Review of Blue Period

As a plagiarist, I found its inceptivist fundamentalism annoying. Especially since its focus on the mythical externally validated conception of what originality is put next to its secondary themes about gender non-conformity. By that I mean: don't you think it's at least a little hypocritical to claim that we are each individuals with the freedom to express who we are how we want, and then to say that certain forms of expression (here, copying) are inherently inferior or inchoate? To cry "I am this" and have someone reply "No you're not," or "That's not OK," or "Not like that." Or, put another way, you seehow this ideological zeal for Original Authors having more of a right to embody an idea conflicts with the much more important cause of trans rights, ...right?

At one point, they literally mark down a perfectly good piece for no other reason than it was "too similar" to his last major work. Fuck off. All that is is installing and enforcing a certain value (anti-plagiarism norms) held by the artistic establishment at that school, so that students leave under the misapprehension that they have simple answers as to why they are the best. And why they are the best also just so happens to coincide with the interests of high-end art markets that they will more than likely never have access to. The mindset twists itself into a huge mess of knots to keep itself from truths that are actually pretty fucking simple. Plagiarists are cool, too. Trans people are cool, too. Discriminating against people because they are outside of the orthodoxy you descend from is Bad.

The show is quite pretty, tho. And when it's not pissing all over its messaging by focusing on originality, it's a fun little shounen ride.