If this were ten years ago, I'd have the perfect opening to this blog - riffing off of The Sixth Sense, I'd say, "I see creative people." Of course, if it were ten years ago, I'd still be working on my dissertation and wouldn't have time for blogs. In fact, I wouldn't have ever heard of the word "
Even without the topical play on words, I'm struck by how much creativity is around us - in the arts and in pop culture (and this is before finding out that the next issue of Psychology Today is devoted to everyday creativity).
A few weeks ago, I booted up the College Humor video Web Site Story. I'm a musical buff, so I may have been predisposed to like it - but I thought it was brilliant. Tony meets Maria on Facebook. In order to learn about her favorite music, he discovers a site called Pandora ("Pandora - type it in and there's music playing/Watch the ads and it's almost like paying"). As Tony and Maria date, their friends sing about love on-line: "I like to be on eHarmony/sign up for free on eHarmony." Tony and Maria later have their balcony scene as they sing about Evite and reading about the date later on the other one's blog. Roger Ebert once wrote about feeling grateful to a movie (perhaps Finding Nemo) because it was so much better than it had to be. I feel this way about creativity in unexpected places. Web Site Story already is creative because of a cute concept and catchy title; that the lyrics and execution were so clever just makes me happy even after watching it for the umpteenth time.
I like the "high art" as much as most people, but I'll generally talk just much about "low art" - pop culture, graphic novels, viral videos, etc. I expect a Sondheim musical or Atwood novel to be creative. It is a double effect of enjoyment and surprise when I hear Moosebutter's tribute to John Williams ("Star Wars") or see Julian Beever's sidewalk art (look at the 3-D illusions and remember that it's all done with chalk) or look at the wide variety of creativity displayed in photoshop contents, in on-line comments sections or Paul Thek's Hippopotamus Poison sculpture at MOMA (I know that last one is technically high art, but come on - it's a wax and steel sculpture of meat.
When I'm not pondering whether Lindsay Lohan's substance abuse issues, Brittany Spears' manic depression, or Paris Hilton's general unpleasantness will prove deadly first, I am a creativity researcher. I study genius-type creativity (and made my own small mark on pop culture with the Sylvia Plath Effect - google it and find out just how many folks think I'm a jerk) and everyday creativity. I look at creativity in writing, movies, art, science, and teaching (among other disciplines). Basically, if it involves creativity in some way, I'm probably interested in it.
My blogs will likely be short, because I have the attention span of a flea, and probably informal. I welcome discussion and questions and suggestions for future topics. I am going to feel free to not only write about things I know about (like creativity in pop culture) but also things I don't know anything about. To make it more interesting, I won't distinguish whether I know what I'm talking about.
I will also sign off most blogs with an opinion or thought about creativity from someone. I started off by posting to my Facebook friends about their definition, and I'll start with one now and include several more in the weeks to follow. If you have your thought on what creativity is, just post it as a comment (with your name if you want credit), or drop me a line.
I often find that when I see or hear something I consider creative that it's not the kind of thing that makes me say "My that's clever!" or "What an innovative idea!", but rather "That makes sense...why didn't I think of that?" - Alyson Tregidgo Ferranti
Now, back to TMZ.com, knowing that for once it counts as work!
My next blog can be found here.
