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The show Spongebob Squarepants is not good anymore! Fans say the newer episodes just don’t do it anymore, why? Watching the series back, there is a noticeable decline in quality as time went on. The show started losing its substance and what made it good in the first place. This is because the creator, Stephen Hillenburg, died and the show only continued to keep bringing money in.
Despite Hillenburg stating he did not want the show to continue, the show was so popular they kept it going. Side character, Patrick Star, even got his own spinoff after Hillenburg’s passing so they can capitalize on profits as possible. This is just one example of commercialism ruining somebody’s art.
Commercialism is ruining people’s art so much, it is ruining creativity as a whole. Things only get pushed out if somebody decides it’s going to make a lot of money really fast and this mindset has stopped many potentially great projects from being produced. Without these great projects people aren’t getting inspired to express themselves creatively and differently.
For an example listen to Drake’s earlier albums compared to newer ones. When he first started his career as an artist his albums had songs that can still be played today. This is because those songs were songs with inspiration, substance, and with the mindset of proving that he can make good songs. Listening to his newer albums, the songs are boring and repetitive. This is evident through one of Drake’s biggest fans, DJ Akedemiks.
DJ Akedemiks has a popular clip of him gassing up a newer album only to fall asleep during the middle mark of it. These albums are only made to stay on top of trending sounds and bring in money since he has a large fan base. Things like this happen all the time with artists, over time their music is only made to bring in money rather than the love of making music. Artists who fall victim to this cycle are ruining what type of music could be made in the future. If they were to just make music to express themselves then their music could last longer and inspire a new wave of music.
Some artists do stop making music once they realize they don’t have the same passion and drive to make it. Andre 3000 is one of those artists who made sound altering music while he was still passionate. Unlike other artists he stopped when the sound started changing. This ultimately helped his image as a creative artist stay with his name. Some people don’t have the opportunity to do the same thing as Andre 3000.
Aaron McGruder is the creator of the show, “The Boondocks,” and was forced to keep making more episodes after saying he did not want the show to continue. The Boondocks was and still is a fan favorite by audiences up until the last season. The last season of the show was a “cash grab” from the network when they would not let him quit the show. In a video McGruder was quoted saying, “To quote a great white man, ‘Hollywood is a business.’ And to quote another great white man, ‘Don’t hold grudges.” This is just one example of businesses/networks making shows that have run their course and keep going because of the money it generates.
This formula is becoming more and more present with shows and it isn’t making quality entertainment anymore. With these shows everywhere there isn’t any good inspiration for newer shows and it’s ruining how they’re made. Almost every show starts off drawing big inspiration from other shows before finding its own identity. Not only do these cash grab shows ruin inspiration but it also makes the producers of these shows only think about getting money back. If a show does not generate immediate large sums of money then most likely the show will be cancelled. If the show gets cancelled then it never reaches its full potential and newer creators only have limited inspiration.
Inspiration and creativity are not just limited to movies, shows, and music, art is also a big thing now. Art used to be the main thing people used when it came to expressing themselves. People have cared less and less about actual art year after year. This is because of how popular modern art is and what modern art is. Art used to be people trying to make the best pieces they could while expressing how they felt. As modern art’s popularity increased, people wanted to do more creative pieces. That was great for art, until the paintings started selling for a ton of money. Once people started getting a lot of money for their art, people started trying to make the most money as they could for a piece.
This mindset started a trend of people doing subjectively ridiculous things to give their art “meaning” just so they can get that chunk of money. Jens Haaning made a statement piece to talk about the state of modern art. This piece is called “Take the Money and Run,” on the canvas, Haaning didn’t draw anything but it was bought for $84,000. Things like this are the reason why artists aren’t making anything that is truly enchanting.
“Why try to make anything if there’s not any money coming from it?” For fun and to express oneself. Expressing how something feels or how something makes people feel, makes beautiful things. Whether it be music, shows, art, even how houses are built, expression needs to be put back into things. These money hungry people are messing up people’s imagination and it’s putting audiences in a creative depression. Creators should pull inspiration from everything, not just older movies, clothes, music, etc… If people were to go back to just making stuff because they want to express themselves or make something they enjoy, people would be able to make things that can last and make brand new things instead of spin offs of what is already there.
Creativity shouldn’t be boiled down to who makes the most money. Creativity also shouldn’t be limited, people have more access to things all across the world more than they ever have. Without the insanely large want for money, creativity would be in its peak right now. Artists need to recognize that what they make is going to make money regardless if it’s good today or good in 10 years. Art needs time to develop and find itself and without a money hungry person inside an artist’s head, art would be able to do that. Although money shouldn’t get taken out entirely from the artist’s work, money shouldn’t be the main focus when making something. Genuine creativity needs to be brought back into the artistic scene in order to make good pieces and inspire future projects.