It’s time to get your kawaii on, shoujo-san. Here are some fun tunes to play when you’re late for your first day of your shining high school life, sprinting down the street with buttered toast hanging out of your mouth! Ganbatte!
I’ve recently been getting back into the artsy side of YouTube. Watching speedpaints, redraws, and other various artist-inspired topics has really been captivating my attention as of late. With all my art video binging, I’ve also stumbled upon some interesting topics, one of which I wanted to bring up in today’s post.
Before I delve further into this topic, I want to give you a brief explanation as to what art block or artist’s block is. If you’ve never heard of it, art block is something that artists experience from time to time when they feel unmotivated or uninspired, or they just can’t seem to come up with any good ideas, or the projects they try to create just aren’t turning out the way they want them to. It’s a feeling of being stuck in a rut where your art side seems as though it’s cut off from you or blocked: art block.
Okay, so if that’s what art block is, why is there a debate over it?
Well, the argument about art block is whether it’s actually real or not: you might say you’re uninspired, but isn’t that just an excuse to be lazy and not put out any work? Especially when artists claim to have art block for long periods of time, weeks, months, or sometimes even years, how can that be a real thing?
For me, I’ll be honest right off the bat and say that personally, I do believe that art block is real. I’ve been making art all my life, and I can say that there have definitely been times in my life where the creative juices just aren’t flowing for me.
In my opinion, art block is not an excuse for an artist to be lazy, rather, I see it as a form of creative fatigue. If someone is doing something over and over again, constantly, odds are they’re going to exhaust themselves after a while. Even if it’s not physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion is a real thing and I’m sure everyone has experienced it at one point or another.
Been doing math problems for three hours and suddenly even simple problems are becoming a challenge? That’s mental exhaustion. Or that topic for a paper you need to write is just not popping into your head? That’s a bit of a creative hindrance. Or for some reason all your drawings of people are looking all stiff and weird and you don’t know how to change it? Art block.
So if everyone experiences mental exhaustion, why is “art block” its own “thing?” Well, if you ask me, those of us who choose creative endeavors rely on new inspiration daily, sometimes multiple times a day, for days, months, or years. We need to always pump out new ideas and then figure out how to make those ideas become a reality.
Sometimes, we just run out of ideas.
Or we’ve exhausted ourselves to the point where we can’t translate what’s in our head to the real world. Or we’re just out of practice. Or sometimes, there just isn’t an explanation. It just…happens.
Lastly, I want to address the idea that art block is just an excuse for being lazy. First, I’d say that art block certainly could be used as a way for an artist to be lazy. However, many artists who experience art block might acknowledge the fact that they’re stuck in a rut, but continue to work through their block anyway. Their art might not be up to their standards, or they might not be posting it publicly because they don’t like it, but sometimes lack of inspiration doesn’t mean giving up altogether.
I’d also like to say that art block could also translate to…perhaps…get this…the artist just needs a break. 🙂
I don’t know about you, but I’m not a morning person. At all. But nice morning music definitely helps! Here are some songs and tracks from my own playlist that I listen to just about every morning!
Okay, I wanted to take a second to talk about something that I’ve noticed in a few modern shows that I’ve been watching.
It’s no secret that I’m a HUGE fan of the shows Miraculous Ladybug and Star vs. the Forces of Evil. I was never really into the whole “magical girl” genre growing up, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve become a major fan of the modern twist on magical girls, but also of these shows in particular.
See, there’s something that I’ve noticed with these shows, and it’s not just the upbeat atmosphere, the strong female leads, or the interesting storytelling.
What stood out to me was the “friendzoning.”
If you’ve somehow never heard of the term, let me give you a quick rundown: you confess your feelings to your crush, but they don’t feel the same way about you. Instead, they tell you that they “just want to be friends.” Congratulations! You’ve just earned yourself a one-way ticket to the infamous friendzone.
Now back to Miraculous and Star…in both of these shows, not only do our heroines end up friend-zoned at one point, but their male sidekicks end up getting kicked to the side (pun intended) at some point too.
In many mainstream media shows and stories, but also in real life situations, friend-zoning is seen as something terrible, something dreadful, and something that needs to be “fixed” in order to move forward with a relationship. Now, don’t get me wrong, unrequited love isn’t typically a good thing, is hurtful and can definitely strain a relationship. But too often “the friendzone” is seen as this dreaded place…especially for men.
In my experience, I’ve come to see the friendzone as this kind of kryptonite that was the bane of all men’s relationships with women. Growing up, my friends would talk about it, make fun of others who were “stuck” in it, and discuss ways on how to get out of it. Online posts would show up with ways on how to help you “escape the friendzone” and it became a popular topic of discussion. Of course, the friendzone affected women too, but it seemed to have an entirely different hold altogether on men (literally when looking up “friendzone” pictures for this post, nearly every one of them was about men being stuck in the friendzone, not women).
In many shows and media today, the friendzone is used as an overarching theme that is a challenge to the person “stuck” in the friendzone, and the constant goal for this character is to change the relationship. The character is often shown as being pitiable or unsatisfied with the way that things are in his relationship, and dislikes the fact that he is “just friends” with his crush.
Take Finn from Adventure Time for example. In the earlier seasons of Adventure Time, we are introduced to how Finn the Human has romantic feelings towards Princess Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom. Over and over again, however, PB is shown rejecting Finn’s feelings for her and cares for him deeply as a friend instead. This upsets Finn until he ends up dating Flame Princess, but eventually they break up and he once again finds himself in the friendzone. Because of this, he is often shown as feeling sorry for himself, first with Bubblegum, and later on with Flame Princess.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with stories involving unrequited love. It’s an interesting plot point, makes for emotional tension and makes characters deeper and more relatable. I don’t even have a problem with men being in the friendzone or stories about men being in the friendzone. My problem lies with how the friendzone becomes another way for men to blame women on not giving them what they want: a romantic and/or sexual relationship.
Call me a feminist (because surprise! I am one 🙂 ) but I don’t see the friendzone as something to pity men about. Yes, not having the kind of relationship you want sucks, no matter your gender. However, if someone rejects you time and time again and consistently tells you “no, I’m not interested”…you see where I’m going with this? I’ve seen all too many men expect women to owe them a romantic relationship for “being there for them” or for “listening to their problems.” Now, I know this might come as a shock to you but…surprise again! That’s how friendships work. Maybe instead of throwing yourself a pity party with all your bros when your feelings aren’t reciprocated, you can, I don’t know, move on? Or, a bigger question I pose…
Isn’t a positive friendship something to be cherished and appreciated?
This brings me to back to my initial thoughts with the two shows I mentioned from earlier, Miraculous Ladybug and Star vs. the Forces of Evil. In these shows, we see our ladies friendzoned, hurt, and in Star’s case, move on while still remaining friends with her crush, Marco. She even seems to get over him once rejected and dates someone else. With Miraculous Ladybug, we see Marinette, the heroine of the series, slightly hurt when hearing how her love interest, Adrien, thinks of her as “just a friend” (insert fandom meme here) but cheers up when Tikki reminds her that being friends with Adrien is a positive thing.
We also get to see a flipside in these shows, with Marco eventually realizing his feelings for Star and Adrien (Chat Noir) being in love with Ladybug (Marinette in disguise). The important part with both these dynamics is that despite their feelings, these boys still constantly support their lady friends and appreciate their friendships. While perhaps upset when initially rejected, which is completely reasonable, these guys recover, accept their situation, and still support and remain friends with the girls they love without shaming them for not loving them back (again, Chat Noir initially reacted harshly to Ladybug when she “stood him up,” but later in the same episode apologized and admitted that he was happy that Ladybug considered him a friend).
This is a side of male characters that we don’t often see in media. It’s a refreshing take on how men maturely handle unrequited love, and in my opinion, the correct way. They don’t blame their crushes, they don’t constantly seek pity, instead, they take their situations in stride and remain not just friends, but trusted allies and support for when their friends need them. They don’t necessarily give up on their feelings or aren’t hurt, but they gracefully accept how their crushes feel and…get this…they’re happy that their crush considers them a trusted and reliable friend.
I guess my main point is that I’m really happy that modern cartoons are making some huge moves towards challenging gender roles, taking on heavy topics, and really making an effort to connect with their audience on a new level. From Steven Universe, to Dragons: Race to the Edge, to The Legend of Korra, to the shows I’ve mentioned in this post (including Adventure Time), we’re seeing emotional men, strong women in leadership roles, and standards from the past confronted. I love how these shows are encouraging children to see things from new perspectives: how girls shouldn’t feel obligated or guilted into liking a boy back because he has feelings for her, how boys can look up to not just the men in their life, but the women also, and how being strong can nowadays be seen and appreciated in many different ways. And of course, how we can all appreciate and cherish the people we love and care about.
Also, Finn x PB for life 😀 ❤
What are your thoughts on friendzoning in general and in the media? Do you think it affects men and women differently? WHAT ARE YOUR SHIPS IN THE SHOWS I MENTIONED PLEASE TELL ME by leaving a me a comment! ❤
It’s a challenge for the best of us to remember that we are beautiful, intelligent, and powerful, no matter what social media tells us. Please never forget how wonderful you are, despite living in the “perfect world” that social media tells you you should be living in.
I thought I was depressed because of social media.
I posted a picture of myself on Instagram and five minutes later, I deleted it, because nobody liked it. I thought I looked pretty in it. I genuinely loved the picture, but in a span of five minutes, I decided I didn’t like it anymore, because nobody else did.
Two weeks later I posted it again with a stronger filter and increased the brightness, and I got 57 likes, and I felt good again, but then an overwhelming feeling of disappointment washed over me. I liked the first picture better, so why didn’t I keep it up?
It’s because I define my worth by how many likes I get on a picture or a post, and the realization of that fact actually causes my stomach to flop.
We’re the generation of social media. We all have four core social media accounts…
The Geek Girl's Detox 