The Cult of Originality

That video was pretty original, wouldn't you say? But it's still self-consciously aping another type of show, even parodying it, and it's certainly not the first to do that. This is the problem with originality, truly totally original works are completely impossible to understand or relate to, there really is no appreciable difference between it and a complete non-sequitur. When talking about originality, you're really taking as a given that's still recognisable as being part of a genre, or an established body of work. We live in more reflective times than in the last century, there seems to be more nostalgia, more influence, more references than ever before. Unfortunately forthose enamoured with the new, this is what it's usually like. The last century saw some entirely new media coming to dominate, and because of that, originality was the in plentiful supply. Those days are over now, we've returned to the status quo of reference in art. But the sustained burst of originality has left us a little different. Reference, homage, parody, when recognised as such, is now less, not more. We're more like late-renaissance artists, in that there is a large past of original geniuses behind us, but we have superior tools and knowledge. In their case it was Christianity that made them superior to the heathens, in our case it's freely available knowledge and technology. But they were relatively humble, seeking to emulate, adding only Christian moral philosophy and emulating in every other aspect, we are still chasing that elusive phantom, the completely original work that everyone regognises as a masterpiece.