The victorious procession of stamping and mass production of goods made original things more valuable. But in reality, originality is not only a sign of the high cost of some material things. Where did this word come from, what does it mean and how to use it correctly?
The meaning and origin of the word
Many concepts and definitions in the Russian language are of Latin origin. First of all, we are talking about the so-called international concepts that sound almost the same in different languages. Originalis means “original”, literally - reference, primary, and not a copy from anything. It turns out that originality is a characteristic of some phenomenon or object, meaning that no one has done this before, or at least did not use such different methods and with such a result.
The concept of originality
Now everything is called original that is knocked out of the general row in one direction or another. Everyone wears white shirts, and only one of them, for whatever reason, put on a blue polka dot? He is a great original. In a colloquial sense, originality is all that evokes the feeling "I have not seen this before."
The concept of originality is well traced on a simple example of cinema. The original voice acting is exactly what the filmmakers did. The viewer has the opportunity to observe not only the visual picture, but also hear the voices of the actors, and this is very important for the correct perception of the picture. If you do not know the original language, you can only rely on the integrity of the team that worked on the dubbing.
Another example is fashion. If a fashion designer creates an outfit based solely on her own imagination and taste, then this is an original product. If the dress appears under the influence of inspiration from the work of a more eminent and talented colleague and somehow remotely resembles his creations, it is unlikely that someone will throw a stone in a couturier. But the replica, made of cheaper materials and replicated by hardworking Chinese, is already a copy, and of rather poor quality.
How to increase originality
We have to admit that we are talking about a rather relative concept. You can be original in your environment, but completely ordinary in a more global sense. If a teenager enters a company where everyone skates, and only he puts on roller skates, then in his circle he is clearly knocked out of the template.
Nowadays, originality is often a synonym for extravagance, "otherness", and if you wish, you can leave the circle of people copying each other and become "not like everyone else." Another thing is that this desire and aspiration has been replicated to such an extent that jokes on this topic are already being heard: to be not like everyone else - the mainstream, be ordinary, stand out from the crowd of originals!
If we are talking about clothes and accessories, then in the conditions of the dictatorship of fashion and mass tailoring, a person finds himself in a situation where huge, sometimes completely indecent, money has to be paid for an author's thing. Fantasy and enterprise help out - fashionistas combine unexpected things, put on a skirt over jeans, transform purchased model models into something new with the help of appliqués, beads, pieces of lace, artistically cut holes and so on. Handicraft, now called the fashionable word “handmade”, is becoming increasingly respected.
Works of art
Music, painting and literature give in to external influences in the same way; as a result, a lot of something similar to each other appears. If at least somewhere there is the possibility of obtaining material profit, then art is transferred to the commercial plane, and originality is forgotten as a completely unnecessary characteristic. Many secondary works, sequels of history appear, a franchise is created on which huge profits can be made.
In fact, it is not so simple to check the originality of a work of art, so if such a need arises, an expert commission is created. It should be remembered that art in general is a flexible phenomenon and is largely based on the ephemeral nature of the impression. In literature, all kinds of directions flourish, inspired by a certain source, which can be safely called the original. Moreover, the created works cannot be called a copy. Even fanfics belonging to the “Seterature” do not copy the original source, but only rely on the same world or the same characters, although at times they shamelessly distort the original message of the author.
Admittedly, copies are not always bad. Thanks to Roman copies from famous Greek sculptures, we can now form an opinion on the art of Hellas, because the originals are either lost or seriously damaged.
Internet content
The World Wide Web is conducive to the rapid dissemination of information - now you can repost a text, photo or video with just a couple of clicks. It is not surprising that determining the source is becoming somewhat difficult. In text content, the percentage of originality is determined using special services for finding copies and repeating phrases. A shingle of a certain number of words, which is set in the program settings, is taken as a control segment. By default, a four-word shingle is used, that is, if these four consecutive words are found in some other text on the Internet, then the originality of the checked text falls by a certain percentage.
