I posted this on my facebook... and thought i should post it here. Because it can be applied to many things! film, music, art, writing.

Being "weird" doesn't constitute intelligence. People (Especially film people good lord) think anything they dont understand is intelligent, they think anything weird is so artsy lol. A lot of musicians, directors, or writers i like are seen as ''weird'' but they do have meanings behind everything they do. The greatest artists seem to be able to show true meaning in life through crazy and revolutionary ideas. But being just a huge beam of madness in your conscience is as far as some ''artsy'' people go.

I see a lot of student films... and by a lot i will say 9/10 they will try to be weird or different. And that idea to me is so old... not every film or music video has to be incredibly abstract to be good or... ''art'' you don't have to have an ''you guess the ending'' type end to a film. That's not deep... most of the time it shows you were to lazy to write an ending lol. Bjork, Diamanda Galas, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Frank Zappa, Swans, Grace Jones, Faith No More etc. They are some of my favorite musical artists. And, no matter how strange or weird people say they are. Every song and instrumental has meaning, thought, and a story behind it. It's not really that weird... in my opinion.

People like to create shit they think is weird to confuse people. When people are confused... they see it as art. And they think they're being forced to think about every aspect of a film or song. When in reality... most people i know who write these short films or songs. Are 100% bullshitting and don't know the meaning of what the wrote. They will show you a cum filled tree with a cross burned on it... cause it looks edgy. Not cause it means anything special.

Whew this was long! bottom line is... whether you're a filmmakers, musician, painter, writer, singer, designer etc. You don't have to go an Avant Garde route to be special! a great artist can show meaning through madness.

Water, Love, and lime juice.

But I love absurdist theater and film. You don't have to have an ending or a beginning just the middle. Love it! "Waiting for Godot" is a great absurdist work.
True artists have a meaning in what seems to be either ordinary or unorganized thoughts or actions on the surface.

Gunsnhalen said:

I posted this on my facebook... and thought i should post it here. Because it can be applied to many things! film, music, art, writing.

Being "weird" doesn't constitute intelligence. People (Especially film people good lord) think anything they dont understand is intelligent, they think anything weird is so artsy lol. A lot of musicians, directors, or writers i like are seen as ''weird'' but they do have meanings behind everything they do. The greatest artists seem to be able to show true meaning in life through crazy and revolutionary ideas. But being just a huge beam of madness in your conscience is as far as some ''artsy'' people go.

I see a lot of student films... and by a lot i will say 9/10 they will try to be weird or different. And that idea to me is so old... not every film or music video has to be incredibly abstract to be good or... ''art'' you don't have to have an ''you guess the ending'' type end to a film. That's not deep... most of the time it shows you were to lazy to write an ending lol. Bjork, Diamanda Galas, Peter Gabriel, Prince, Frank Zappa, Swans, Grace Jones, Faith No More etc. They are some of my favorite musical artists. And, no matter how strange or weird people say they are. Every song and instrumental has meaning, thought, and a story behind it. It's not really that weird... in my opinion.

People like to create shit they think is weird to confuse people. When people are confused... they see it as art. And they think they're being forced to think about every aspect of a film or song. When in reality... most people i know who write these short films or songs. Are 100% bullshitting and don't know the meaning of what the wrote. They will show you a cum filled tree with a cross burned on it... cause it looks edgy. Not cause it means anything special.

Whew this was long! bottom line is... whether you're a filmmakers, musician, painter, writer, singer, designer etc. You don't have to go an Avant Garde route to be special! a great artist can show meaning through madness.

Water, Love, and lime juice.

I agree with everything you just said and I like the way you articulated it.

There is nothing more annoying than someone talking about art and trying to over explain it.

Most people just randoly make up shit and hope it will sell. take Kanye's Bound 2 as an example. People keep saying it's a masterpiece with all these hidden message. Nope. It's a pile of steaming crap that he hopes will sell.

i'm sorry, could you repeat the question?

I agree. Being weird doesn't make you artsy.

The title of the thread is, "Being Weird Doesn't Make You Artsy." That statement is true.

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Just as, "Wearing sneakers & holding a basketball doesn't make you a basketball player."

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Or, "Playing with a scalpel doesn't make you a surgeon."

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Some people believe that being weird / different makes you artsy. It doesn't. There are plenty of very talented artists who are not weird / different and are plenty artsy. And, the converse is true. There are plenty of weird / different people who ARE NOT artsy at all. So, no, being "weird" or "different" in and of itself, is not artsy. You can be weird or different and it's just part of who you are inside (an expression of self) OR it can be a facade to make people believe that you're something you're not. If being different is truly a part of one's personality, that's all it is. . . . someone's personality. If being "different" is merely a put on, then it's an act or charade (more than likely to stand out & gain attention).

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[Edited 1/12/14 7:11am]

You reminded me of film director David Lynch

A friend of mine saw all of his pictures, all of them are mind fucking (Mulholland Dr, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Lost Highway...), he's proud of that, he always says: People who watch The Dark Knight or blockbusters like that lack ideas and depth.. And he thinks that, by understanding those kinda films - he never did, he's just proud he has seen and finished such deep & complicated shit - he's better than some of us.

The funny thing is your thread adresses people like David Lynch himself, for an instant, there is two kind of weird people, or unique people, those who are different and yet you can tell they're genius, it's like THEIR thing is to be different and sole, but you can't deny the fact that they are artsy and eclectic.... Others just think that by acting gay and going mad over little things make them look special, it doesn't, it's just horse crap, like, get over it.. You can't be special if you pretend to be special...

I always had this in my mind, I always wondered why the paintings with ONLY a black dot on a white paper,, or a little scratch, cost some serious $$$... For me if you can't express yourself clearly then your shit stays shit. That ain't no art.

Shawy89 said:

You reminded me of film director David Lynch

A friend of mine saw all of his pictures, all of them are mind fucking (Mulholland Dr, Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Lost Highway...), he's proud of that, he always says: People who watch The Dark Knight or blockbusters like that lack ideas and depth.. And he thinks that, by understanding those kinda films - he never did, he's just proud he has seen and finished such deep & complicated shit - he's better than some of us.

The funny thing is your thread adresses people like David Lynch himself, for an instant, there is two kind of weird people, or unique people, those who are different and yet you can tell they're genius, it's like THEIR thing is to be different and sole, but you can't deny the fact that they are artsy and eclectic.... Others just think that by acting gay and going mad over little things make them look special, it doesn't, it's just horse crap, like, get over it.. You can't be special if you pretend to be special...

I always had this in my mind, I always wondered why the paintings with ONLY a black dot on a white paper,, or a little scratch, cost some serious $$$... For me if you can't express yourself clearly then your shit stays shit. That ain't no art.

David Lync is actually a PERFECT example of this i love a lot of his films... and some not so much.

For example, Lost Highway is a mess. People can write as many essays on it as they want. I think it's just a movie that's supposed to mindfuck with no purpose. It's simple made to be a ''weird'' movie. I think Erasherhead, Mulholand Drive, Wild At Heart had a purpose.

Inland Empire does... but it also is just another excuse to mindfuck Lynch is a director who's incredibly subjective. And, as someone who went to film school. Film school peeps worship this dude.

Weird art is just like any other kind of art, if it evokes a strong enough response in the viewer it's worth something. Some art forms are based on cliches or predictable patterns. But I can enjoy a good sitcom like any 7 year old. I like a lot of art that people think is weird but I wouldn't say "I like weird stuff because it's so weird."

Some art is going to come at you in a form you never saw before, and if you're the kind of person that can be open to that experience and have some willingness to shift your own perception, you're likely to find pleasure in some things that other people consider too "weird". I don't think there's much I would consider "too weird" in art nowadays.

That being the case, you're not likely to impress me by doing something "weird". I'll try to come to it on its terms. If it ends up leaving me flat, so it does. It's got to have some artistic value beyond the novelty of being "oh so weird!"

Beefheart and Ornette sound weird to people, but hopefully some of them can also hear the blues in it, the restless energy, the humanity and the beauty. And then once they tune into THAT, it won't seem weird at all, just beautiful, painted in a color we hadn't seen before.

I see a lot of student films... and by a lot i will say 9/10 they will try to be weird or different.

That's not surprising though. Film school students are still learning the language. Of course their first attempts are going to be very stylized with a very specific point of reference. They want to show people where their hearts are at... "I am trying to make films like X Y and Z." And they want to show they have enough control of the camera to make something that looks intentional.

They may even feel, if respected artsy films go over their heads, that they have to do something nonsensical but arty looking in order to appear serious. That in and of itself is a pretty common attribute of student films. They're often very self-serious. Hey, you gotta learn this stuff. You gotta spend all week working on something and then see it look stupid on screen and decide to get rid of it.

Once you get into the realm of movies that have been commercially released, I very rarely see something by a young director and say oh, that director's trying to be so stylish, they have such a heavy hand with the camera. That's the kind of thing you EARN very gradually.

bobzilla77 said:

I see a lot of student films... and by a lot i will say 9/10 they will try to be weird or different.

That's not surprising though. Film school students are still learning the language. Of course their first attempts are going to be very stylized with a very specific point of reference. They want to show people where their hearts are at... "I am trying to make films like X Y and Z." And they want to show they have enough control of the camera to make something that looks intentional.

They may even feel, if respected artsy films go over their heads, that they have to do something nonsensical but arty looking in order to appear serious. That in and of itself is a pretty common attribute of student films. They're often very self-serious. Hey, you gotta learn this stuff. You gotta spend all week working on something and then see it look stupid on screen and decide to get rid of it.

Once you get into the realm of movies that have been commercially released, I very rarely see something by a young director and say oh, that director's trying to be so stylish, they have such a heavy hand with the camera. That's the kind of thing you EARN very gradually.

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Right on.

Film students get a BIG free pass for weirdness and attempted artsiness from me.

They are trying to figure out how the shit works and trying to make something utterly unique. The good ones will move on from that to articulate their ideas more coherently and in a way which connects to a wider audience without losing it's schtick.

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Go hard, young students! (and old)

It's unconventionalism that makes moments - especially art - special and memorable.


Besides, who's to say what's "normal" and what's "weird"? The concept of "weird" only exists because of the narrow-mindedness of people who can't deal with things they don't understand, or things that deviate from their every-day stereotyped thinking, so they discard it categorically by calling it "weird" or "not normal".

ZombieKitten said:

I like movies that are weird for the sake of weirdness I never thought about it in artsyness - it would have be European for me to think artsy Early 90s for me was all about David Lynch, Hal Hartley, Atom Egyan.

We have similar tastes in directors!

I think a lot of enneagram 4's (if you know what that means) try to be unique.. and the quick, cheap and easy way to be unique is to take the shortcut of being "weird" instead of having ones uniqueness being derivate of your substance. It takes years and year and years of work developing substance (whether that be a unique talent, skill set, unique knowledge, intelligence etc etc).. and most people want instant recognition of uniqueness without having to work for it. Then they see people like Gaga doing it and think they can get away with it to, not thinking that Gaga actually has amazing voice behind her weird schtick.