Keeping Originality In Perspective

Last post I explored why people are obsessed with originality to dysfunctional degrees.  I noted that there were factors of individuality, a desire to be industrious, a sense of property, a desire for notoriety, and a focus on making a contribution.  All these factors lead to an emphasis on originality in media work in my opinion.  Let me also note that I think all too often originality gets over emphasized.

Yes, in short I am saying that people and groups and cultures can take an emphasis on originality too far.  That may sound strange, but an obsession with something good does not mean one puts it into practice properly.  I feel fear of unoriginality crushes people's creativity, destroying the very thing they're seeking.

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The Originality Trap: Why We Fear Unoriginality

Last week I noted that originality didn't always sell for entirely understandable reasons.  This reason was the simple fact that humans socialize via their media choices and interests, and originality did not necessarily play into that.  Sometimes originality produced social bonding, sometime common and derived media did, but the originality's importance was not in its existence, but what it meant for social connection.  Originality just is not as vital as we may think for people's choices, nor is not chosing something original a personal failing.

As I examined the issue of originality I began to wonder why so often creative people obsess over originality.  Why do we fear being unoriginal?  Why do we fear ideas we have are derivative?  Why does the fear of unoriginality cripple some (I'm sure we've ll been there or known someone who has been).  It was worth analyzing.

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Why Originality – and Unoriginality – May Not Matter To Media Success

(Tamara had a great post last week on the paradox of originality versus people seeking original works.  Spinning off from that, I think I've got a bead on why originality is sometimes rewarded in media – and as well why sometimes stunning unoriginality is not).

Are you getting tired of vampires?

I've been tired of vampire fiction, movies, what have you for quite awhile.  i've seen it all, heard it all, and by now I have nearly no interest whatsoever in the whole vampire genre and its spawn.  I started getting tired of it around Anne Rice's heyday, and most young people reading "Twilight" today probably think Anne Rice is a cajun dish.

I can't be the only one tired of vampires in every media known to man.  Yet they're everywhere.

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