Friday, January 13, 2012

Do ALL the Things OR "on Expectations in Generations"

The modern renaissance figure, driven to excel at all aspects of life.  Youngsters, hurled into a  world  of misappropriated educational totalitarianism, are pressured to pursue idealistic standards of multitalented multidirectional perfection.  Many fall to the fantastical expectations.  Others, others rise.
All too frequently, contemporary art pieces origination is lost to the maelstrom of media.  We surf amongst a sea of imaginative, important pieces, yet unable to trace their roots.  Fortunately, the authorship of "Do All the Things!"  or "X all the Y" - the genre title.
Note the posture of the subject is similar to that of the Hellenistic Grecian Kuros  

The initial piece, a commentary on domestic productivity, entrenches the protagonist in a conflict similar to Hegel's master-slave dialectic.  Contrary, however, to Hegel's position, the two conscious beings, are indeed manifested in the singularity of the protagonist. We are left with a desperate discussion of Sisyphean struggle as the hero eventually resigns to the insurmountable - yet unavoidable - task before them.

Initiating a dialogue long silent amongst a generation coursing down rapids of productivity and expectation, Allie Brosh - the creator of this seminal piece, created a movement.  The foundations of that movement were laid in her blog's forum.
That foundation replicated and evolved as it's - if you'll allow - mitochondrial DNA pervaded the ether of the internet and eventually came to exist as the multifaceted and wondrous genre we now enjoy.
Later pieces eschew the specificity and inherent limitations of the fall from grace experienced in the protagonist's tragic denouement, instead centering on the achievement and hyperbolic ambition.


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