Art, Integrity

What is it about artistic integrity that the world demands you to sacrifice? Even if your artistic skills are valuable it must be edited down to appeal to somebody else, not yourself. Let's be honest, many people warn us about the unfairness of life since childhood and that's well-tread territory. I'm doing my best for this not to turn into a vent; it's not. A lot of people in this world have to make sacrifices everyday and I'm no exception to that rule. I guess what I'm asking is "how do you have it all?"

    "You can't, but you can try your best," I imagine most people's answers would be. It's difficult to be happy where you are. I've been on this wavelength of positivity because all anyone ever has at the end of the day is hope. As I've gotten older I've come to an understanding about materialism I believe was shoved onto everyone since birth. I have grown jaded with the American Dream, preferring instead to be with the things that bring me small amounts of joy.

    Alternative. Altruistic. 

    

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        We have to teach ourselves that if we want to go about life in our own way, that it takes work to get there. Extra work for people that are creative. Our society makes it hard for the creative-minded to effectively brainstorm. The analytical thinker might say you have to put a cap on the abstract somewhere in order for you to use it effectively, but what if you as a creative don't find value in something solely based off of its marketability? We can spend thousands of hours on what we think the people want, but to me I feel the flaw in this logic is that sometimes people actually can't express what they truly desire to see. Let me try a more specific example if my language sounds too theoretical.

   

   We spend thousands of hours working on movies and TV shows for the public to consume, many people would consider it a forefront of what it says about our culture. It is quite literally there for someone to witness and observe, so I don't think that's absurd to say. Even the most fantastical work can say a lot about us as human beings. If you've ever watched a Ralph Bakshi movie you know what I'm talking about. Everything in a Bakshi movie says something about different people. I'll never forget a quote from his most famous work Fritz the Cat:

"You spend years and years with your nose buried in these goddam tones while the world is passin' you by. All this stuff to see and all the kicks and all the girls are out there and me, a writer and a poet who should be havin' adventures and experience and all of the adversities and paradoxes and ironies of life."

     It spooked me when I heard it, due mainly because I couldn't help but relate to something so much. That's the artist's paradox. Bakshi would go on to make the animated Lord of the Rings, which is crazy to think about considering most of his work's heavy undertones live outside the world of fantasy (I know Fritz is about a talking cat but I promise if you watch it you'll understand what he's trying to say about our world and its reality.) Changing it sometimes seems like a fruitless endeavor. I often think that about the world around me. I live in "paradise," how could I complain? People vacation to where I live, and although I wouldn't exactly call it a cultural wasteland I don't think I would stay here forever. Funnily enough I want to live in New York, which is where Bakshi lived, and he makes the city looks so chaotic. A southern girl like me thinks its exotic.

    I think I'll make it to New York one day and perhaps discover what he's talking about. I figured my life might go two ways:

    1) Go to New York and be the great writer I've always wanted to be.

    2) Stay in Florida or maybe move to California and explore my boat-store idea.

    Both unfortunately require a lot of money. Being young, I have time on my side. What do you think sounds better?

    I will explore more upon this idea about being an artist in a modern world and the struggles that come with it. Our world will get better for us, so we can express ourselves and experience the world the way we're supposed to. In the meantime, anybody have a couple thousand dollars?

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