Many years ago I read Cixin Liu’s trilogy ‘The Three-Body Problem’. As a fan of the hard sci-fi genre, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It describes a civilisation trapped in a loop of death and rebirth due to extreme weather. The weather is the unfortunate result of a planet that orbits three suns, making its path across the universe erratic and unpredictable.
When Netflix released the TV adaptation of the trilogy earlier this year, I was very excited to watch it. So I did, and I was severely underwhelmed. The brilliance of the books had been watered down to make for a rushed, impersonal, and emotionally vacuous story. It’s more profitable for Netflix to make a show that someone can put on after a hard day at work rather than one that requires some intellectual engagement.
This illustrates a graver problem I’ve noticed since I started publishing my own creative endeavours on the internet. Art finds itself in the chokehold of monetisation. I see aspiring artist distort their creative sense and big studios dilute art to reach a bigger audience. Because, unfortunately, we need funds to survive and to keep creating.
I believe this is a recent phenomenon accentuated by the advent of social media. It’s not enough to be able to produce (good) art anymore. One also has to be able to promote it and have their voice heard. However, the algorithm prefers content made for short attention spans and irritable minds. Promotion becomes a full-time job, which for someone like me is exhausting and insincere.
It’s a shame that we have to pervert one of the biggest pleasures of life to sustain ourselves as creative people. Not only do the creative minds feel the contortion, but art itself loses its potency. It is a privilege to be able to express yourself without these inhibitions.
I played the game for a while and I felt my soul being sucked out of me. I bent my creativity to fit the algorithm, and I hated it. I commend people who can keep at it until they get their voices heard, but I put a lot more bias on the process than an unknown outcome. So I quit, and I’m happier for it.
Bad money drives out good, artworks tend to be as general as possible for reaching the wider audience, like art films vs. videos on tiktok. Matthew effect also exists in the art industry, a few the-most-famous artists get the most attention and exposure while the majority others remain unheard, somehow it contributes to the dilemma you discussed.
brilliant. totally with you on this.