EP. 13: content creation vs. artistic expression: why we feel like we need to monetize hobbies | video essay

0:00 Hey guys! It's Reese :) Welcome to Reese Grey Analyzes, and I'm so glad you guys decided to Adventure with me today. On Reese Grey Analyzes we look at creations and experiences in art, media, music, and even video games to explore exactly why we think the way we think question what we believe and learn something new~ and today we're going to be talking about the "era of branding yourself", again, but on a more personal level for the everyday person we're going to be talking about why "build your personal brand" though a very popular tidbit of advice for even the most average person, may not be helpful advice.

0:39 Now, is your goal to make content for an audience as your job, or is it to create for creation's sake, and artistic expression? We're going to be getting into really abstract feelings here, talking about how feelings and emotions come into play when it comes to putting yourself out there online. And that stress--- so, that pressure of creating value causes creative people by making people feel like they have to turn their creativity into dollar signs, and that's where we get into this murky intersection of content creation as a job an artistic expression as a hobby... and a lot of people desire to do their Hobbies as Jobs because there's this notion that it would make working a lot more tolerable. What breaks my heart is when I see people who are "grinding" or "hustling" for years and not changing anything about their creation or their marketing or their craft and hoping to get lucky or viral and gain an audience off of luck and virality, while putting their family or their personal life at a detriment of not being realistic about the quality of their creative work.

1:51 Your hobbies does not have to be your job, you can just have hobbies. Because sometimes, artists and true creatives don't make great content creators, because content creation isn't artistic expression... it's a job. And people put so much pressure on themselves to get this outer validation instead of just letting themselves enjoy creating something and enjoy having a hobby. I think this puts people down this slippery slope because you hear people say "oh I love to play video games, so I'm going to Twitch stream..." only to hop on stream to not have any Charisma or skill to be a good streamer and spend hours upon hours online performing to no one. Which is okay! If you're realistic and do not expect growth or for it to support you monetarily. Or people who love photography, and take photos they love and enjoy and have value in that themselves... which is legitimate! [Only] to post them to Instagram, and nobody looks at them... because they're bad at marketing. Not because the pictures are bad, or they don't have skill, which again... is for fine. If you're realistic. So this popular notion of "selling yourself" and "self-branding" romanticizes content Creation in a way that makes it seem like people will actually care about who you are because usually they don't. I think you will get the most emotional validation out of your content creation if you're honest with yourself as a content creator.

3:25 It's not what the internet can do for you, it's the value you can provide to your audience. And of course, every person has value. But to be a successful content creator, you have to create value for an audience. But to just be creative and create for creation's sake, you don't owe anybody anything. you don't have to make money off your Creations for your Creations to have value in an artistic sense but if you are a content creator your success is valued based off of the reception of your audience and there's this push and pull that creatives feel and the validation that they feel by growing their audience. In a way, creation for creation's sake in itself is not widely celebrated. And I think a lot of times, people are afraid to talk about how bad it feels to spend hours doing anything creative whether it be writing a script for a video essay on YouTube or painting a Gundam or making an original song only for it to be seen by almost nobody. Which happens. And sometimes it's not the fault of the Creator, but just because of the oversaturation of content on the internet. Now how to cope with that feeling is determined by your goals, and I think a lot of people would save themselves a lot of grief if they were both honest with themselves about what they want from content creation, and if we as an audience allowed people to just create and do things for fun.

4:56 So, that sentiment was pretty much inspired by my last video essay I did that talked about how content creators get this unfair hate because people do not like their art, music, or Creation--- in a subjective sense. Like when I brought up Sevyn Satiiva and how people left hate comments just because they didn't like her song. It's exactly this notion of disallowing people to be different that boxes in creatives to create to please as wide as an audience as possible in order to avoid public scrutiny, instead of appreciating differences and celebrating someone's unique sense of self, and simply moving on when you don't like something. People like to hide behind their screens and cast Judgment at creative people when they're not brave enough to put themselves out there.

5:46 In this era of branding yourself, there's this unspoken feeling that your success is measured by the influence that you have, the bigger the number of subscribers... the bigger the number of views... the better that you're doing. And the awesome thing about the internet is that anyone at any time anywhere can create whatever they want and it doesn't need to be high quality, it doesn't need to be serious. We all know the barrier for entry for Content creation is low, and that's a good thing for casual creators! But also lends to this perception that anyone can do it. Anyone can be a content creator, because anyone can brand themselves. We see people go viral and gain audiences on what looks like low effort content, and think "I could do that too". "That looks fun, I want to be famous for being famous, and being myself". But having the goal of being a content creator because it's fun, and you just want to be yourself... in itself is unrealistic.

6:50 [Jules Terpark quoted] With the oversaturation of content just saying you want to be a YouTuber a tick tock or a podcaster isn't actually saying anything, if you're our goal is to be a Creator and accumulate an audience. If you do not have a concrete answer for the value that you offer, unfortunately at most times you will fade into the white noise obscurity that is online. When you think of other traditional careers such as comedians, researchers, medical professionals, economists teachers, artists, or even parents.... they're all doing what they do in real life as a profession and they are creators who create digital content on those careers, offering either advice or entertainment. Being a successful Creator is at most times just an extension of your non-digitized life, which is what gives the phrase "I want to be a content creator" empty meaning in itself. It's more like I am a teacher, a musician, a mom, and I share tips or my experience or Journey online. Being a Creator in itself isn't a goal, what skills or stories or Journey do you have have that you want to share if anyone can upload anything at any time about whatever they want then anyone can be a content creator and of course that's true but that doesn't necessarily mean that you will be a good one... or reach an audience at all. Internet careers are embraced as a legitimate career one that is not only one that has a low barrier to entry and is accessible to everyone but as a serious growing part of the economy, but simply making content even a lot of content, or being live all the time doesn't mean success it's not enough just to be chronically online and available if you offer no value to an audience. [Jules Terpark quote end]

8:41 If having an audience is your goal, which I hope it would be if you spend hours online. Just be careful that you're not creating content for emotional validation which is what makes a lot of personal brand influencers fail because they morph into this Persona that people think that they will enjoy... instead of leveraging their genuine personalities. Which is what might have happened to influencers who end up losing that common life experience that makes them relatable for example what happened with Emma Chamberlain, who voiced her self-confidence issues and not fitting in at school, and Haley Pham, who posted Vlogs With casual references to her Christian faith, such as filming herself during bible study. And they both eventually grew up in their careers to be Mega successful and no longer shared those relatable life experiences with their audiences, and eventually this led to a distaste and the "you've changed bro" type of feel that people get when their faves make it.

9:40 So anyone can be an influencer or Creator, sure. But that doesn't mean anyone has the knowledge needed or the personality or Charisma to be a successful one long term. Also, you'd need the emotional capacity to deal with the lack of control over your branding and image which is the facet of content creation I believe that makes it more taxing than a traditional job when influencers sometimes say that their jobs are "harder than regular jobs" most of the time I think they're alluding to the emotional aspect of content creation and knowing how emotionally influential content creation and self-branding can be. That leaves us, as viewers, as creators. What do we want from content creation? It's even a question that I struggle with myself. Even casual creators of course want their content to be known, but also want to create for the sake of creation, and that cathartic feeling of sharing something that is special to you. And it's a hard pill to swallow when you recognize that what you love to create and what you enjoy isn't always marketable. And sometimes doing what you enjoy in marketing it is absolute torture. So I have anecdotes for these. Another way that I made content in the beginning of my content creation Journey was actually cooking on Twitch stream!

" [Twitch Stream Soundbite] Okay so we're going to [make] my beautiful perfect rectangles. Let's get our biggest knife! We--- got okay. You know, it's a little bit small for me saying "let's get our biggest knife", like that's a little bit disappointing.

11:22 Those streams were probably my most well-received streams that I did to date. Actually, because I love cooking and baking and I'm talented at it and it shows when I would perform that on stream. But then, it just became that--- performative. And I wasn't enjoying it anymore. So, I think, on a personal level, it can be a really turbulent emotional journey to try and create a personal brand because you recognize quickly the difference between your hobbies and your passions... and sometimes Hobbies should stay Hobbies, just because you like cooking and Performing to try and mix those two ruins the joy that the hobby once had. And I think being a Creator, you have to be cognizant of what you are willing to perform and what you are willing to keep personal... which is a murky line, and different for everyone. And every Creator needs to kind of decide for themselves what they can handle. And the scary part is, once you put it out on the internet, you can never take it back, as well. So, be careful guys... you guys are getting really Brave on these apps. So the subjectivity of the limitations through ART and expression and the reality of self-branding is something that can only be decided by the person who is uploading the content. So just because everyone can be a Creator do you want to be a Creator... or do you just want to have a sort of an online digital portfolio of your life and your experiences that you don't mind sharing with others? Not because you want to build an audience, but because you want to share for sharing's sake, so you can create?

13:03 Which is a complicated feeling, because every Creator says "oh I just make what I want to, and if people like it they like it, and if they don't, so what!" But on what level is that true for you? Anyone who creates would care if nobody interacted with it... because art, though created by the Creator and in a way it is for themselves... it's also for everyone else by virtue of uploading it to social media. I think creators like to believe that their art is self-fulfilling and like a scrapbook people hope to use social media as a way to compartmentalize events and hope that as a Creator themselves they would feel satisfaction about their creation even if their creation sat in dark rooms... However, is that sentiment even true? Even scrapbooks exist to be shown to others, though they spend most of their time in darkness. We create with the intention of sharing and interaction with others, and in this era of branding yourself, try to believe that what you create has value despite what the audience says. And the audience that your Creations reach.

14:09 Everyone can create, and share themselves, and we should do so just because we can. That has meaning, and purpose, and value. For Me, Above All, My creativity came from a place where I was trying to understand how words can hold so much power to cause pain, joy, and laughter, but then at the same time be disregarded as just words. Art and entertainment have the power to revolutionize movements and enact protests and policy but at the same time be disregarded as just art. People are powerful enough to do and create as they desire but there's also power that comes from the reaction of those who just consume. And it affects how they act in their everyday interpersonal lives. I've come to respect both those who choose to create and those who feel and react, as most of us lie somewhere in the middle... I believe asking ourselves introspective questions and challenging belief and encouraging growth have the ability to lead us towards empathy and kindness. I found that sharing little pieces of myself through video essay came to recreate that same happiness and sense of wonder and curiosity that once came so naturally with youth. If anything, I hope this breakdown of creative expression versus content creation kind of helps you find where you are on the spectrum of content creation and artistic expression as most of us lie somewhere in the middle. So if you made it this far into the video or the podcast, thank you, genuinely, for adventuring with me today.

Alright! Announcement alert! Come to this spooky party while I'm live on Twitch! October 31st, at 6 pm. And I'm really excited. twitch.tv/hewworeese. That's h-e-w-w-o-r-e-e-s-e, and, it is spooky season, my fave! And for that, I'm going to be doing a spooky partython on Twitch! And we'll be doing Halloween cookie decorating, and haunted house decorating, and I'll be playing Community games like jackbox, Fall Guys, Mario Kart ,someone requested spooky Minecraft, spooky Roblox, uh, some people want cosplay... I mean this Halloween stream is probably going to be wild guys. So, join the Discord or follow me on Twitch for more information or follow my gaming YouTube I'm HewwoReese on Twitch, Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, so that's h-e-w-w-o-r-e-e-s-e so come by, and I love to chat with you all! And of course, you can find my links in the description or on ReeseGrey.com. As always, I appreciate you guys and look forward to the end of this month so so so so so much. So that's it for today, okay love you bye!

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