The art that is lost to algorithms

There is a frenzy about a bollywood movie running in the theatres. To be honest, I liked the movie too. What bothered me was that people around me were quoting the movie as a historical fact.

So I wrote about it.

The ideas I wanted to convey in the piece were:

1. History is complex.

2. Don’t take history lessons from movies.

I love writing. I take everything I write as a creative writing challenge. The challenge here was, how can I convey these two ideas in an interesting way?

I chose a personal anecdote to drive the point and deliver the final punchline. You set something up and then you pay off. My payoff was an acerbic insult.

In my defence, I was calling anyone who takes history lessons from movies, an idiot. I thought, who would own up to such a thing, right?

Well, some people did, and they did let me know that they were upset, in comments and in DMs.

I am not a confrontational person. I do not usually trade insults. And I definitely don’t want to upset people. I write about goofy everyday topics and try to make people laugh.

Making internet people angry is not my vibe.

But something else happened with that piece of writing. This 500-word note was the most-read thing I’ve ever written.

Once I realized that, my first thought was, “Maybe I should write more of this ‘edgy stuff’.”

I am not going to lie, I was really tempted.

Then it occurred to me, the algorithm wants me to churn out such content. This is how everything around me is curated. Everything I consume is not only channelled but also shaped by the invisible hand of technology.

Songs are made so that they have a hook to be played in pubs.

Choreographers are designing dance steps that can be performed for reels.

Podcast discussions are tailored to cut ‘clips’ from provocative questions.

Every form of art is being shaped by the medium of delivery. Even when writing essays on Substack, I have started tailoring my writing in a way that a neat excerpt of the piece can be quoted later as a Note. (Like this one.)

I have been pitching TV shows and movies to production houses for a while now.

I am not naive. I understand that every writer thinks they have the best idea ever conceived, but the kind of template of “what works” that the platforms peddle really gets my goat.

“The idea is great, but in the first 3 minutes, something huge needs to happen.”

“This is too complex, make it second screen worthy.”

“As per our data, our key demographic is a male audience, so change the protagonist from female to male.”1

In all our lives, the best moments while experiencing art are often when we encounter something and say, “I never knew this was even possible.”

I think every person who is creating some form of art is feeling their hand being forced into making something that will get as many eyeballs as possible.

Makes you wonder.

What about the art that we will never be able to see? The art that is currently being sacrificed at the altar of chasing virality.

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