Where do inane pop-culture thought pieces come from?  Deep within a well-smoked bong?  Two random sparks quarking together amongst media saturated grey matter?  Psychically received from the virgin-blood-filled smoothie cup of Harvey Levin?

Early on Twitter one morn, this ad-damaged brain of mine determined that the artsy/mainstream much-mocked creative exploits of Vincent Gallo and James Franco were two parallel paths trailing down separate decades.  To my delight, brainiac and fellow strategist Jason Tarantino jumped in the fray, hashtagging our parallels #GalloversusFranco.  Here’s how we had fun:

The awkwardly titled “twenty-aughts” 2000’s have come and gone, and we still have seven years of this 2010’s (twenty-teens?) nineties-throwback business to attend to.  But there’s still an interesting and emerging tension revealed:  this simple comparison of associated concepts illustrates their grasp on the American zeitgeist.  This New Yorker article from 2012 offers an interesting insight:

Just as teenage rebellion flourishes in environments of safety and plenty, depression as a cultural pose works only in tandem with a private confidence that the grown-ups in charge are reliably succeeding on everyone’s behalf.   –Lisa Miller

Today, there’s still a thick velvet rope stanchioned firmly between “real art” and “pop culture.”  Both Gallo and Franco sought and seek to break through the meatheaded, surly nightclub bouncer who guards the club named “Mass Aesthetics of the American Public.”

They’re mocked for their efforts, sometimes with good reason, but let them have their fun.  Terrible can be innovative.  Terrible can lead to genius.  And if you don’t push beyond what exists, you’ll never get anywhere new.

Live, learn, and make bad art,

suzymae