I think there´s definitely a lack of originality in exploration today. The same applies to the movie industry.
Most TV-series or films that are broadcast today are based on books that the audience most of the time know quite well. I am not saying this is all wrong, because some of the best films ever made, like Akiro Kurosawas film Derzu Uzala, is based on a book. However, in a time like of today, originality is getting lost in this chaos of repeating what others already have done. Like all these “In the footsteps of….” that is such a big thing of British Exploration. They´re obsessed with the past. Once again, I am not saying it is wrong. I understand that there is an interest in recreating a journey of the past to see what it looks like today, like this attempt to copy the Kontiki trip of Thor Heyerdahl. And I understand some choose it because it creates an opportunity to travel and have a different lifestyle, because using somebody else´s famous name, is of course a great help in getting funds to achieve what you want to do. But as Aleksandr Solzhenytsin commented on today´s scene of literature in one of his last interviews, it is better to produce something really original for the future, not some nonsense for the masses. Sure, this is of course to a certain degree an elitist point of view, but I agree no doubt.
There are originals out there today. One is my friend Sven Yrvind who is quite a character and there are very good attemps to “revolutionize” the growing social media landscape, like my great friends Tina and Tom Sjögren´s development of Pythom.com, which is for explorers/adventurers for explorers/adventurers and Richard Wiese who is involving children in exploration. But we need more originality. Otherwise it will be eaten up by ordinary travel. But, I also know, we live in a world were everything is pushed for being perfect and like everybody else. A terrible development.
Just a short note to push for more originality!
Original post at https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2016/03/27/re-creating-already-happened/
