Ever wondered...
Who started wearing fitted caps with the stickers still on them?
Who first decided to eat their fries with cheese and onions like some kind of animal?
Who thought spinning on their head was so cool?
In a tired media driven world, we seem to believe anything new we do is originial. It may be cool and new, but is it true originality? When Avril Lavigne wore a tie when she performed, was she being orginal? Or was her sense of fashion influenced by the society that nutured her? We are the person we are today because of the events and experiences we encountered when growing up in our society. Our society itself influences what we wear, how we talk, how we dance, and more importantly, who we are as a person. So in a way, no matter what we decided to do that is new and differnent, it is not truely original (arising or proceeding independently of anything else), it has some influence by the society.
So who wore red authentic vans first? Who knows? Who cares? If you were the first one, all that means is that you were the first one. You weren't being original. It was bound to happen anyways. Our society brought about that kind of style. If you grew up in an African tribe, you wouldn't wear red vans. You wouldn't think anything close to sneakers. But man... think of it, if you're the first one, you'd be cool. Ha, everyone would laugh at you. Why? Cause that specific society doesn't see that as style. No matter how you like to think of it, you have your style because of your society, or media for that matter.
All in all, orginality is never orginal. It's just misused. But I mean, thats all in my head. I'm sure you have your ideas about the subject. For all I know, I could be completely wrong and stupid. If you think I am, then tell me. And this is all just ideas. Ideas are meant to be challenged. If you have a good rebuttal, then bring it. We will debate. We don't call it argument hour cause it sounds cute.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Argument Hour - Originality
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6 comments:
dont forget about the blue vans too. im digging the line about avril wearing a tie because of her surroundings when she was younger, shows how our minds and trends are influenced. maybe someday the kids that watched power rangers will start wearing colorful tights as a way to rebel. lovely.
Haha, yeah mangs. Too crazy, but this is because nar doesn't believe in originality, he thinks that the world is a response to something else.. huh narskis!
I find that it's more like materialistic resocialization. Commodities don't necessarily serve the functionality others use it. This is completely disseminated throughout our American culture and any other for that matter.
I think there is a such thing as "originality" homie. I know that we are a product of our environment to some extent. And I am well aware that everything that we do is basically a variation of something that someone has already done before because no idea is completely original. I would just say that an "original" person would be the one who normally "zigs when everyone zags." The person who disregards the norm and continues to express themselves despite whatever criticism they may receive. See, original people are never accepted into society because the things that they do are never accepted right away. I like to call it the "Jordan Effect". From my own observations most people have a negative first impressions of the Jordan game shoes that come out every year. But eventually they come around and some actually end up buying the shoe. A particular event that I can remember was when I got my first Jordans, which were the Jordan XIs in the 6th grade. Everyone called me "rain boots" and "shiny shoes" because they just weren't ready to see patent leather on a sneaker. Once appreciation grew for them for their "originality", they became somewhat of a cult classic. I ended up giving the shoes away because the other kids made me feel like they were ugly(product of my environment). My decision still haunts me to this day. That event helped me come to the conclusion that original things are never cool until a certain amount of people catch on. Thats when the trendy people come in. The ones who grab on to it at the right time. The ones who look cool but aren't original at all. They get all the credit for what someone else conceptualized. Another case that would back my point would be Vincent Van Gogh's. When he was alive he couldn't sell one of his paintings to save his life so he just gave them to his brother Theo. Nobody appreciated his "heavy/thick stroke" style until he was dead. So to me, there is a such thing as "original". Its just never cool...until its too late.
I understand where you are coming from vic. Society seems to deny what is different, what may seem strange or werid to them. And I can also understand the concept of when people normally zigs when the original people zag. But lets say you zag. It's different than zigging of course. But if someone sets them self to doing whats differnt than the norm does that not govern the outcome of product? He zigs, so ill zag. How did the idea of zagging come up? Well, it came up by denying zigging. Is it original to do something differnt than the norm? If there wasnt a norm, what would you do thats so different?
And to continue on vincent van gogh's style and patent leather. I can understand your ideas. And I believe in people not being appricated in their time. I mean, it still happens today with new styles and new ideas. Yet society continues to evolve and they appricate differnt things at different times. Have you ever wondered about the artist that didnt make it? Maybe they used blood instead of paint. Sure it was different but it didn't really make it. Society evolved and changed which led to them to apprciate Mr. Goghs art. We dont wear LA Gears now cause they arent that great today. And patent leather wasnt good back then, but now it is. And the reason why soiecty changes is cause humans are never satisfied. They always want something different. Different than what they already have. But differnt doesn't nessesiarly mean original.
But yea, thats just me talking. I dont know what im talking about. But thanks for the debate. It was fun.
I actually meant people expressing themselves not for the sake of being different but for the sake of not having to change who they are in order to fit the social mold. You have a really good point when you say different doesn't necessarily mean original. I totally agree with that. I guess the concept of originality is subjective to the context that you are analyzing with. but yeah man, that was fun. I look forward to future debates.
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