PressPausePlay is a movie about the evolution and democratization of art. Art used to be exclusively for the elite, those who had the money to sit around and make it instead of work, or pay to see it. In modern times things have changed drastically. Due to advances in technology making art can be done by anyone. Take Olafer Arnolds for example. He is an average Icelandic man who downloaded musci software from the internet, started messing around with it, and is now preforming a symphony with the Manchester school of music. As the opening line of the movie says "The human spirit, when its allowed to be made manifest through art, invariably is going to create a greatness. It doesn't matter what the medium is, it doesn't matter what the financials are, or what the delivery vehicles are, when humans make stuff, we tend to make interesting things." Now, thanks to modern technology every human can create interesting pieces of art, no matter where they're from, or how much money they have. They can make a song, and put it on Soundcloud or Youtube. Movies can be put straight on to Youtube, and anyone can see them. They can make a piece of art and upload it to Facebook, Instagram, or Tumblr. All they need to share their creativity with the world is a connection to the internet. The democratization of art is taking over the world, and letting everyone express their creativity for the whole world to see.
Though the democratization of art is coming on at a rapid pace, many people that were part of the elitist, old world art culture do not like it. They fear that art will no longer be artistic, and it will all become mediocre trash. "A young Hitchcock or a young Scorsese wouldn't make it into the movie business today. They'd slap their film onto Youtube and it would get lost in the ocean of garbage." (Moby) Though many artists share this same opinion, many others disagree. There is a lot of garbage on Youtube, but the good videos get noticed. The talented artists who post their videos on Youtube tend to have them watched more than the videos that are bad. The same concept applies for Soundcloud, Instagram, and Tumblr for other art mediums. Good work gets noticed. There are also other ways for talented artists to get their name out there, and show their ability besides the mainstream websites. Photographers and painters can enter their pieces to art shows, and have them displayed in galleries, filmmakers can enter their movies into film festivals such as Sun Dance, and musicians can preform concerts either independently or opening for better known bands. All of these things can't be done by untalented artists, but allow those with talent to make a name for themselves. The democratization of art makes doing it possible for anyone, which won't dilute and hide the good works, but allow more of them to be made and appreciated while all of the sub-par art is hardly noticed. It is pointless to be against the democratization of art because, whether you like it or not, it is happening. The democratization of art is a great thing for the world because it allows everyone to express their creativity, and provides so much more art for humans to appreciate.
