I just heard a really scary statement last night!!!! Are we are getting closer and closer to a world full of c?

[StarSwinger]

I agree with this. Commercial viability stifles creativity by rewarding those who follow the formula and not giving the creative, inventive minds a chance to carry out and put into play their original ideas. If someone's idea and/or creation does not make money, then they will be reprimanded for not doing their job.

Creativity does not seem as prevalent as it once was. For example, look at Disney. They used to make original cartoons and shows for t.v., but now they have decided to become a Nickelodeon clone because that's how they make billions of dollars (not exaggerating, check out their annual statements) a year. Also look at their parks. Most of the new attractions are just replicas of their movies or other movies they bought the rights to, whereas when Walt Disney had a say he had creative attractions that were also educational that didn't just capitalize on the latest film. While many still find this entertaining, it is following a marketing formula.

Look at the movie industry. Why is nearly every single movie made in the past 20 years being remade? Where are the original screenplays? How many more prequels and "re-imaginings" are they going to make?

Also look at the music industry. Most of the songs being released sound very much like each other. Sometimes I listen to "new" songs of today and always think to myself "where have I heard that melody before?" Then I will either find that the new Katy Perry Single sounds a lot like the new Britney Spears single or I go to my iPod full of older songs and find the songs that were "sampled." The formula for the music industry has to do with selling the artist as a package, the focus is not solely on the music. The formula seems to be to find some catchy electronic dance hook inspired by a combination of 80's and techno music, get some young lady dressed up in either a strange or skimpy outfit (or both), have them put on some type of wig and go out on stage in their high heels and dance around the stage. Sometimes sparklers and pyrotechnics are used to add a dramatic effect. For the guys the formula seems to be "the bad boy" or some type of hipster. The "bad boy" will be dressed in jeans, t-shirt, and sport tattoos while the hipster has some odd haircut, tight pants, seems to be thin. They may not always dance themselves, but they will most likely have back up dancers.

Also look at t.v. Many shows are clones of each other and they try to add a supposed twist to each new show made to try to make it appear as something innovative. For example, American Idol. You have judges critiquing the performances of contestants. The X Factor - you have judges critiquing the performances of contestants but it's "new" because the judges mentor the contestants in addition to being judges. The Voice - you have judges critiquing and mentoring contestants, but they don't get to see who is singing. Another example, CSI, CSI New York, CSI Miami. It's the same formula.

I use pop culture examples, but you also see this in social media. There were personal webpages people had that were later cloned into "blogs." Same thing, but "blogs" sounds more marketable. MySpace was all the rage and then came along their clone, Facebook.

I don't have enough knowledge of the art industry so I won't comment on this. By art I mean actual paintings. I don't know about the coke bottle thing you mention. I do understand why you feel that the world is an infomercial. The focus today seems to be on what sells and not what new ideas can be put out there. Those who do have original, innovative, creative ideas are not given the time of day because there is no guarantee that the ideas will make huge profits.