andagonistic

The only method that works for some: feeling terribly unaccomplished by looking at unfinished work.

The setting of ‘The Tempest’ was bordering on the dystopian when looking at some of its elements. What I have always, and childishly so, compared it to is Lord of the Flies. Both portray the use of the hierarchical nature of man when facing an absent state or structural authority, and more so, portray society through how easily it dehumanises itself.

While not wanting to commit the social fallacy of boycotting modern means of entertainment, and the easiness with which this allegedly liberal platform we call YouTube allows all forms of creation to enter the trending public sphere, I am going to compare these circumstances to literature preceding the internet’s popularity.

Consumerist literature (what we define as consumerist depends on the target topics of each generation), much like blockbusters, has always been present. Much of the success of one’s book was directly linked to the marketing tactics applied. Now, YouTube is but a free platform on which anyone can become famous as long as they appeal to a wide public and range of interests. We cannot blame the creator of a certain book for ruining literature and so on, we can only blame the system and ourselves for how uneducated their audience is. However, ultimately we cannot accuse anyone of being uneducated either, as any kind of literature has us evolve in one way or another.

It is true that more ‘worthy’ authors remain unpublished or unread, and while this saddens anyone with a knowledgeable insight on literature, one can hardly change the way of the world.