Tell Me A Different Story

If we can now access anything why do we continue to reach for the same things? 

Three times in one day (here, here, and here) I came across discussions of this thing that keeps bugging me: how the increase in global connectivity is shaping close knit niche markets, especially in film. This is something I saw and invited awhile ago but as this model unfolds I am starting to have some reservations... Is the potential for never seeing anything new, bad, or outside of one's comfort zone a possibility in the new creative market?  If Netflix can whittle down exactly what I like to watch will I ever see something I might not like? Will kids dig around in the trenches of the internet for weirdness? Or will unwatched, unloved, unpopular things be deleted & forgotten? And if we do find one unoccupied corner of culture will it then become the only thing we turn to, perpetuating the niche market cycle?

I recently saw the new Godzilla. At one point during Godzilla I turned around and looked at the light of Mothra bouncing on the wide-eyed faces in the audience. Seeing people engaged in some sort of creative pursuit, whether I like it or not, is thrilling! The communal experience of ideas/creativity (or....lack thereof...) that is experienced when one steps out of their cultural safe space is a vital part of life. It reminds me that there is a world beyond my own where people are telling stories that are not mine, stories that often help me learn, think and act beyond myself. How can anything be accomplished if people continue to only look at the stories that are reflections of themselves? And instantaneous reflections at that... Sure, the emergence of relatable communities is probably good in a lot of ways but is it also helping to build walls of ignorance? Exclusion? Misunderstanding?

Way back last November I interviewed musician/actor/swell guy Will Oldham on my radio show and I asked him about the new era of distinct media platforms and my worry that the collective conscious is going to give way to small clusters of consciousnesses that are being catered/sold to directly. Below is a small excerpt from that live radio interview (my first ever voice/live/phone interview: please be kind young trolls of the internet!). Things discussed: SHAZAM!, Internet Manga, myth making, Lou Reed, timelessness. (Pics from Godzilla, old, new, and ones we wish to forget.)