“A Music Video That Seems Likely to Make Enemies of All Music Video Creators” and the Essence of Creation

An article entitled “A Music Video That Seems Likely to Make Enemies of All Music Video Creators” ¹ came my way. It introduced the music video “Music Video” by Okazaki Taiiku.

From the moment I started watching, I could not help but grin. Oh yes, those kinds of music videos really do exist. This person has a good eye. It digs into the conventions of music videos—or, in one sense, the essence of “creation.”

The content of this music video is easiest to understand if you watch it, so I will leave you to do that. Here, I would like to consider the “creation” that this video, in one sense, satirizes.

The act of “creation” is different from what many people think of as “originality.” It means standing on the shoulders of giants, building upon the “established conventions” created by predecessors, and then adding one more step. Conversely, unless you thoroughly learn those “established conventions,” you cannot do “creation.” Sensibility alone will not do.

If you try to create something without knowing the “established conventions,” it tends to become either a clichéd work that merely lists those conventions or a cheap work assembled from moves that are not used because the conventions show that they will fail.

Conversely, the geniuses who pioneer an era know the “established conventions” inside out and, on that basis, use new “moves” that do not follow them. That is why they create a “shock” and are often criticized by society. Consequently, geniuses are often appreciated during their lifetimes only by a small number of people who “get it.” Such a genius’s work comes to be appreciated generally only after those people who “get it” use the newly created “moves” in every possible way and they become established conventions.

Recently, many kinds of “creation” are criticized online as rip-offs or the like. But in any field, a work is, in one sense, a collection of “rip-offs.” Therefore, when looking at a work, I think we should look at what has been added and what value it has. What do you think?

Incidentally, returning to the video at the beginning, this work was made by stacking up nothing but existing “established conventions.” What it adds is an explanation of those “established conventions” through the lyrics, and the demonstration that merely linking such conventions together results in an “ordinary music video.” It presents music video creators with proof that they should not take the easy path, and viewers with the suggestion that they should make a habit of watching from a somewhat deeper perspective, rather than merely consuming.

Okazaki Taiiku is one to watch.

1. http://videotopics.yahoo.co.jp/videolist/official/music/pb1d005885b8bb23180fa4c265b7e8e31