Functional vs. Ferocious
As all types of media become increasingly artificial and automated the question we all need to keep asking ourselves is “why”?
“Why should this film be crafted with human hands?”
“Why does it matter that this graphic was custom-made?”
“Why should this copy follow an algorithm and not someone’s restless longing to be understood?”
In a “Too Long, Didn’t Read” era, why would anyone choose to write a book, let alone read one?
Forming before our eyes is an ever-widening chasm between “functional media” and its opposite, something I’m calling “ferocious media,” the kind of work Kafka would say should “stab us,” work that ought to be “the axe for the frozen sea within us.”
There’s nothing wrong with functional media. STOP signs don’t need to challenge our paradigm, nor should they. They’re manufactured to ensure the current paradigm is clear, standardized, and easy to follow.
Ferocious media is about turning that paradigm on its head. It’s less focused on storytelling and storyselling, but centered around storychanging.
What narrative needs to be disassembled, reconstructed, and recultured?
What frozen sea within our hearts needs to be identified and cut through?
It’s the kind of work I strive to make and help others make as well.
Where is the ice getting thick? And more importantly, why?