Someone made a really well done Doors AI video that really mimics the known iconography to the sound of Break on Through:
But as well done as it is, I couldn't embrace it. I couldn't put my finger on what my problem was. I didn't have a problem with the upscaling of the old film footage for HWY for the documentary People are Strange. Or the upscaling of the footage of The Doors at the Hollywood Bowl.
The level of manipulation and processing of these iconic characters and images in the Break on Through AI video was at a new level. It wasn't making existing footage better, they were inventing new scenes using the existing characters and iconography.
But so what?
I didn't want to regurgitate "AI slop" like some kind of tribe signal telling people "I'm cool" or "old school" or some other ridiculous phrase. I wanted to get at what my problem with AI generated Doors videos is.
Then my mind stumbled onto a comparison of hand crafted antique furniture to factory made mass produced Ikea furniture.
People value antique furniture over new furniture primarily because of its unique historical character. While much of today's mass-produced furniture relies on engineered wood and simple assembly, true antique furniture represents a level of craftsmanship and material resilience that is difficult and costly to replicate today.
The analogy feels like it works perfectly. To take the above sentence and make it explicit:
People value original Doors footage over AI generated Doors video because of its unique historical character. While much of today's mass-produced AI Doors videos relies on engineered models and simple assembly, original Doors footage represents a level of craftsmanship and material resilience that is difficult and costly to replicate today.
AI generated videos of the Doors is like gluing some Ikea furniture to the family's chifferobe. (Slightly unrelated, but I don't think anyone knows what a chifferobe is. That time a chifferobe mysteriously showed up on the boardwalk):
New furniture, like an AI generated Doors video, behaves like a new car; it loses roughly half its retail value the moment it leaves the showroom floor. Antiques have already depreciated and generally maintain their value or appreciate due to rarity.
A similar trend happened in the arena of silverware. (I forget where I got the following handcrafted spoon analogy from, I thought it was Malcolm Gladwell, but apparently not. Anyway...)
The upper class would have their silverware made by a craftsman. As a result of this craftsmanship, each piece of silverware would be unique and occasionally misshapen.
It wasn't perfect, but it was the best a handcrafted creation could make and far superior to what the lower class could make or acquire.
Then along came machines and factories that could mass produce silverware perfectly and affordably to everyone, including the lower class.
When flawless uniformity became the standard, people realized that mass production resulted in perfectly smooth, identical utensils that felt sterile and devoid of personality.
This stark contrast sparked a newfound appreciation for handcrafted silverware. Today, consumers actively seek out artisanal, hand-forged pieces; not in spite of their minor hammer marks or asymmetries, but because of them. The "flaws" are now recognized as the signature of a human artist.
