This post was originally shared under Monday Musings on my Patreon over a month ago. Go pledge $1 per month to get exclusive writing, audio rambles, updates, and other good stuff. If you want. “Flying used to be fun, until I started doing it for a living,”
Hi! Just finished reading this bad boy. Really well written and great job on keeping the focus of the theme of Kiki's Delivery Service. Admittedly, on my first watch, I did not realize the setting of the town being a gift economy, but I found myself resonating with the sense of rejection Kiki faced when she struggled to deliver on time. Creatively, I've felt that I have struggled to hit deadlines, even when I've poured a lot of my own energy into it. And after reading your post, it really gave me more clarity on what made that scene land with me. In a time during these strikes and these executives treating art like it can be passed around carelessly like a rubber ball and with AI making many of us reconsider if art can be replaced, this blogpost reminded me what I love so deeply about art. I'm an animator who likes to make character designs and animate the stupidest jokes. But those jokes and my style comes from a personal place, not meant to dethrone others, but find an audience that its for. I love when people say the phrase "I watched this show, and it's not for me" To me, that phrase is a really well rounded way of understanding that this piece of art may serve as a better gift to others. It's a better phrase compared to "Yeah I watched the Idol and it's the worst show ever created" (even if there might be a little truth in that). TV and Movies are so stuck in this capitalism, that it's no longer about telling a story that can make someone feel. It's about being able to gross the highest with just the right amount of money. And in recent times, even with the high budgets, it's wrongfully distributed into weird testimonies being given by people who have never expressed interest in the genre in their time in the industry. I recognize that this might be going off the rails a little, and I won't harp on this too long! But this blog post made me appreciate how art is for different people, the way gifts are for different people.
The CouchSurfing anecdote was very fascinating to me. I morally wish I could say I want to offer that kind of trust to strangers, but it's obviously not an ideal world with ideal circumstances. The heart is in the right place, and sometimes in the systems we live in, we lose sight of that. Even your experience of L'abri was so fascinating to hear. I'm Hindu myself, but I love to hear the kind of hospitality and support religious orgs are able to offer. And you're right, it feels almost wrong to review something so pure like that. But at the same time, when Youtube removed the Like and Dislike button, everybody was upset. And YouTube is the biggest place where artists can truly place themselves to express themselves. It's difficult because in some ways you want your audience to feel more trust in what they're watching, but in other ways, audiences sometimes feel a little too overly coddled. People can't sit down to watch a video, or movie, or tv show anymore without knowing where it's going. Even with TikTok, the reason those Family Guy clips with Subway Surfers tiktoks blow up is because of the comfort it gives the audience. Alongside the user interface of swiping to see something better and faster. The experience of consuming art is certainly different than the way it used to be. And while I feel inclined to blame higher ups, the consumers also feel more rewarded by having things more catered towards them. We're connecting with humans in a different way than we ever have in history, and I almost wonder how we'll connect with them in 2050.
Anyways, really great job Houston. I loved reading this from start to finish, and you touched on some really awesome things I never had considered. Hope you're staying safe and well, and looking forward to more posts from you! All the best. ~Rik
Hi! Just finished reading this bad boy. Really well written and great job on keeping the focus of the theme of Kiki's Delivery Service. Admittedly, on my first watch, I did not realize the setting of the town being a gift economy, but I found myself resonating with the sense of rejection Kiki faced when she struggled to deliver on time. Creatively, I've felt that I have struggled to hit deadlines, even when I've poured a lot of my own energy into it. And after reading your post, it really gave me more clarity on what made that scene land with me. In a time during these strikes and these executives treating art like it can be passed around carelessly like a rubber ball and with AI making many of us reconsider if art can be replaced, this blogpost reminded me what I love so deeply about art. I'm an animator who likes to make character designs and animate the stupidest jokes. But those jokes and my style comes from a personal place, not meant to dethrone others, but find an audience that its for. I love when people say the phrase "I watched this show, and it's not for me" To me, that phrase is a really well rounded way of understanding that this piece of art may serve as a better gift to others. It's a better phrase compared to "Yeah I watched the Idol and it's the worst show ever created" (even if there might be a little truth in that). TV and Movies are so stuck in this capitalism, that it's no longer about telling a story that can make someone feel. It's about being able to gross the highest with just the right amount of money. And in recent times, even with the high budgets, it's wrongfully distributed into weird testimonies being given by people who have never expressed interest in the genre in their time in the industry. I recognize that this might be going off the rails a little, and I won't harp on this too long! But this blog post made me appreciate how art is for different people, the way gifts are for different people.
The CouchSurfing anecdote was very fascinating to me. I morally wish I could say I want to offer that kind of trust to strangers, but it's obviously not an ideal world with ideal circumstances. The heart is in the right place, and sometimes in the systems we live in, we lose sight of that. Even your experience of L'abri was so fascinating to hear. I'm Hindu myself, but I love to hear the kind of hospitality and support religious orgs are able to offer. And you're right, it feels almost wrong to review something so pure like that. But at the same time, when Youtube removed the Like and Dislike button, everybody was upset. And YouTube is the biggest place where artists can truly place themselves to express themselves. It's difficult because in some ways you want your audience to feel more trust in what they're watching, but in other ways, audiences sometimes feel a little too overly coddled. People can't sit down to watch a video, or movie, or tv show anymore without knowing where it's going. Even with TikTok, the reason those Family Guy clips with Subway Surfers tiktoks blow up is because of the comfort it gives the audience. Alongside the user interface of swiping to see something better and faster. The experience of consuming art is certainly different than the way it used to be. And while I feel inclined to blame higher ups, the consumers also feel more rewarded by having things more catered towards them. We're connecting with humans in a different way than we ever have in history, and I almost wonder how we'll connect with them in 2050.
Anyways, really great job Houston. I loved reading this from start to finish, and you touched on some really awesome things I never had considered. Hope you're staying safe and well, and looking forward to more posts from you! All the best. ~Rik