Maybe this is too meta...
Perhaps the only thing more meta than writing about the process of writing is talking about how meta that process can be.
I'm part of a generation of consumers who are often drawn to the stripped down, talk-about-the-process style of entertainment. Many of us watch comedies like The Office or Parks & Rec primarily for the half cringe, half relatability of interviews with fictional characters. My generation loves YouTube because of its accessibility to everyone; any person or group can shoot and upload a video. We often gravitate towards shows like How It Should Have Ended or Honest Trailers because we want to see the art we love (or love to hate) dissected by sarcastic voice over personalities.
Accessibility: the name of the game. This isn't going to be a think piece about how the millennial generation isn't sticking around for the blockbuster hits and would rather sit at home and watch Netflix. While the latter does fit the theme of easy access, I would argue my generation loves a good Universal Pictures drama just as much as our parents do. Likely, we tend to split our time between the meta and the polished in order to find the balance to put into our own art.
That's the thing, isn't it? With the expansion of affordable technology, portable technology, comes the desire to make our own art without moving to Hollywood or Nashville. Sure, some of us go there, but many of us stay in our small towns and cities, working full time desk jobs or service industry positions while carving free time out of our packed schedules to produce something that brings us joy or brings tears to our eyes. We want to educate each other, to entertain each other, to expand our peers' experiences in life through art. And it isn't going to usually look like the art student living in a tiny New York apartment with five other people. It's often going to end up being the quiet collaborations between friends that 20 people watch or the small but enthusiastic audience at a poetry reading in the local coffee shop.
We love the meta because it reflects our own struggles in life and in our efforts to make the polished happen. It isn't the only path we aspire to follow, it's just the closest fork on the way to finding the main road.
***
And with that, I am off to eat frozen pizza and watch a late 80s Harrison Ford movie. See you next week, kids.
I'm part of a generation of consumers who are often drawn to the stripped down, talk-about-the-process style of entertainment. Many of us watch comedies like The Office or Parks & Rec primarily for the half cringe, half relatability of interviews with fictional characters. My generation loves YouTube because of its accessibility to everyone; any person or group can shoot and upload a video. We often gravitate towards shows like How It Should Have Ended or Honest Trailers because we want to see the art we love (or love to hate) dissected by sarcastic voice over personalities.
Accessibility: the name of the game. This isn't going to be a think piece about how the millennial generation isn't sticking around for the blockbuster hits and would rather sit at home and watch Netflix. While the latter does fit the theme of easy access, I would argue my generation loves a good Universal Pictures drama just as much as our parents do. Likely, we tend to split our time between the meta and the polished in order to find the balance to put into our own art.
That's the thing, isn't it? With the expansion of affordable technology, portable technology, comes the desire to make our own art without moving to Hollywood or Nashville. Sure, some of us go there, but many of us stay in our small towns and cities, working full time desk jobs or service industry positions while carving free time out of our packed schedules to produce something that brings us joy or brings tears to our eyes. We want to educate each other, to entertain each other, to expand our peers' experiences in life through art. And it isn't going to usually look like the art student living in a tiny New York apartment with five other people. It's often going to end up being the quiet collaborations between friends that 20 people watch or the small but enthusiastic audience at a poetry reading in the local coffee shop.
We love the meta because it reflects our own struggles in life and in our efforts to make the polished happen. It isn't the only path we aspire to follow, it's just the closest fork on the way to finding the main road.
***
And with that, I am off to eat frozen pizza and watch a late 80s Harrison Ford movie. See you next week, kids.
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