(Header image: Loving Vincent (2017))
I don't want to be a content creator. Yet, somehow I find myself in the position of a social media manager in which I know next to nothing and see zero value in "content" that just adds to the noise.
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A while back, I watched House of Tabula's "Art is not Content" video. The title alone continues to stick with me. Even before the onslaught of AI crap everywhere I struggled to believe, in my core, the value of art, even if mentally I KNEW it was sacred. Now with corporations and individuals trying to erase human-made skills and creations, I find myself motivated to make a stand for what is Art, not just content.
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About a month ago, I was on a video call with a virtual assistant who promised to make twelve posts a month—a mix of AI and "real" content. I had asked him about AI content performing poorly, and as such what were his plans for creating valuable content. He scoffed at me, and said that any content was better than no content, and that's why it was mixed with human-generated content.
I've come to hate the word "content."
Social media and American culture is so consumed by its own consumerism that it's lots the idea of value beyond a price tag. It's lost the value of not just art, but the value of life, of the environment, of ideas, and of relationship. Yet, people still starve for something "more" and that more of what we get is often, simply....content.
It's something to share. Something to post. "Something is better than nothing" clogs the media streams and communication channels choking out creations that made with love, humor, and care. Things that mattered more than "better than nothing," but that had something intentional to share emotionally, spiritually.
That said, I don't want to discredit content creators. They do something I am very unlikely to be able to do. Many of them have that unfortunate title because the title of "artist" is ridiculed and dismissed. There are countless essayists, visual artists, musicians, performers, etc. who are "content creators" lumped in beside someone whose entire brand is selling an empty pot of charm.
And it's devastating. It is absolutely devastating to me that so many people have to rebrand their writing, their video, their comics and visual arts as "content creation" just to make money from corporations who care little about what they make, just that it's another avenue for advertisement.
But.
It's just how the western world works.
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I suspect one of the biggest reasons I am so adverse to social media; that I am so adverse to making "content" is partially because whatever I make will never be good enough for me yes, but mostly because art is the soul bared, exposed, raw to the world. It takes a lot of courage to be an artist and share that vulnerability with a world of piranhas looking to rip apart anything they don't vibe with.
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I tried to write an essay on film criticism and how, frankly, annoyed I am that so many people have enough confidence in their opinion to share it publicly, yet a complete disregard of how those opinions could affect a creator. With film, it's unlikely large scale directors will see your Letterboxd review. Scorsese is not going to see what you think about Shutter Island. However, small indie filmmakers will see what you say. Novelists will see what you say. Visual artists will see what you say.
Does a critique have value? Or is it just a way to make more "content" fueled off tearing apart art?
