So after gaining a greater understanding of Lanier's mantra, I have done my own theorizing about the direction that art is going in modern culture. A main concern that Lanier has is the recycling and decontextualization of artwork, in particular music. He asserts that the trend towards the reuse of old styles and the direct reprocessing of old songs is halting artistic innovation.
First off, Glee is bullshit. (Now that I got that out of the way I can conduct a logical and intelligent argument...)
I feel as if Lanier's criticisms could be directly applied to the show Glee. The whole concept of the show is the reuse of popular songs. Unlike American Bandstand, Soul Train or any similar show, Glee does not feature artists playing their own work. Rather, it highlights a group of a cappella singers who pirate the art of other people. Like Lanier said, the original pieces of work are taken out of context and rendered meaningless. However, Glee takes the process one step further: after erasing the context from the original song, the show creates it's own context. By doing this, it not only pirates the art, but uses it for it's own, shallow meaning. There is no creation of work in Glee, only the hijacking of established artwork, with a superficial plot line to related the songs.
Like Across the Universe, the shows success is based on the reuse of recognized artwork.
Glee is bullshit.
but what about the skill of the singers?
ReplyDeleteWalt Disney's Stories were created via "hijacking of established artwork."
ReplyDeleteAddressing the comment of Professor Dean: While the skill of the singers is noteworthy, it should be recognized that modern technology (i.e AUTOTUNE) has allowed average singers to appear to be virtuosic. I have noticed in Glee that there is a heavy abundance of autotune.
ReplyDeleteIt has come to my attention that Glee is now featuring original pieces of music, rendering my argument "irrelevant". However, since a substantial portion of the viewer base was attracted to the show because of popular
music, I believe that my assertion has some credibility.
And sorry, this was posted on my girlfriend's account. (Martin)
what is autotune?
ReplyDeleteAutotune is a computer-driven program that music producers (and amateur YouTube sensations) use to eliminate the vocal shortcomings inherent in human singing.
ReplyDeleteWeird Al explains it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYzv-AVi78E
Basically it sets parameters for frequencies that can be recorded. If the frequencies are outside of the parameters, the program automatically adjusts them so they sound EXACTLY in key.
ReplyDeleteA good example of this is the song "Do You Believe in Life After Love" by Cher. She was pretty much the first person to use it in a popular song, but now it is popular in all sorts of music.