TITLE: We Are All Mashups
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: September 16, 2016 12:41 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
There is a scene in The Big Bang Theory where
Sheldon laments that, without realizing it, he had allowed
his girl/friend to alter his personality. Leonard responds,
"Well, you didn't really have a 'personality'. You just had
some shows you liked."
This scene came to mind when I read a passage from Kenneth
Goldsmith's Uncreative Writing earlier this week:
I don't think there's a stable or essential "me". I am an
amalgamation of many things: books I've read, movies I've
seen, television shows I've watched, conversations I've
had, songs I've sung, lovers I've loved. In fact, I'm a
creation of so many people and so many ideas, to the point
where I feel I've actually had few original thoughts and
ideas; to think that what I consider to be "mine" was
"original" would be blindingly egotistical.
It is occasionally daunting when I realize how much I am a
product of the works, people, and ideas I've encountered.
How can I add anything new? But when I surrender to the
fact that I can't, it frees me to write and do things that
I like. What I make may not be new, but it can still be
useful or valuable, even if only to me.
I wonder what it's like for kids to grow up in a
self-consciously mash-up culture. My daughters have grown
up in a world where technology and communication have given
everyone the ability to mix and modify other work so easily.
It's a big part of the entertainment they consume.
Mash-up culture must feel hugely empowering in some moments
and hugely terrifying in others. How can anyone find his
or her own voice, or say something that matters? Maybe
they have a better sense than I did growing up that nothing
is really new and that what really matters is chasing your
interests, exploring the new lands you enter, and sharing
what you find. That's certainly been the source of my
biggest accomplishments and deepest satisfactions.
(I ran across the passage from Goldsmith on
Austin Kleon's blog.)
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