On Uncreativity...
Creative Juices, you vex me...
It is my responsibility to write for this blog a minor column/thought/quip/whatever it may be every Thursday. So naturally, it is time for my first post, and I've got nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. You get the rub.
But as I've been tapping the vast expanses of my brain, I've realized that this is not just a problem for me, but also for the rest of culture as well. Uncreativity is rampant. Entertainment, sports, media, you name, they've got it. And I'm not sure what the cure is.
Let's look at a couple of examples.
1. CNNsi.com is starting to appear that aside from news items, they are incapable of generating any content unless it comes in list form (and yes, I realize that I am presenting examples in list form...I told you uncreativity is rampant). Whenever major themes hit a sport, they generate a list for it, and it's rather annoying. I've seen the 10 best hairdos in pro sports history, the 25 worst draft picks ever. I'm just waiting for the "Our 10 stupidest, most irrelevant lists ever" list.
2. Reality TV. That's a no-brainer. It wasn't really all that creative in the first place. But then they stick us with Deal or No Deal, which may or may not be a new low in television history. The premise of the game is that there are a number of cases that have been numbered and randomly inserted with dollar values up to $1 million. A person draws one case that they hold as their own, and then starts opening the other cases eliminating dollar values as they go. At strategic points during the game, a "banker" makes them an offer of a value less than $1 million to try to recoup his "losses". At any point during this, you can accept his deal rather than eliminate all of the cases and take the value of your case. You probably already know this, because the show is immensely popular. I have described it to emphasize that it takes no skill whatsoever. None. And I'm hooked.
3. News. I don't know how many times I've seen a story (that is one of those puff pieces, and not an actual news event), that at some point in time is run on the other networks with a slightly different angle. I have no examples here. Sorry.
You get the drift. What do we do about it? I don't know. We could probably read more. Maybe we could all write haikus together or something. All I know is that I've managed to get a post out of this, and now I'm off to watch Deal or No Deal and read my sports on CNNsi.
5 comments:
How about the plethora of movies lately that are remakes? Ocean's 11, Dick & Jane, War of the Worlds, Kong, etc.
Dick & Jane was a remake? Wasn't aware of that. There's also the fact that movies are really just re-hashes of other ideas. Prime example is The Wild after Madagascaar along with Ants and Bug's Life.
I was going to take the whole movie angle, but part of the reason you re-make a movie is because you either want to see what it would be like with new actors, or with new technology, or both. Some movies, it's clear they just needed something to do with their time, but part of the nature of acting is basically re-creating something somebody has already done, which is one reason why Shakespeare remains so popular. Different actors bring different things to the table for the same role (Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale = Batman).
The order of Batman Excellence:
1. Christian Bale
2. Val Kilmer
3. Adam West
4. Michael Keaton
5. George Clooney
Couple of things:
1. Gudy - you're nuts. As much as I love Val Kilmer as an actor, there's no way he was better in the role than Keaton. Remember, you have to be able to pull off both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Kilmer could do Batman. Keaton could do both the eccetricity of Wayne along with the dark and brooding Batman.
2. Christian Bale: I have a hard time with him in the role, because it seemed like whenever he was Batman, he was pushing his lips out trying to do a duck face or something. Other than that, I liked him and he would be in the running for me of having been the best in the role along with Keaton.
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