What's my motivation?
Note: I’m changing the type of content here. I’m moving it in a direction I believe I’m longing for as a reader: short-form original content and sourced content with a bit of commentary. Sorry folks, just a bit tired of doing the reblogs, me-tooing, meme hot potato. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just trying to take a step out of the echo chamber by making some stuff I’d like to read.
I would consciously look for Elevation—remembering that it seems to come not through messages or happy endings or sad ones, but in moments when characters we believe in—even an animated robot garbageman—achieve something good.… One human life, closely observed, is everyone’s life. In the particular is the universal. Empathy is the feeling that most makes us human. — Roger Ebert
A lot of times I feel more empathetic for fictional characters than I do towards real people. Many would think that there’s something wrong with that, but I’m okay with it. I’m not sure if this is a personal fault or not. I’m not the sort of person to use a fantasy world as an escape from this one. I have friends. They’re wonderful. I like all of ‘em more than any fictional character and just about everything else in the world. But the majority of folks? The people I walk by on the street? The acquaintances I run into a few times a week? Even the creatives whose work I run into online? Nada. Not people. Might as well be warm fleshy sacks or robots. I’d be just as upset if Jack from LOST died than if the same thing happened to the dude I run into at the coffee shop every couple weeks. It’s harsh, but it’s how we cope.
There’s an adage in storytelling, that for a character to be believable, the audience needs to know and believe that character’s motivation. That’s why we can see a near-mute, anthropomorphic robot like Wall*E on screen and generally empathize with it. That’s why I get that tingling feeling in the back of my throat from anonymous strangers on PostSecret. And that’s why I’m numb to the people I pass on the street and half the artists/designers/illustrators/creatives whose websites I pass by on my internet travels. I don’t know their motivation or what they want.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there’s a real power to letting someone understand and know why you’re doing something. We get it so often from fictional characters so we can suspend disbelief, but so infrequently from real, live people. It’s special in real life. It almost feels like letting someone that deep is a true measure of love. It’s not for everyone.
If you’re a creative person, and truly love and appreciate your audience and fans, let them know why you’re doing it. They’ll be all the more loyal for it.
With that being said, why do I make my work? I make my work because I want to document the optimism and forget the negativity. I want to surround myself with things that give me more energy rather than draining it. And I want to share that. I want to have a net positive effect on how the viewer feels. Other people want to address deep topics, expose injustice, and question convention. I just want to remind you that you’re human. I think there’s plenty good in that.
