If I see something labeled "green" never again it will be too soon. In Target this morning (yes at 11am on a Monday. its so much quieter then) there was an entire wall of "green" t-shirts. They were either referencing being green, were actually made out of or by a "green" company, or was implying that being "green" is cool. Yes, let's be about the Earth, let's make smarter choices, let's move forward towards a cleaner environment. But Jesus, enough already! here- G-R-E-E-N
People like novelties. People like rarities. The moment a person's style becomes liked enough to be copied by others it becomes cool, and therefore in that alone is no longer cool. The coolness was the fact that it was completely unique and different. Now, being green for instance. Making people aware of being environmentally conscious is a good thing. Turning that movement into a mass marketing distribution machine is not. It's a fad that will not last more than oversized sunglasses and Uug boots.
The same thing happened with my absolute crush of the year, Ellen Page. Right now I am even frustrated those words just came out of me, because at this moment I have become a part of the entire thing I am preaching against. But, none the less...
It was like September of 2007 and I blogged about this upcoming movie that looks awesome. It was called Juno. At that point there were no blogs about it, no ad's, no marketing. There was no hype. I watched the trailer thought it looked awesome and couldn't wait to see it. Then, not long after it was playing in a few cities, but it was still small time. Then, all of a sudden it boomed. The Ellen Page phenomenon. I was so disappointed. This, as far away from cookie cutter as could be, talented actress was the be all and end all. Suddenly her individuality and uniqueness that made her her was marketed. It was exposed over and over again. The Hollywood veterans saw big things for her future. The critics wrote about the Oscar sleeper. She will be around for a long while. She is a fantastic actress (see Hard Candy). And let's face it, she's charming as hell. It's just too bad marketing people drank the bottle dry.
Like anything else one likes before too many people hear about it. All of a sudden there's a big boom, its everywhere and then it eventually dies and the masses move on to something else. The true test is when your team just finished their 22nd loosing season in a row and you're still there.
ps- I had a Kimya Dawson Pandora Station way before the film ever came out. Just wanted to plug that. Ok, so am I a little bitter that I can't have all these wonderful things to myself? Yeah, maybe.