A blanket statement, if I do say so myself. But looking at recent times, I’ve noticed trends of the trends. Of course, old music or film styles or books will fall away while new ones better suited to our tastes as a society emerge. Depending on where you live, what’s popular and what will become popular changes. But one thing is for certain—it will always change.
Or does it?
I’d argue there are many industries that don’t change much. Dystopia, YA, and fantasy are still the most popular genres and if you examine them, they have familiar styles and beats to them. Big budget movies star studded with famous actors take the lead, rehashing things we’ve seen before, whether they’re based off of books or remaking something old. Reality TV still hits the top of the most popular shows and pop remains the most listened to music. Fashion brings back the old time and time again without fail.
None of this is bad and, slowly but surely, we are entering a “new” era in multiple industries because generational likes and dislikes change. We’re told that we as consumers decide the market products. And yet, I’d argue not much is changing in these industries at all. If we as consumers are dictating what sells and what doesn’t, why are most of us barred from ever entering the top levels of these industries? If you do some research, you’ll find that many famous actors, singers, artists, and more come from families that have money or connections. Of course, there’s the odd exception, but it’s a rarity.
So, if you mean to tell me that we decide the market yet we cannot create anything that we like, I wonder how much freedom we are actually given. You see, I believe we’re given choices– not freedom and that’s a huge distinction. These entertainment industries go where they want to go, market what they want to market, and lead us in any direction they please. This is why I believe similar formulas and styles are so prevalent in a lot of bestselling or popular works. Because, at the end of the day, these industries only allow what they want to be published or exposed to the public. The ones that sign you only do so if you follow their rules and so they TELL us what to like. They tell us what to do. They tell us what to regard as art.
…
So what do we do about it?
Here’s the thing: we can’t allow these industries to merely give us choices created by the absolute richest of us. Most of these celebrities or well-off artists are out of touch with our actual realities. And who we are as people! We need to give the market back to the people. Back to us.
Let me ask you: What would you do if you could create absolutely anything in the world? If it could be as strange or weird or odd or different as you desired and it would have a fighting chance and exposure? What would you craft? What would you breathe to life?
What if it could shape our entire culture?
These are questions we need to ask. We need to ask why our trends don’t really have significant change. We need to ask how these industries can best reflect us rather than the other way around.
We need to take our market back. Flood the industries with our most heartfelt, soul infused work. It’s time for trends to change DRASTICALLY. It’s time that our art was created for us and not for fame or fortune or as a means to control others and influence them into buying similar products.
So write what you want to write. Draw your wildest dreams. Film in a way no one has ever done before. Design clothes that have never been worn before. Showcase your individuality. This is the new trend. The new trend is us. We are the generations to accomplish this.
This is a call to action.
It’s commonly believed we can’t change the world, but how can they stop thousands of us?
Do what you love. We are the industry.
As always, these are just my musings.
Gupta