4 ms·

Alan touches on critique versus creation. He almost but not quite get at the core issue when he evokes that, in those old glory days of comic fandom, fans were

Alan touches on critique versus creation. He almost but not quite get at the core issue when he evokes that, in those old glory days of comic fandom, fans were creators too. This is a strong observation but not explored in the article. As communication technology improves, we get better at making copies of and making searchable the most resonating works. This means that new creators face bigger and bigger barriers to resonating. Most people give up. To adapt, People have become critics rather than creators - consumers rather than producers. This has a deep effect on our culture. This might explain the malaise of inaction - that we don’t feel we can accomplish much and that we’ll more readily point out the flaws in an action than encourage the action in others. As alluded to in the article, it also might increase the tribalism wherein we have one super-creator and their followers. The act of creation also deepens understanding. The creation process creates a more thoughtful person as much as it creates the work itself. How do we bring back a culture of creation?

082349872349872 2y ago
> c'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron ("working at the forge is how one becomes a smith") I don't know if there ever was a culture of creation (have you any examples?) but I wouldn't say that there's any lack of opportunity for people today to create for themselves and their friends. Even the super-creators spin off their own opportunities for subdemiurges: recall Bowsette. Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-FDFsHA20w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-FDFsHA20w
- throwaway13337 2y ago
  The shape of attention has changed. It's true that now more than ever, niche super creators have found an audience. I think the paradox here is, because of specifically this, not so gifted people have less incentive to create. 30 years ago, there simply was no spreading of media that wasn't so mainstream. So there was no medium for a lot of niches. Without the medium, people felt rewarded in their local community for showing something interesting that had no mainstream analog. In a sense, the niche creators that were great were more effectively broadcast leaving less audience for worse niche creators. This, over time, meant that less people tried to create and switched to critique.
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    > less people tried to create and switched to critique. I'm not convinced of that — I suspect that in earlier times, there were just as few creators, but we didn't get exposed to all* the critiques. (for instance, if I were to make this argument I'd have to go back much earlier than 30 years, because 30 years ago people were already putting their S&M Barbies up on the web; we were already on the second generation of browsers: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/10/mosaic-netscape-0-9-was-released-30-years-ago-today/ ) However, under the hypothesis that fewer people try to create and switch to critique instead: that'd be their problem. EDIT: * eg, the other day on Zhihu I saw someone asking "What is even the point of Joker 2?" Nowadays we can see criticism from 5 billion people without even scrolling down.
arccy 2y ago
the creator fans still exist, but many don't want to deal with threats of copyright enforcement from the popular publishers
em-bee 2y ago
star trek fan films are a good counter example. there are thousands of them and several reach professional quality. check https://startrekreviewed.com/ https://startrekreviewed.com/ so it doesn't look like that some productions getting better and better leads others to give up. the improvement of quality just seems to go along with the access to better tools. the relaxed stance of the star trek owners may have something to do with it. even the clarification of rules a few years ago didn't do anything to reduce the activity. it may have even increased it because now the rules are clearly spelled out where as previously only those that were im contact with CBS/Paramount knew if they overstepped any limits. there is literally a new release every day. (i have verified this. i have watched almost every video posted on startrekreviewed.com and since the last year or two i am watching one new video per day, and i haven't run out yet. and that's not even counting audiodrama, comics or stories)

082349872349872 2y ago

> c'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron ("working at the forge is how one becomes a smith") I don't know if there ever was a culture of creation (have you any examples?) but I wouldn't say that there's any lack of opportunity for people today to create for themselves and their friends. Even the super-creators spin off their own opportunities for subdemiurges: recall Bowsette. Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-FDFsHA20w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-FDFsHA20w

throwaway13337 2y ago
The shape of attention has changed. It's true that now more than ever, niche super creators have found an audience. I think the paradox here is, because of specifically this, not so gifted people have less incentive to create. 30 years ago, there simply was no spreading of media that wasn't so mainstream. So there was no medium for a lot of niches. Without the medium, people felt rewarded in their local community for showing something interesting that had no mainstream analog. In a sense, the niche creators that were great were more effectively broadcast leaving less audience for worse niche creators. This, over time, meant that less people tried to create and switched to critique.
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  > less people tried to create and switched to critique. I'm not convinced of that — I suspect that in earlier times, there were just as few creators, but we didn't get exposed to all* the critiques. (for instance, if I were to make this argument I'd have to go back much earlier than 30 years, because 30 years ago people were already putting their S&M Barbies up on the web; we were already on the second generation of browsers: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/10/mosaic-netscape-0-9-was-released-30-years-ago-today/ ) However, under the hypothesis that fewer people try to create and switch to critique instead: that'd be their problem. EDIT: * eg, the other day on Zhihu I saw someone asking "What is even the point of Joker 2?" Nowadays we can see criticism from 5 billion people without even scrolling down.

arccy 2y ago

the creator fans still exist, but many don't want to deal with threats of copyright enforcement from the popular publishers

em-bee 2y ago

star trek fan films are a good counter example. there are thousands of them and several reach professional quality. check https://startrekreviewed.com/ https://startrekreviewed.com/ so it doesn't look like that some productions getting better and better leads others to give up. the improvement of quality just seems to go along with the access to better tools. the relaxed stance of the star trek owners may have something to do with it. even the clarification of rules a few years ago didn't do anything to reduce the activity. it may have even increased it because now the rules are clearly spelled out where as previously only those that were im contact with CBS/Paramount knew if they overstepped any limits. there is literally a new release every day. (i have verified this. i have watched almost every video posted on startrekreviewed.com and since the last year or two i am watching one new video per day, and i haven't run out yet. and that's not even counting audiodrama, comics or stories)