Essay: A Minute of Silence for all the Unfinished Artpieces
(Originally posted on tumblr in 2017)
Somehow I ended up binge-watching/reading all of Invader Zim this past week.
It’s funny, I used to hate that cartoon when I was a kid (Its dark, bleak, depressing world made me unhappy watching it, even though I liked the characters), but now I just find myself deeply appreciating all the creativity and thought that went into this dark, twisted show with it’s sometimes really biting satire. The funny thing is that, even back when I didn’t like the show, I can distinctly remember that I never actually thought it was a *bad* show. For some reason, I was incredibly aware of its high quality, even as a little kid. I just couldn’t stand it because it made me feel bad. And yet, when I learned that the show had been cancelled with half a season worth of written episodes left not animated and tons of planned out lore and plot developments left unexplored… I was sad. I couldn’t stand the show, and yet I was sad for it. Strange, huh? And ultimately, now, more than a decade later, that sadness was what drove me to give the show another go and watch it from start to finish, including the official comic book continuation that has been going for the past year or so. I actually quite liked it.
I’ve never really been a fan of mean-spirited humor, mostly because I’m a person who doesn’t get much out of Schadenfreude and who is more likely to cringe at another’s misfortune than to laugh at it, but despite that something has changed about the way I view this particular cartoon. I don’t really know why - the dark humor still makes me cringe and feel bad for the characters a lot of the time - but I get a feeling that it’s got to do with how much more my appreciation for the effort and passion of the creators is at the forefront of my mind now when I watch animated shows or read graphic novels. It was always there, in the back of my mind, helping me appreciate the difference between something that was made with genuine love and effort to something that was just hastily squeezed out for a quick buck (though, that “sense” of mine has actually failed me a couple of times; it’s an old shame of mine that Grade School age me actually used to enjoy Angela Anacoda), but before I actually got invested in how media are made, all the steps, planning, dedication and effort that goes into putting them together, I dealt with that feeling differently. Now, I just don’t watch film or read literature because they make me “feel good”. It’s more like I view them as a means of communication now. The creators are communicating me something that they are passionate about. I want to try and understand that “message”, so I can go and learn how to communicate my own interests and “passions” to others.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m still not exactly a big fan of Invader Zim. The world still makes me feel bad, and every time I find myself relating with any of the characters (most often Dib) I feel a pit in my stomach because I know that regardless of what they do, they will be doomed to eternal misery courtesy of living in the most terrible version of the universe imaginable. However, even if it is not one of my favorite shows, right now I can watch it and enjoy it a lot, simply because I appreciate it, the same way I’d appreciate just about any other piece of art.
Because that’s what it is: Media are art. Which makes them part of the most important form of communication in my humble opinion. When I look at a half-finished painting in the museum and learn that the artist died before he could ever finish it, regardless of whether or not I like what I see, I feel a pit in my stomach, the same pit I felt when I heard about the sad fate of the Invader Zim Cartoon Series. Because I relate. Somebody created this work, this world, these characters, they fleshed it out, tied the pieces together, breathed life into it, and then, halfway through something just… happened and that world was just ripped off. Stuck in a half-finished state forever, all potential it had just kind of… there, never to really come out again. This kind of thing just hurts me. If art is communication, then every work left unfinished is like a damaged document that might never be deciphered. It just makes me sad. That’s why I actually was incredibly happy when I heard that Invader Zim was currently being continued as a comic book. Sure, it’s not the “complete” state the show could have been continued in, but its potential at least isn’t lost for good. I hope all of the unproduced episodes will eventually be adapted in some shape or form.
I guess what I’m trying to say with this ramble is that there is so much potential in the stories we tell all over the world in all different shapes and forms. Every story that has been started deserves to be finished as long as the people making it feel capable to do so. Conversely, this also means that creators should never be forced to do anything with their work that they never meant to do and have no inspiration to do whatsoever. That’s why I see so much possibility in the new media, even with all the onslaught of chaos and issues they bring: For the first time in so long, people are able to get out their stories on their own terms, without living under the Damocles Sword of ratings, demographics and charts, or, better yet, do something great while actually being funded by the people who want to see exactly what you want to do. Stuff like Undertale or Little Witch Academia 2… It’s kind of amazing.
I kinda hope that one day we’ll be living in a world where every artist will be able to finish their creations as long as they want to do so, ending them on their own terms. …Unless, em, they die of course. There isn’t really anything the world could do about that.
