire career. Him being in LA and not bothering to attend the Genies is LOL worthy in a major way. His damned film swept the awards, and he's probably negotiating to make "Wally the Walrus" or something ridiculous in the American market. That is to say, Paul Gross is very American. Maybe it's because he's from Alberta, I don't know. (This is a Canadian stereotype, Americans and other non-Canadians.)
These issues are always at the forefront of my mind for a lot of obvious reasons. One that is not so obvious is that I have someone in my life who is of this "art for its own sake" mentality and we're constantly running into fundamental loggerheads over such things are marketability and why one needs to, say, make a movie about nihilism and the bleakness of existence when one could be writing Wally the Walrus. Regular readers: the is ME arguing for Wally the Walrus. I know that's a bit confusing as the themes you see here are often not very cheerful, but that's sort of my point. I write fanfic as a way of having absolute creative control where I don't have to write to the dictates of the market or live up to reader/consumer expectations. I think when you attempt to be a professional then you're writing to an audience who (theoretically) paid to consume your material and you have to keep that in mind.
This (I am told often) makes me stereotypically American. Maybe it does. I think it makes me practical. Wally the Walrus will buy you a house in the Hills, "How I Killed My Inner Light" might get you on the festival circuit, but do you want to hang out with those people anyway?
Maybe if I had been in any other field than philosophy I'd have more tolerance for people talking about "art." I got enough of that over beer at 2 am in in cafes I don't need to do it at cocktail parties with some guy in distressed jeans and a $300 haircut.
Anyway, sometimes I take it for granted that people know exactly the same things as I do. Yesterday I discovered that this concept of fostering an indigenous media market in non-American markets was not universally known. To some extent, I've found that there's a certain social stigma heaped on people who actually desire to sell their material outside of the Canadian market. It's a shaming effect. What, you plan to leave? Oooooooohhhhhh. That's actually quite natural when the government and private foundations have spent so much time, money, and effort encouraging people to stay. So anyone who leaves is seen as mercenary and a sell out, while staying and living on subsistence wages is considered noble and desirable. This is a normal trope in the arts and has been around probably since someone called the writer of Gilgamesh a sell out for putting in all that violence and making the text so easy for consumers.
What is one to do with this catch 22? Nothing. This is just the way this system works. One has to decide what one finds the most important--the "respect" of your peers (keeping in mind they're poaching your ideas and fucking your girlfriend behind your back) or a pay check. This is a piece of rhetoric and my views are clear throughout this text.
And I don't even LIKE Paul Gross! (And the reason that his film won all those awards is probably because of the script--which is so typically small market, anti-American storytelling. So TRIUMPH, Paul, I offer you the proper lauding for that, you beat them at their own game.)