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| Pinocchio: is he in music, film, TV, advertising, politics, gambling, books or comix? You decide! |
Same reason there's little honesty in Hollywood, music, or advertising: it's a business, and the impression of success creates success. Fake it until you make it, as they say. It's about manipulating human psychology and presenting the proper facade to do so. Politicians, demagogues, and Demogorgon do the same thing.
You only want weaponized authenticity in marketing.
Roughly ten years ago I attended TCAF and took in a few panels, including a publisher one. I have never forgotten what they said: if an artist said, publicly on the internet, that comics was hard, that they struggled, that there was no money, etc, they would be blacklisted and declared persona non grata. These publishers were absolutely adamant that they would not publish such people. They only wanted people who put forward a sunny, optimistic happy-go-lucky impression of the comics publishing industry, and anyone who said otherwise would be banned from their imprints.
Fortunately, my own publisher believes first and foremost in publishing cool sh*t, and has never sought to muzzle me in any way. The art comes first. I have always respected and been grateful for that.
But I've never forgotten that TCAF talk.
And you know what?
I get it.
We 'artistes' can be emo. Moping, wallowing in our own conflicted and emotionally tumultuous nature, and outright depression is endemic in the arts and is not a draw for the general public. Well. For most, it isn't. I've listened to normies talk about poor souls who are quite obviously suffering from depression as 'freaks' to be ostracized, and worse. That said, some comics DO dive deep into analysis of the twisted human psyche, and have built healthy careers exposing their own innermost vices and flaws.
The world is a funny place.
Different strokes for different folks.
But for a general audience, positivity sells. Whether it's right or not to edit yourself publicly is not the point. The point is that, if you want a career in comics, you have to manage your public persona and appear (and act) in a cooperative way that makes you someone people want to work with.
It's also good to remember that many, if not most, publishers are not necessarily artists themselves. Some are business people, and for them, comics are not art, they're a product, like shoe laces, widgets or flea powder. A commodity. The publisher wants to make money, hit the best-seller lists, and sell options to Hollywood; they don't want miserable, cantankerous 'artistes' spoiling the gravy train with all their self-indulgent whining. They'd rather shut them up with threats of excommunication.
The resultant sunny picture leaves publishers and the public happy, and with higher sales, hopefully the artist as well. At least with success they can afford antidepressants.
Have you ever seen Pleasantville?
The down side of all this is that young, aspiring artists (and actors and musicians) get an unrealistic idea of what their aspirational field is really like, having drunk deep from the hype machine. The hype machine, however, is NOT for artists. All the puff pieces and posturing is to help sell product. It's part of the game. It greases the wheels of commerce, it has a function, but it's got absolutely nothing to do with what it's like to actually work in the field.
Remember the Me Too movement? Good ol' Harvey, champion of independent films! Little bit of cognitive dissonance there now. Comics has its Harveys, too. And the music industry... the less said the better.
If you're an artist, don't pay attention to hype, fame or fortune. Those aren't good motivators for artists. Well. Many? I don't create according to spreadsheets, focus groups and audience analysis, and can't imagine authentic art coming out of such an approach. But then, I'm a small press indie kind of guy. I'm not doing billion dollar blockbusters. And if you're investing millions into a project, you want to protect your investment and make it as sure a thing as possible...
Have you seen Matrix Resurrections?
If you want authenticity, don't look to advertising. Go behind the scenes.
It's like sausages.
You don't want to know how they're made unless you really have to.
