Passion, Enthusiasm & Emotion

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Seeing so many Facebook posts about how miserable 2011 was, for some reason got me reflecting on how people and society have changed over the last 30 years.

   I remember during the early ‘90’s a new kind of attitude starting to emerge in popular culture- a kind of detached irony, a dry sarcasm… a sort of “too cool to be impressed” type of thing.  

   Over the last 15 years especially, showing any kind of enthusiasm or excitement became the epitome of uncool.  Characters in TV shows and movies began talking with a flat monotone, making snarky comments to each other (You could see it in shows like Seinfeld, Daria, in all of Joss Whedon’s dialogue… and now you would be hard pressed to find a show that wasn’t written like that.)  Musicians stand still, expressionless while they stare at their feet and play.  Even cartoons have become joyless, sexless.  

   It’s obvious to me that this attitude has infected all of us, to the point where most people are afraid to come out of their shell and act like they give a shit about life.  I feel really badly for people born in the last 20 years because they haven’t known it any other way.  We sit on our computers and bitch and moan about our aches and pains and how we’re so tired, and everything sucks…the most positivity we seem to be capable of is clicking a “Like” button.

    The sad thing is, I really believe that what we all want more than anything else is to feel passionate, enthusiastic, inspired, ALIVE- and confident to show it.  But what happens if you do?  Sideways glances and eyerolls and comments like “What’s SHE so happy about?”  Look at how angry people were about Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch.  Instead of being glad that there was another happy weirdo in the world, people were furious!

   While few of us want to take the risk of showing enthusiasm, we are all naturally drawn to it.  It’s just another word for charisma.  For me, a great example of this is director David Lynch.  I love watching Lynch interviews because he is inspired by EVERYTHING- an old factory, a piece of wood, a dead cat- he looks at everything in the world as art; and the only art I care about is art created from passion, enthusiasm or emotion.

   Enthusiasm is a contagious energy- and so is negativity.  Maybe 2012 is a good time to start looking for things to be excited about- and let yourself share it with the people around you.

Happy New Year!

Shane