Pop creativity is midlife crisis creativity of established people. It requires no sacrifice, no travel into uncomfortable places. Instead, it's rooted in the worldview that an upper-middle-class "BoBo" can achieve true creativity just by being more of what he or she is. Just be the same thing, with more energy, more self-esteem, and that creativity you had in college and lost (a little each day) paying dues and climbing the corporate ladder can come back-- and, what's more, without any concessions on income, social status, or the ability to get ones' children into elite schools. That never happens. Use it or lose it. If you keep growing that creativity, day by day, you'll be at your peak in your 40s and 50s. (You might be obscure and poor, but you'll be creative.) If you let it go in early adulthood, though, you never get it back. That's just how it works.
The dark side of pop creativity is that it allows these deflated, managerial sorts to believe otherwise-- that creativity can come without sacrifice and opposition, that they can "have it all". It allows them to ignore the truth of their lives, which is that they made a trade they can't reverse. If you want to accomplish anything creatively, you have to have an extreme tolerance of social disapproval that less than 1% of people have, and you have that when you're young and before you're established. For people to continue to grow creatively, their 40s to 60s are their prime; but for the ones who lose that spark, 45+ (after two decades of long work hours and social climbing) is too late to get it back.
You make some good points, but I'd disagree that it's too late when you're 45+ to regain your creative spark. Regaining your creative spark requires being honest with yourself, tolerating the frustration that comes from your output not living up to your vision, and being willing to try new things to see what sticks. The social disapproval aspect you pick up on is secondary, creativity doesn't have to be shared and even if it does it's unnecessary for your audience to know who you are, if you choose to release your output without disclosing your identity.
It really annoys me when I see people trying to limit what others can do based on the number of times someone has been around the sun. If you are physically and mentally able, then it's all just time and effort.
You make some good points, but I'd disagree that it's too late when you're 45+ to regain your creative spark.
Maybe it's not about "too late", but I think it gets a lot harder to change yourself as you get older. If you're on a good track, you're more likely to stay on a good track; the same for the less-than-good tracks. Creative people will continue to gain creative competence, which is why most peak in their 50s-- it takes a long time to get good-- but I think that someone who voluntarily gives his creativity up, in order to become a social climber, if he hasn't reclaimed it by middle age, probably won't.
There are a lot of people who go into banking and consulting expecting to cash out, retire young, and become novelists or philosophers. Very few of those actually do it.
> There are a lot of people who go into banking and consulting expecting to cash out, retire young, and become novelists or philosophers. Very few of those actually do it.
There are lots of people who don't go into banking because they want to write a novel first. Very few of those people actually do it either.
Perhaps we are talking about different scenarios. From what I'm reading (correct me if I'm wrong), you're talking about people who stop being creative and never recover the urge to be creative again. The scenario I have in mind are people who stop being creative, and find when they want to be creative again they don't know how to do it. There's a subtle difference, and it comes down to honesty. If someone is honest about their intentions, then what I'm saying is there's a process they can follow to rebuild their creative senses. If they're not truly committed then there's not much point discussing what comes out of that half-arsed intention.
That being said, there are plenty of people (myself included), that use these dreams to get them through the drudgery of their working day. Giving hope to those without has merit, but it's worth even more when pursued.
The dark side of pop creativity is that it allows these deflated, managerial sorts to believe otherwise-- that creativity can come without sacrifice and opposition, that they can "have it all". It allows them to ignore the truth of their lives, which is that they made a trade they can't reverse. If you want to accomplish anything creatively, you have to have an extreme tolerance of social disapproval that less than 1% of people have, and you have that when you're young and before you're established. For people to continue to grow creatively, their 40s to 60s are their prime; but for the ones who lose that spark, 45+ (after two decades of long work hours and social climbing) is too late to get it back.