In light of all of the current remakes in the works on television, and movies, it is like being in the 70's and 80's all over again. I can't remember so many rehashes at one time taking up both the big screen and small. It is hilarious and ridiculous at the same time, and led me to think about original thought, as it pertains to Hollywood, music, and people.
There is a reason why certain things have stood the test of time, whether it be certain music, or musicians, or TV shows or movies that we look back on fondly. They were for the most part good, and even when they weren't good, they were cheesy in a good way because it was done in such a way that had a certain appeal or quirkiness of originality in it. Someone had an idea that was original, and saw that idea to fruition. The end result was something unique, and may not have been completely original, but was built upon the ideas before it, taking bits and pieces, and become a separate idea unto itself. Nothing is completely original because ideas spark ideas, and existing situations create new situations. Things are constantly in crisscross as we not only move forward, but lateral and backwards trying to capture greatness, or just some fraction of what made something great. While that is well and good, and necessary to move things along, there are the blatant rip off artists, and copy cats, with no original thought whatsoever.
It seems lately that whenever something is good, someone has to come and crap all over it, instead of examining why it was good and trying to take the elements to make their own situation good. Hollywood is a perfect example of no original thought anymore as remake after remake come crashing through the screen, and usually the remake is the crappiest thing that could possibly be made because they try to make it applicable to today's idiotic attention span. Well it was good already, and stood the test of time because of the pulse of whatever it caught, and the time that it was done was original and relevant, and continues to be good upon multiple viewings. There was no need to expand upon, or dilute, or change the idea. It was fresh, relevant, and managed to strike chords when it was made. Let it go. How someone actually let this stuff happen is proof that there are no sensibilities of trying to be different in Hollywood, They want to make easy bucks, with good looking people, doing minimalistic thinking. More sex, more explosions, and more special effects is what the tiny mind of Hollywood believes people want.
The music industry is no different, as they go for the most mass produced ear accessible garbage possible, and welcome sampling of other previous music where you have kids today thinking that a sampled song from 30 years ago is brand new. That is why the record industry is irrelevant today, and whomever has original music can click a mouse and be heard. It is wonderful, and hopefully will continue as there are folks out there with original thought processes, and who have taken things that made others great, but have not stolen it. They have taken the elements, and done their own thing with it.
Which brings me to people. There are some folks without an original thinking bone in their body. They spew out and regurgitate whatever they have heard without asking questions of why they would even think this, and go about life agreeing with one person, then agreeing with another on the complete opposite end of the same subject. They take and take, and just continue to copy from people like some office copy machine spitting out the same crap that someone else set a precedent for. It's so easy to do exactly what everyone else is doing. They say that imitation is the highest form a flattery, but at some point you have to become yourself. At some point the remakes and copying has to stop. At some point, an original thought has to pop in to make an appearance.
As I said, great things are great for a reason. Ask why. What is it that appeals to you? What makes it great? What makes it timeless? Examine those elements, and apply them to your own original thought, and idea. Don't be a copy cat slave. Everything that can be done completely new has been done. But there are still ways to make your mark. Find a way.
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