Laureline, 18, France
Of course the recession has consequences for me! I’m sick of this economic recession… In ever advert, in every magazine, on every TV show, in every conversation, in every bar, the recession is infiltrating my life! Last week I even saw an episode from the last season of Desperate Housewives [which was pretty exciting] but even then the subject of the global economic recession came up and ruined my pleasure]… This crisis is a boring conversation, another thing that no one understands but, as it’s an ‘historical event’ [according to the economists], a big topic in our actuality, every one feels like they have to talk about it… The effect of my life isn’t an economic one; it’s a boring one! It makes me feel amused, bored and perplexed all at once, it’s a paradox of adjectives! The only adjective I rarely use when the conversation turns to the economy is ‘concerned’… But I can’t sleep since France declared the ‘recession state’… I live only to see an increasing speed of economic growth. I think you get the picture…
Perhaps I’m not being entirely fair… I do think about it more seriously some times… When my work colleagues and I talk about it [about people loosing their jobs when the very company they’re working for is reporting profits and shareholders are taking advantage of situations], then it worries me. Or the fact that we’ll need more and more diplomas to get a job, or that we can’t count on real social advancement within a company anymore; I suppose the recession in itself isn’t such a big deal for me, but the global situation is.
When I was a child, I used to believe in equality, in justice, in a better world where everyone would be nice and beautiful… The more I grow up, the more I’m disappointed. In France, we begin to give up all social advances that have been won in the past centuries. We give up liberty, equality and fraternity in order to be more competitive on the mondial market… I have learnt to close my eyes and not listen to the news or the social fights. I’m not disappointed anymore about the situation, but maybe about myself…
I’m pessimistic about the future, but I also don’t care a lot. I’m an emo kid! An indifferent teen! I guess I will grow up and change some day, perhaps fight for a different world, but when I think of my fatalistic and ‘easy’ view of the future, I’m even more pessimistic. How many are we to think like this? How many of use are thinking ‘our world sucks, it’s going to get worse and worse, I’m going to stare at my navel’… I haven’t even changed my shopping habits, although I’m still pretty careful with money… Money didn’t ‘go up in value’ in my eyes, but maybe that’s because my country hasn’t been as touched as others by the recession… I still won’t have a holiday this year; I just began a job so I will just put the money aside, but I would have done that with or without a recession really…
Creatively? I don’t think the recession will do anything. Some people are living side by side with their society, feeling every event in the world intimately, and sometimes this means they create something through their emotions about it. But other artists might have a mental block caused by the news; an economic recession might stop anything coming out of their hearts, hands and heads indefinitely. And then there are the people who create without being under any influence of the world situation!
I agree that money can help; for example, to organize music events, teach the arts, or push culture forward; money and politics often encourage us to be creative… But creativity isn’t a thing that can be controlled… Creativity hopefully exists even in the worst situations….
Even if we walk towards a capitalist world where profits don’t rhyme with the arts, then creativity is always needed. It depends on the person, and on their personality, but not on the economic situation. Arts exists during wars, it exists in under-developed countries, in poor social backgrounds and under dictatorships. Creativity is often an act of rebellion…
I sometimes believe that the things politics and business wish for will destroy art schools, taking back money from the art ministries, worried that the citizens’ consciousness’ will fall asleep and they will become full time workers, machines which don’t work or create. And then sometimes I think that the new technological tools, like the Internet, phones and everything else that is still to arrive will allow us to be more and more connected, inspired and – therefore – creative. Time will tell.
