I've been pointedly refusing to use the term "content creators" to refer to artists anymore, because I want to make art for me and the people I care about, not the endless demands of the algorithm. I'm not trying to Produce Content, I want to make art.
So it is deeply, deeply irritating when I use the word "artist" in a post and it gets endlessly reblogged with people asking "but what about writers? but what about actors? but what about musicians? but what about [x]?"
All types of art are included in the term "artist," god damn it. "Artist" does not just mean "someone who draws pictures."
I don't know why so many people keep taking this post as "yeah, we should come up with a better word for content creators!"
THAT WORD ALREADY EXISTS.
THE WORD IS "ARTIST," Y'ALL.
THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS DAMN POST.
The word "artist" is all-encompassing! By! Definition! We don't need to keep reinventing the fucking wheel!
Do you make art? Any kind of art? Drawings, paintings, comics, novels, songs, dances, photographs, performances, anything creative?
THAT'S ART, BABE. YOU ARE AN ARTIST.
RESIST CAPITALIST COMMODIFICATION OF ART AND CLAIM THE DAMN TITLE.
People keep trying to "gotcha" me on this post by bringing up YouTube video essayists for some reason.
Babes, I have news for you. The YouTube video essays are also art.
Writing, editing, graphic design, sound design...there are actually multiple art forms involved in producing a video essay.
It's art.
Y'all's definitions of "art" are limited, and some of them are quite frankly pretentious. "Art" is not a hyper-specific term, nor is art limited to specific types of people. Art is human. Humans are artists by nature. We make shit. It's what we do.
No amount of "but what about--" is going to get me to change my mind on this. If you make shit, you are an artist. You are allowed to claim the term. It doesn't matter what kind of art, it doesn't matter how often you make the art, it doesn't matter if you're doing it for pay or for a hobby, you are an artist.
My notes are nothing but "hey OP would you consider [x] a form of art?"
Half of them are sloppy attempts at a "gotcha" and half of them are people genuinely scared that they "don't count" as artists.
The only other thing I can think to add at this point is that it's awful how capitalism has poisoned everyone's minds so fucking much that we're alienated from a primal human activity: making things with reckless abandon and pure enjoyment.
YouTube essays? Art. Stick figures? Art. Things you never intend to share with anyone but yourself? Art. Scratching lines in the dirt with a stick because you're bored outside? Art.
"Art" is an umbrella term. Get the capitalist brainrot out of your head and remember that you are an artist.