Creativity

So...

I think that the Twilight series is the most insipid drivel to ever blight popular culture. I read one paragraph from the first book and had to go take a shower.

However...

The lady who wrote them did it right. They were read by a gazillion people, mostly teenage girls, but whatever. She raked in container ship loads of money, and that was even before the movies came out. She knows her audience, and in the end, that's really what creativity is about.

I can take what I think are the most gorgeous photographs in the history of mankind, but if there is no audience for them, I was wasting time. If you believe you are creating your art for no other reason than art itself, resign yourself to a life of dejection and jealousy. Do you really want to be the next Van Gogh? Seriously, think about it. If you're creating art solely for the purpose of being considered great by posterity, you're either an idiot or a liar, or both. It would be great if posterity made you a grand master, but no one sane with a triple digit IQ strives for that as a sole purpose. At the same time, realize that those outside of your audience may not appreciate your art. That's OK. Obviously, the Twilight lady didn't write her books for middle-aged nerd smartasses. I guarantee that, even if she read this blog, she wouldn't give a shit about my opinion of her work. In fact, she might wave and laugh at me on her way past me to the bank.

There is nothing mercenary about producing art for money. If you think so, get back to me when you crawl down off of your high horse. Frank Lloyd Wright didn't work for free. Neither did Pavarotti, Andy Warhol, or Ernest Hemingway. Even Mozart created for profit. Granted, he was a drunk, had piss poor marketing skills, and died penniless, but everything he wrote was for a commission or a prospective commission. Musical "artistes" will tell you that dying penniless was part of what made his work great. Bullshit. He wrote music for money because he was good at it and he didn't know how to make shoes or build houses, and because patrons of music were generally filthy rich. I'm not saying you should always try to make money with your art, but don't look down on someone who does.

So, I reiterate. The lady who wrote the Twilight series did it right.

I'll bet the Twilight fans didn't make it this far.