unoriginal

i read once, that nothing we do anymore, is original. everything that can be done, has been done, and we are just mixing and matching different concepts and ideas, to create variations of things already in existence. while this can only be answered on a personal level, depending on your interpretation on what is 'original' and what is 'hybrid,' there is little room for question that the concept is an interesting one.

on the one hand you have the adherent idea, that indeed, nothing is original. been there, done that. and for those who think this is far fetched, utterly preposterous, think again. a simple analogy comes to mind as a rubik's cube - it has been in the (pre-determined) perfect state at some point. and things have just been mixed up such that it seems random and disorder. but to the trained eye (or even mind, considering some people solve cubes while blindfolded), there is method to the madness. and coming full circle back to the analogue, the originality of each locus on the cube is permanent, even though the state of the locus is fleeting.

on the other hand, how is it that there is perpetuality in discovery? surely, if everything is 'known' and we just need to ruffle a few feathers to find the correct combination to answer specific questions, then someone would have come up with answers to those important questions. like where do you place your hand when you're kissing? or what colour of mascara says 'i'm affectionately sensitive' but avoids the 'emo' label?

but really, it's easy to create situations where both ends of the spectrum may hold true. maybe its duality concerning reality is where the truth lies, but that, again, i think is something to answer on a personal level.

what i do want to hear from people, is if you are unoriginal, or if you think that (independent of this idea) everything is dissimilar from what has been done, and everything anyone does, anywhere, is truly 'original' (returning to brackets because, again, it goes back to definitions), how do you cope with it? plagiarism and unoriginality is one of my personal pet peeves, which i can unbiasedly say is not shared by everyone, but still, i like to think that it's a question which we find disturbing on an ethical, if not professional level.

i think jean-luc godard summarised it best when he said:

“It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to."

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