vivaldiscool wrote:If you seriously don't care about the audience, then why post it? just leave it on your comp to amuse yourself and save you from those bothersome opinions. The fact is that anyone post an amv, at least to some degree, wants some type of recognition. So you've made a kick@$$ video, whatxha gonna do without anyone else? Pat yourself on the back and call it a day? You can tell yourself how good you did all you want, but it's meaningless, in the end our audience is all that validates our successes or failures. If we're reviewed favoribly by an audience with no bias for or against you. Then you've proven to yourself that something you made yourself has unequivacle meaning, it justifys you. It changes you from "the person who looks on" to "the person who people are looking at". Ultimently it's about acknowledgment. Acknowledgment of our opinions, our skill, and our being. In the end, all we do in life, "the main goal" so to speak, is for some form of acknowledgment.
This may sound horridly philosophical/emo, but without some kind of acknowledgement, our life is meaningless, and we may as well not exist. it's all we live for.
But are opinions really all that bothersome? Personally, I find it a nice venue for receiving criticism, if it is used properly. Any artist that doesn't accept criticism seriously limits their possibilities to grow. Through criticism you can gain new ideas, techniques, and perhaps see things in a way you never would have, each allowing you to grow depending on how to use it. I'm not saying you can't grow in any other way, but it does limit your possibilities.
And do you really need others to prove something to yourself? I know many artists who continue to edit and re-work their pieces because they themselves are not satisfied with it. While the rest of the world may have considered the piece a master work, the artist isn't satisfied. By your reasoning, the artist should have proven that his work was complete based on the opinions of others. Then why still work on it? Why strive to make it better? It's all to please the artist, prove to themselves that it is finished.
Now grant it, many people who continually re-work their pieces will never be satisfied. But that isn't what I'm trying to get at here. Is there really one blanket statement that actually covers everyone's drive? Can any one statement be held true for even the whole AMV community (as a small facet of the domain of artwork) that would cover everyone in regard to how each creator treats their audience? We could probably argue this until the thread becomes nothing but a meme war and still not come up with an answer.
Me personally, I'm leaning toward no.
