rocket-propelled-shark

Rocketing his way into your heart.

Another funny internet artist



xinjinmeng
@xinjinmeng

I still need a better word for "art that forgoes the long-term benefits of the collective or group for material gain".

The word sell-out implies that the creator is compromising their personal values. But not everyone who makes that kind of art is compromising their personal values. Some people were just terrible to begin with. Tommy Wiseau, Neil Breen et al. being "outsiders" doesn't automatically make them different from insiders who also make art about getting everything they want and being right about things all the time.

And some other people don't have a values system that is compromised in any way by doing this. Like, somehow, "Sonic" isn't a brand but something that belongs "to the people". Brands have value to their audiences, and that value can be personal. But if it's just the imagery being co-opted, then it's just a cash-in. If it's the themes being investigated, then these could be original characters - or at least ersatz - and then the art could be standing on its own feet. The Shooter Directive - "every comic is someone's first comic" - can be applied to all things. What was Mario's face before he was born?

I can't feel bad when someone makes a fan-game, using re-purposed assets from Zelda or Metroid or whatnot, and then gets a cease-and-desist letter. The only reason these fan-games show up on our radar is because they use re-purposed assets. And too many times, one of these fan-games flips out their re-purposed assets for their own, riding that wave to popularity. It sends the message that this blatant signaling will be rewarded, more than attempts at originality.

And as the abyss of LLM looms ever closer, we need to be asking what we want from our art.


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @xinjinmeng's post: