So this week I took some creative liberty with the 'homework assignment' that @missy and @rambo have proposed. (When do I not take creative liberty? I have never been one to follow the rules.)
They asked if we could invent anything, what would it be? I wasn't too crazy about the last few assignments given to us, hence my lack of participation, but this one really got me thinking. At first I thought that it would be nice to have a cure for bipolar disorder since, you know, I suffer from it. But then I thought that was really selfish of me. I mean, there are other countless diseases that need cures. Diseases like AIDS, ALS, and all the various forms of cancer, just to name a few.
So then I thought, "What else is there that I would like to create?"
And I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't invent anything at all. Instead, I would much prefer to 'un-invent' two things: photoshop and autotune. (For those of you who don't know what autotune is-it's part of music software used in editing and producing music. You know those pop songs where the singer sounds like a robot? That's autotune. I worked with it a bit when I was in music school.)
Now, used correctly and in moderation photoshop and autotune can be quite wonderful. I myself have benefited from both. It's great when you record an otherwise awesome track, aside from that one note that you sang vaguely off key. Autotune to the rescue! It saves time in the studio, for sure. And photoshop...well, on a site like this I don't think I need to go into what's great about it.
However, like everything else humanity seems to come into contact with, both have been over used to the point that they have become detrimental.
This past weekend, I was perusing through the stash of various pornography and pin up magazines that Adam has in his collection in my pursuit for material for my collages. I was in awe of how much standards of beauty have really changed. You don't really realize it until you have several decades worth of nudie mags in your face all at once. The oldest were a few Playboys dating from the mid to late sixties. The most recent were from 2009. I was looking at what was considered beautiful back in 1968 and I realized that none of those women would be considered 'hot' today. They had tummies. There was no 'thigh gap'. Not one of those women had chiseled abs. And dare I say, I saw a hint of cellulite.
You wouldn't see any of that today. Instead, you would see the same general body type complete with ideal facial symmetry.
I know it's been said before, but thanks to photoshop we now have standards of beauty that are uniform in nature and impossible to attain. I don't need to go on about the reasons why this is harmful to people.
Autotune is equally as detrimental, but in a different way.
I was listening to an old recording of Etta James on Saturday when I realized that pop songs are no longer full of the kind of emotion she conveyed in that piece. All the emotion was in her voice. At one time there was art in popular music, instead of the formulaic garbage we are force fed. There are many contributing factors to this, and one of the biggest is the advent of autotune. Like I said before, used correctly and in moderation it has it's place. But it has now become over used. No longer does a singer need talent to sing and really 'make it' in the music industry. All he or she needs is a pretty face and marketability. All he or she needs to do is sell products.
I guess what I am trying to say is that both autotune and photoshop contribute to the degradation and homogenization of culture and society. By stream lining everything and making everything 'perfect' you remove the flaws that make us who we are, the imperfections that make us and our emotions real.
So I would gladly give up the good that they both do in order to see and hear some variety in popular culture again.
I know this is was long and I know most people probably passed over it because, "HOLY SHIT WALL OF TEXT" but I thank any of you who took the time to read what I had to say.
And for no good reason...another one of the pictures that Adam and I took a few weeks ago!
