I'll Be Your Mirror
A few months ago, on our way to see a Duck's game, a friend and I began conversing about good music and came to the agreement that most great songs are of not so happy subjects. There aren't very many happy, positive, cheerful songs out there that are absolutely fantastic. It just seems like the sad stuff is better and more interesting. I guess the same can sort of be said about movies and books too. The question arises, "do depressed artists make better art." Well, I think if you ask most people they would probably answer to the affirmative. It just seems to be understood that more tends to go into the work when the circumstances surrounding that work aren't quite gleeful.
BUT the issue here can't simply be that the sad artist is the better artist. There has to be more and it has to come from the audience.
Another friend of mine has been having some complicated issues with a woman lately. During one of his ventings towards me he lamented, "Put two girls of equal physical attractiveness together, one who has her shit together, and the other who is a complete nutcase, and I'll pick the crazy one every time. Why is that?" Just in case you are wondering, he is not exaggerating. He does go for the crazy one every time. His question got me thinking, and it took me all of a second to formulate an answer. This friend of mine fancies himself a deep person and therefore desires that the person he is with be deep as well. One night he even complained to me, "I'm sick of these shallow Newport bitches." The answer then is very simple. He goes for the crazy ones because he thinks there is more depth to the crazy ones. It is understandable why he would think that with the craziness comes more depth. It goes right back to why so many people think with craziness or depression comes better art. The thing is it isn't necessarily right to think this way. With craziness does not come more depth. It's sort of a perceptual illusion. What happens is, and I told my friend this, the crazy ones seem deeper because with craziness comes layers of issues that bring about that craziness, but when you really think about it, the crazy ones are just as superficial as anyone else, hell, they might be even more so, because, well, they've got everything out there for you to see....AND it's very wrong to dismiss ANYONE as shallow especially if you consider yourself deep, because being a deep person is not only about having layers yourself, but understanding that everyone has layers and it's up to you to dig into those layers if you really want to know somebody. In other words there is depth to all of us, and your perception of how deep someone truly is really only lies within your own depth. So rather than being "tired of shallow Newport bitches" why not give them a shot and get to know them past the fake boobs and mal-nurtured bodies. The layers just might surprise you.
BUT the issue here can't simply be that the sad artist is the better artist. There has to be more and it has to come from the audience.
Another friend of mine has been having some complicated issues with a woman lately. During one of his ventings towards me he lamented, "Put two girls of equal physical attractiveness together, one who has her shit together, and the other who is a complete nutcase, and I'll pick the crazy one every time. Why is that?" Just in case you are wondering, he is not exaggerating. He does go for the crazy one every time. His question got me thinking, and it took me all of a second to formulate an answer. This friend of mine fancies himself a deep person and therefore desires that the person he is with be deep as well. One night he even complained to me, "I'm sick of these shallow Newport bitches." The answer then is very simple. He goes for the crazy ones because he thinks there is more depth to the crazy ones. It is understandable why he would think that with the craziness comes more depth. It goes right back to why so many people think with craziness or depression comes better art. The thing is it isn't necessarily right to think this way. With craziness does not come more depth. It's sort of a perceptual illusion. What happens is, and I told my friend this, the crazy ones seem deeper because with craziness comes layers of issues that bring about that craziness, but when you really think about it, the crazy ones are just as superficial as anyone else, hell, they might be even more so, because, well, they've got everything out there for you to see....AND it's very wrong to dismiss ANYONE as shallow especially if you consider yourself deep, because being a deep person is not only about having layers yourself, but understanding that everyone has layers and it's up to you to dig into those layers if you really want to know somebody. In other words there is depth to all of us, and your perception of how deep someone truly is really only lies within your own depth. So rather than being "tired of shallow Newport bitches" why not give them a shot and get to know them past the fake boobs and mal-nurtured bodies. The layers just might surprise you.
posted by Angelo at 9/22/2008 09:00:00 PM
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