There seems to be a disturbing lack of care in the world of corporate entertainment — so much so that it’s difficult to find the “art” in any of it these days. After all, art should be creative and uplifting; it should instill a desire to make the world a better place and make us feel kind and compassionate in our interactions with the world.
Shouldn’t it?
Shouldn’t it breathe beauty and peace? Move our bodies and expand our minds and perceptions? I’m not finding much of that around these days.
Maybe art shouldn’t “do” anything, in which case you’re probably satisfied with the world of entertainment that exists now. But even “mindless” entertainment does something. I speak generally because I’m trying to trace a trend that a majority of entertainment on the marketplace contradicts any real creativity and instead operates to pacify the participant. Actually, it abolishes the notion of participation altogether. The entertainment I’m finding is all about being a watcher and a consumer. Instead of basing life around our experiences and immediate surroundings, entertainment becomes the axis around which the world revolves. For example, a television show, a video game, the latest “event” film, keeping up with the latest fashion or latest technology — all of this for the sake of itself and a means to nothing else.
This may very well be satisfying, fulfilling our needs for contentment, meaning and connection among humans. The problem is, it’s like eating a giant chocolate cake for dinner — it may be satisfying on the short term, but ultimately, it’s an incredibly thoughtless act. Likewise, entertainment isn’t about thinking ahead, it’s about immediate gratification for the subject without any thought of the consequences.
For years, we have heard about the “desensitizing” effects of violence in the media. Along with the various statistics of atrocious acts shown on television and other mediums usually comes a slew of naysayers calling for v-chips and censorship. But censorship isn’t the answer. The problem I’m sketching would only become amplified because there is already a great amount of censorship in place using a method best called a “corporate filter.”
This corporate filter operates on the assumption that entertainment thrives on your consumption and pleasure. This is the sole reason why “entertainment” exists — it’s a product. For a given company, consumption of the product equals profit, and in turn, profit equals more product to be consumed. This cyclical process is a devastating one because it usually considers nothing else. Occasionally, something slips through — some idea that might subvert the cycle — but profit always triumphs as the paramount importance for entertainers. Therefore, a slew of marketers, demographers, advertisers and orchestrated production teams are called forth to perpetuate this cycle to the point in entertainment that we’ve now reached. We believe that what’s produced is actually worth something real and meaningful. But it is all a vapid sequel to perpetuate more of the same, the same, the same.
Perhaps I’ve gone too far in saying entertainment isn’t creative. It is quite creative indeed because it remains so successful. However, the basis of this success is destruction. I don’t mean violence and car explosions, but rather destruction of thought and the natural world around us. We don’t see it because this argument sounds tired, or perhaps like an attack on “what we like.” But listen: We’re safely detached, and entertainment helps assist that. Turning a blind eye to the world’s exploitation is easy because we live so comfortably. Again, entertainment helps perpetuate this process.
I could go on, but I’ll let you fill in the specifics of this argument and find these points of exploitation for yourself. But still, the last thing I would want to do would be to put this all on you, the reader. I was once entirely susceptible to the argument I’ve just outlined. I’m just waking up myself and am becoming more aware of how visual images affect my life every day. It’s time to start turning this death cycle around and breathe some life back into art.